Kitchen Garden Forum

I went to Barnsdale today (Rutland) and they had blight on the tomatoes in the allotment. Curiously the tomatoes in the Victorian Kitchen Garden were unscathed.

We went to Harlow Carr today and their tomatoes looked fine.

The flower borders were utterly fantastic. They had sand bags around the place so they have been getting heavy rain but the beds and borders were fab.

I came home quite depressed, I went to water my PT and the rest of the allotments is just about a mud bath.

Never mind tomorrow is another day I am going to look for seeds for next year. Start to dream about what I might plant, not tomatoes though.

My outdoor cordon type tomatoes went down with blight a few weeks ago now. However two bush-type plants, Amateur and Tumbler, that have been growing in large pots by the kitchen door have fruited very well and have survived the blight.

John

On the plot we only grew outdoor tomatoes last year and lost all to blight. This year we grew some in the plot greenhouse (we thought that if tomatoes grew inside they wouldn't get blight) as well but they also are blighted as all our potatoes.

Fortunately we also grew tomatoes in our greenhouse at home in the garden and so far so good. My husband reckons that the problem is worse for us now as our allotment site is fully occcupied - he says that when we gardened amidst a sea of weeds we didn't have the same problems - or is it just down to two rotten summers!!

By the way one of our varieties was Legend and it was blighted like the rest!!

There's blight on our site although as yet it's not got to my side. Although I've been spraying my tomatoes for several weeks now I picked a huge basket of the biggest green tomatoes to ripen at home. I'm keeping them well away from my greenhouses though, just in case...

Chantal, I think your idea of picking some green tomatoes to ripen indoors in an attempt to avoid the blight is a good one I too have been spraying for some time and so far seem to have avoided it. But I use a lot of my tomatoes for preserving (cooking down as purree, sauces, etc) so really need them ripe and will hang on a little in the desperate hope for some sunshine. I'm inspecting them daily. Nobody in the gardens around here seems to be growing tomatoes so I might just be lucky and escape the airborne spores.

Blight has done for the few tomatoes I have, which is a shame. Outdoor ones, now ruined.
Better next year, I hope.

I should add - the spuds (there are some main crop Arran Victory still in the ground) look unaffected.
However, I think it might be wise to lift them to be on the safe side. No point in tempting fate.

OH, I spoke too soon last week when I said that my tomatoes were free of blight, I think I may have a bit,is it when they are brown patches on the leaves and there's a brown patch on one of the tomatoes outside all plum toms, the ones in the greenhouse are ok fingers crossed.

Chantal, what do you spray tomatoes with to prevent blight?.

Bren

Dear Bren, how trying outdoor Tomatoes can be, but glad to hear you have some under glass so that you won't go without.

Maybe next year.

Chantal wrote:Hi WHR

I did just that last year and despite washing the green tomatoes in Milton as soon as I got them home, they all went nasty within days. Is it possible to make something with them before this happens? Is it safe?

Still no blight here, but I'm spraying again this evening.

Hi Chantel,

I am pleased to report that even though we did lose some toms the majority have survived and I actually made a batch of red tomato sauce today I think it is mainly because a lot of the toms were from plants that were either not yet blighted or had only just been - either that or we have been very lucky.

The 3 plants in pots that I brought inside (in the conservatory) because they still looked healthy are also doing well

I do have quite a bit of chutney though - due to a courgette glut!!

Hi WHR, you've been very lucky, well done

My sprayed crops are, as yet, unscathed, but all around me have fallen victim of blight.

I didn't go to the plot yesterday so will be going up tonight to see how the tomatoes are faring. Fingers crossed

I'm washing all my picked tomatoes before eating them as I've sprayed against blight this year. It's surprising how gungy the water looks after doing this. I know the fungicide isn't poisonous in small quantities, but would prefer not to swallow it anyway.

My tomatoes are still (mostly) OK having sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture. One or two tomatoes have had their chips but the vast majority are unscathed, so far. I really want to spray again to cover the new growth but it won't stop raining!

As all around me have lost everything I am very impressed with spraying. I'm a born again pragmatist JB

I am however taking precautions which are close on paranoia when it comes to picking the outdoor tomatoes. As I have trays of semi ripe clean tomatoes all over the place, I'm keeping the latest pickings well away, just in case they are infected. I'm even changing my clothes when I get back from the plot if I've been picking tomatoes, just in case I have blight spores about my person. Yeah, I know...

Hi Chantal I have not re read the rest of the post again but did you say that yours are outside or inside. I still have three plants in my PT. I am on holiday from Saturday and am having to leave my watering to someone else on the allotment so I am just hoping that they will still be okay as I too have been really careful on dealing with my toms. My marmand are just coming to ripen too. Probably all go red whilst I am away on holiday and I will never get to see them.