It finally got cold enough in the greenhouse (without the heater on) that frost hit the tender plants. At -4 outside and no supplemental heat inside, the cells in the leaves of basil and tomato have burst. This makes them look black and droopy.
It really and truly is time to clear them out of the greenhouse for the season.
Because I had spider mites in the greenhouse this year I’m paying extra attention to removing any leaves that are laying on the soil and using alcohol wipes on plant cages and trellises.
I will also use soapy water with hydrogen peroxide in it (DO NOT USE BLEACH on galvanized steel), to wipe down the plant shelf.
I buried the pot of Munstead English lavender and watered everything well.
I am still harvesting sage, oregano, rosemary and alpine strawberries from within the greenhouse.
The final step, before closing it down for winter in a few weeks, will be to plant some things that will do well with cool spring greenhouse temperatures, like spinach, bulls blood beets, carrots and scallions.
Compost pile is loaded up with all the plant material since I did not experience diseases on the plants this year. If I did have disease – like the botrytis I had on the tomatoes last year – I would dispose of the plant material in the municipal waste and remove soil in the affected area.
Because I plant in the ground, rather than in pots, I also had some quack grass and creeping bellflower sneak into the space so I did a deep excavation around those to get rid of the roots as much as possible.
