In the end, there is only so much a gardener can do. 

Gardens, like all living things, are their only self-sustaining system. While a gardener might try to control weeds, bugs, and rodents, the gardener often does not win those battles.

The best path through is to meet nature, and all of its interconnected organisms, somewhere in the middle.

As much as my garden has a nine-foot fence around it, with hardware cloth along the bottom two feet, the chipmunks climb up until they can jump through wider openings.  They nibble on the low-lying tomatoes.

My solution: pick the tomatoes just as soon as they turn the slightest bit red.