RIP San Marzano

A small tragedy struck my garden in the night. The perpetrator remains at large. 

It's a big tough world out there in the garden for a little transplant. 

There are critters. 

Lots and lots of critters. 

And they strike at night.

This morning the San Marzano looked fine. The leaves were beautiful, it was standing tall. But being an overprotective mother I inspected it closely as it had only been in the ground a few days. That's when I noticed THIS:

A bite taken from the stem doomed my San Marzano. It had apparently just happened because the plant had not yet wilted. 

Fresh crime scene, it was heartbreaking. I couldn't just leave it to wilt so I tore it off in disgust.

This is my first year growing tomatoes and peppers from seed. My first batch damped off, all dead. So I tried again and everything grew beautifully. I had 2 plants of each variety of tomato (12 varieties). I planted one of each pair in the garden. The spare was kept in case one of the transplants didn't make it. They were all doing great, slowly growing thicker stems and new leaves. Yesterday my husband asked if he could give some of the spares to his friend. Feeling confident the tomatoes were all doing fine in the garden, the spares were adopted out. 

Then last night the San Marzano was cut down by some critter. It's sad because that is the only variety of tomato my husband requested. He makes the most amazing sauce and stewed tomatoes. The San Marzano is his favorite. No other tomato was as precious as this one. 

I've lost many plants over the years, but losing one I've tenderly raised from seed, the one plant requested by my honey, that hurts.