Cherokee Purple takes the low road

Another lovely, early morning of gardening...but it turned a bit sour when I noticed mites, or maybe aphids, on the Cherokee Purple tomato plant. It was the only plant (aside from the frostbitten jalepenos...my bad) that looked like it might keel over soon enough. It wasn't dead, at least not yet. The pests were all over the plant, and starting to spread to 2 other plants, so I decided to nip it in the bud and upheave the plant altogether. It's too bad, I was looking forward to purple tomatoes, but not at the cost of having to remove all those pests...and maybe other plants getting caught up in the madness. The plant looked pretty bad from the get-go anyhow. The good thing about removing the plant is the 4th pepper plant will be getting some more sun, now that the Cherokee isn't towering above it.

Speaking of pests, the peppers have something trying to eat at the leaves, but it's not that bad right now...some kind of flying bug or beetle I suppose. Everything else is clam-happy, even the cosmos are budding. I harvested a few more taxi tomatoes and a huge bunch of green onions. I ran into one of the gardening neighbors, and made sure I got a handful of fresh raspberries from the communal shrub before leaving for home.