Blight: synonyms - destroy, disease, plague, ruin, kill, spoil
I’ve been in denial for a week, averting my eyes as I walked past the tomato plants. Now I have to admit to myself that the dreaded tomato blight has appeared. It’s affected four of the seven plants I have outside and two of the plants in the greenhouse. I’ve stripped off affected foliage but I know it’s only a matter of time before it spreads to the rest. I’ll cross my fingers that most of the tomatoes ripen before that happens. The weather we are having is ideal for this disease - warm humid days with showers of rain to spread the spores. Many, many showers - my garden chairs have been in this position most of the summer.
It’s particularly annoying as I love growing tomatoes, especially the heirloom ones. I used to make green tomato chutney years ago and the jars I produced were a sign of a tomato glut. Then I had to strip the outside plants in late September as the weather got cooler and making chutney was the obvious answer. Now the jars have another meaning as I strip some of the plants in early August before the fruit starts to rot. This year it’s even more irritating as I’ve run out of jars which means extra marmalade on toast and more honey on my yogurt in order to get some emptied in time!
On a more cheery note some tomatoes are ripening and the two cucumber plants in my greenhouse are going into overdrive, producing lots of small, shiny, six inch cucumbers. I detect an air of smugness - “Look at us, aren’t we doing great ” they seem to say as they scramble across the roof. “Better than those stupid tomatoes”.
5 comments
Oh it’s rotten luck.
We’ve got just the right weather for blight in Dorset and I keep looking anxiously at the tomato plants but so far they are untouched.
(So far!)
Not that there are many tomatoes. The flowers have been dropping in rather a depressing way. I think it’s my irregular watering to blame and that simply can’t be helped. (That and that they are in pots. I don’t think I’m good with plants in pots.)
About the jars - I bought a load from ‘Lakeland’ last year, to supplement what I had. It seemed a bit extravagant but has the extra advantage that jars of the same size fit in the cupboard more easily and that matters if you have a lot of jars and little storage space.
(I don’t do chutney but make a lot of jam.)
By the way, your path looks very enticing.
Lucy
PICTURES JUST PICTURES
oh - so sad.
I check my tomatoes every day - not for signs of tomato blight - but for some little sign that they might turn from green to red. so far - only two have managed it.
Your Cukes are looking good. And so does your garden.
Warm regards
K.
Oh no :~(
thanks for the wonderful photo for the village show site. I love it. I know what you mean about the rain, it’s such a disaster for veg, but my mainly big-leaves Cornish-planting garden is loving it. The tomatoes you do have look gorgeous - I’m jealous of those yellow ones, what a lovely colour for a salad…
Oh no - bad news about the blight. The tomatoes in your picture look lovely, though, and so do the cucumbers. Delicious salads!
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