Harvest

Yesterday I was looking at the crumbling tomatillo and saw that it had a lot of aphids, so today was the day to harvest. I figured it was a bad idea to put bug-infested tomatillo pieces in the compost bin, so it was secured in a garbage bag and deposited in the dumpster. This was the harvest:

These are the last tomatillos you will ever see raised in a greenhouse I control. The plant was too big for the space, blotted out the sun for nearby plants, is a magnet for aphids, and the sticky fruits are a pain to harvest. After I had it all out of the greenhouse, I sprayed everything nearby with insecticidal soap to take care of any stray aphids, and I even washed my jacket when I got home. I will raise some tomatoes next year, but smaller plants than this monstrosity. Also put out to pasture today were the sorrel, about half of the broccoli plants, and one of the basil. Next (after the new growlights show up next week) is transporting houseplants, the geranium and the petunia to the garage. I'm slowly getting everything whipped into shape for winter.

I was reading about carrots in one of my garden books, and was reminded that carrots are biennials. It is easy to forget that because most carrots are harvested for eating during Year 1. They become woody and inedible by Year 2, but have interesting flowers which eventually produce seed. So I'm going to leave a couple small strips of carrots in the planters over the winter and see what happens.