When is the best time to pull out withered veggie plants?

Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to solve your dilemmas! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden. This week: advice on the best time to pull out old veggie plants.

Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!

Image by Alison Turrell via Flickr

Q: When is the right time to pull out withered veggie plants? I usually pull them out when they are looking a bit worse for wear, but I recently heard that plants produce their best when under stress. –Leah

A: Autumn is here and now is the time for a big tidy up in the veggie garden! It’s important to pull out all the old, tired veggie plants that are past their best as this prevents disease and infestation from unwanted bugs in the garden.

Clear out all the old plants and put them in your compost. If there are signs of fungal disease then it’s best to burn the waste so it doesn’t spread.

Often in my garden there are a few tomato plants still producing fruit late into the autumn. Simply pull out the plants and hang them upside-down in a dry sunny spot. The fruit will ripen and you can enjoy one last harvest before winter.

–Zoe Carafice

Leah has won a bag of Tui Certified Seed Potatoes and 1.5kg of Potato Food from Tui Garden. Congratulations!

Tui Certified Seed Potatoes are available in a wide range of varieties, while Tui Potato Food boosts tubers after planting and assists in correcting soil consistency, which is especially important as potatoes grow underground.