Tomatoes

[charlesModerator]

2009 has, in Somerset, been the third consecutive year of rampant blight on outdoor tomatoes. This year it started three weeks later in late July and has even been cropping up indoors because of a lack of sun and continual dampness of the air. Fortunately some sunshine reappeared after the full moon on August 7th but my outdoor tomato plants are consigned to compost – not burnt because blight spreads in the air rather than from the soil – while I am cutting off any odd blight infected leaves from indoor plants as I see them, on a daily basis.
All watering in the polytunnels, at about four day intervals in fine weather and weekly if dull, is done at soil level so as not to wet the leaves. I deleaf from the ground up to the lowest fruiting truss, about a foot up as I write this in mid August.
It is another reminder that we live at a relatively northern latitude where tomato growing needs considerable care, effort and luck to be successful. Outdoor tomatoes are little more than a gamble at long odds.

[seedpodMember]

Hi, I didnt grow tomatoes outside last year (purposely)as the year before everything collapsed in a disappointing black heap but I did have some self sown plants of Broad Ripple yellow currant. I have had these plants annually in my garden for several years now, I never sow them,they are volunteers from the previous year and they crop until very cold weather stops them and I have never had them troubled with blight.So grateful am I that I leave them growing in all sorts of places ,including the sweet pea row where they grow quite tall. There are perhaps some with a better flavour and they do tend to split but are never the less very worthwhile. Just thought I’d share that with you.
Pod

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