I wait till the frost kills the plant before pulling but you might be waiting for a frost for a long time. ;)

Dave

when yer done.. yer done
think compost pile
just rip 'em out.

OH NO, DON'T RIP!

I let nature take things away. though hubby disced in some runt turnips last week. We just lost our last two rows of green beans a few days ago to frost. I covered them until I got one good picking. I was able to put up 3 pints. I hate to see the green beans end. We still have lots of brocc coming and the cabbage is getting big.

I have started getting the cold frames ready for seeds in January.

Susan in NC

Just think of it as recycling.

Yesterday evening I picked all the remaining peppers and all the green tomatoes. Have 2 grocery bags full of green tomatoes that are destined for Chow-chow. Glad I did as it hit 30F here for the first time and we expect upper 20's tonite. Meanwhile the Fall crops are doing well and should be ok until the teens hit home.

Every year I find it harder to call it quits on the garden. Part of the driving force for me is a farmers' market that extends farther into November each year, this year ending Nov.16th.

So I will strive to keep my tunnel grown tomatoes and cucumbers alive til then by burning a little propane at night. But even "Pulling the plug" months after everyone else has given up is difficult. Last year I think I could have extended the tomato harvest season thru December with a modest amount of supplemental heat.

Technology sure changes things.

Maybe you could dig them up and put them in pots, since you need the land for future preparation.

I face the same "problem" growing in a zone with relatively mild winters. It's harder to know when to stop one crop in order to make room (or prepare) for the next. For many people, the first frost makes the decision for them. But for us it's sometimes arbitrary. I just pulled up my Carmen pepper plants, for example. One of them was still producing, but my garden doesn't get enough sun this time of year for good peppers. So I picked a day to say "goodbye" and now I'm prepping the soil for a winter cover crop of greens.

fliptx I don't think I want to overwinter any plants again. They will make it, and be the first to prodiuce the next year, but they are definitely not as healthy as the year before.

Last year I got lazy and let frost get my cherry tomato in November. Two nights of frost and they were dead. I have to tell you, we did not get anymore frost for over a month. I could have covered them twice and kept on trucking for all of December. Dang.

I agree with those that say let them live until nature takes them, but I have the itch to clear the area and reshape the area with a new lasagna layer for next spring. They longer it can sit the better off I'll be in the spring. But I just hate pulling good plants, even though they are but a few. It's like the few homeowners who won't sell to the developer who wnat to build a new mall.

Thanks everyone for the input.

What does your compost need at this moment, greens or browns?

If you need greens, pull em and add them to your compost. If you need browns, let the plants die and dry out releasing their nitrogen to the atmosphere - then use them as browns!

The next generation of peppers will thank you for the improved soil!

I'm in zone 9 in SoCal, and this is my 2nd winter of leaving them out, I just prune back the tops, to a stem, and they releaf out the next spring.

What a good question!
This year it was easy for me (us). We covered things just once and the next time, it went down to 21 degrees F. That coincided with an emergency which kept me out of the garden completely. My wife and one daughter did yeoman service that evening. I came home very late to find probably 10 or 15 GALLONS of hot peppers and green tomatoes each, plus perhaps 3 lb of green beans. But now, we're done... except for a few cold tolerant things. I

I want to really hit it on soil preparation for next year. But... firewood now calls. We'll see how things balance out.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I am still covering 6 peppers plants with plastic and blankets. The temps have been into mid 20s for a week. I plan on pulling the plug this Saturday. I mainly have been waiting for my Tabasco peppers to ripen for making my own Tabasco sauce.

Forgot to cover basil plants before I could pull them and preserve them, that still makes me mad.

I have already planed next years garden and have started planning for 09'. I am sick!

Dean

Amazing - frost in virginia, NC, and maybe even in florida before here in tropical coastal Mass!

Much of SouthWest Fla is already a tropical coastal MARSH.
Salt water intrusion is already a problem and all the canels and so called rivers must have weers(SP) little damns to keep the salt water from moving up stream.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

I really had no choice this year. The incredible heat wave make most of my decisions for me. It also pretty much killed my hopes for a fall garden. I could not get my Cole Crops to germinate until Sept. and early Oct. Therefore they had no chance to get established well before the cold weather arrived which was this past week. 23.5 here this morning and even thought the Kale leaves were frozen solid, they came right back with the sun. BUT, they are the only thing that is growing reasonalby(SP) well. I hope to beat all of this next year. I am working on a greenhouse, but it is on hold right now. I would like to be able to grow Cole Crops and lettuce all year long. We shall see

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Yeah, that's tough, dawg. It was almost like that here though not quite so severe.

It was a good season for fruit around here though. Apple and pear trees were loaded despite the droughty summer.

My sun cherry tomato plant went a cruel death when we had snow a couple of weeks ago. I had planned on picking the rest of 'em, but just got caught up in work. I didn't even get a chance to dismantle it until last week........every time I cut a branch, all of the cherries just rained down on the ground. I picked up 521 rotten little sun cherries (yes, I counted 'em). Gotta do better next year.