Well, I couldn't just leave them on the plants, could I? My thinking is that if the tomato fly has infested my tomato patch, I'd rather pick the tomatoes diligently to avoid the larvae going into the ground and overwinter as pupae only to emerge next season.
So the more tomatoes I pick, the less larvae will go into the ground to emerge next season. That's my theory.
Anyway, there it was. This basket full of beautiful tomatoes. I plucked up my courage and decided to wash and core them. Just to see what was inside. Every time I cut open a tomato I held my breath. All prepared for a nasty sight. Nothing. The big pile got smaller and smaller...still nothing! Wow. The last tomato was cored and cut. Nothing. Geee... was it all just a nasty nightmare last Thursday? (No, it wasn't. I found the picture we took of the infested tomato. Still gross.)
Well, I decided to chop them (just to make sure I could inspect every millimetre of every single tomato) and preserve them in my jars.
It took me double the time it would normally take me to preserve tomatoes. But now I am happy with the result. I am very sure that nothing is in the jars that should not be there.
Here are the chopped tomatoes already preserved. You can also see some raspberries (autumn fruiting Heritage), a small watermelon, and a big bowl of plums in the background. Some cherry tomatoes. The zucchini, cucumbers and capsicums I picked that morning are already in the fridge.
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