vegetables in the garden

i planted some squash and was happy with the tender yellow squash. someone told me to wrap tin foil around the root to keep troublesome things from happening to the squash plant. it worked! the tomato plant was another story.i read that you should hang a red colored ball on the tomato plant. when the birds or animals come to eat it they will see it is not edible. i hung a red apple decoration on the tomato branch. no bugs...beautiful tomato... ripened perfectly. apparently, the heat and rain disintegrated the red decorative apple and it (whatever 'it' was made of) seeped into the soil. so i had to toss the whole thing. better luck next year.