For the zucchini plant, the season has been over for some time. With the help of The Organic Gardener Jeanne Nolan and maintenance crew member Adrienne Detanico, we cleaned up the north garden bed, starting with the removal of the zucchini plant.

“Be sure to pull the roots out and shake it off,” Nolan said as she removed the zucchini plant.

Since we planted our crops in quality soil, we want to make sure we save as much of that soil as possible by shaking it off of the roots of the plants that have been removed.

In addition to removing the zucchini plant, Nolan and Detanico removed the sunflowers and deteriorating tomato plants from the garden.

Since the tomato plants were diseased, Nolan and Detanico separated them from the other plants they removed.

“You don’t want to put it in your compost,” Nolan said.

If you were to add those plants to your compost, you’d be taking the diseases you hated and spreading them.

“Unless you heat your compost to 130 degrees, pathogens can live for a long time under adverse conditions,” Detanico added.

By the time Nolan and Detanico were done, they removed all of the crops from the north garden bed except for the Brussels sprouts and arugula.

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