Disaster...

Blight 1 - 0 Me

The action I took last weekend was to no avail. A visit to the plot this afternoon revealed the extent to which tomato blight can ruin a crop within a week. I was greeted by withered plants, their stems black and buckling, and a crop of wisened fruits falling from the trusses in their droves. I've salvaged what I could of the decent green tomatoes and will use them to make a batch of courgette and green tomato chutney. However, there will be no fresh tomatoes this year save for the three plants I have growing in the blight-free saftey of my garden. Out of courtesy to my fellow plot holders I have cut down and removed all the plants and the fallen fruits and have binned the lot.

I don't think I've ever been as disappointed as a gardener as today. Having grown the plants from seeds several months ago, I have nurtured them throughout their lives, growing them on in ever larger pots, hardening them off in the garden and protecting them from frosts and chill winds, before planting them out on the plot full of hope and anticipation for a bumper harvest...all for nothing.

With hindsight there were probably too many plants in the bed, which prevented air from circulating amongst them and probably contributing to the speed with which the blight struck. I probably could have been more asiduous with the pinching out, allowing too many of the side shoots to grow and adding to the cramped conditions. I probably should have grown the plants in a bed further away from last year's infected crop. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I will learn from all these things next year. But having to rip out all my plants without even tasting a ripe fruit after all that work and effort is a real blow. It also goes to show how fragile the aim of self-sufficiency can be. 'Growing your own' is enjoying a real boom, with many people turning to the health and taste benefits of growing their own organic vegetables. But in reality it only took a week for one of my main crops for the next few months to be ruined to show that, for all the positives, there can also be some negatives and it isn't always as easy as the experts and the tv programmes make it out to be. Oh well, at least I have my courgettes :-)

Courgettes anyone..?

It's about a month since my last post, but in reality not that much has been happening down at the plot. At this time of year there is always a bit of a lull, now that the main growth spurt is over, and fortunately the weeds have slowed up enough for me to just about keep on top of them. It's also been a busy few weeks with the business, so time on the plot other than for harvesting has been at a premium. That said, I undertook a two-hour weeding blitz on Sunday 27th July in preparation for the allotment inspection the following week. Our site lost its 'Best in Nottingham' crown last year, after what can only be described as some rather dubious judging on a terribly wet day, having won the title for the previous two years. The pressure was on this year to regain our prize so I couldn't let the side down. I have to admit that the weeding was more cosmetic than thorough but it appeared effective. The judging was apparently very positive so I'll keep you informed of progress when I know the results.

We've had our fair share of sun and rain over the past month and that combination has brought the courgettes on a treat. They really are producing a huge crop now and we currently have a bucketful of each variety (One Ball and Kojak) that were picked last weekend. There were plenty more embryo fruits still forming so I expect another bumper harvest when I visit the plot tomorrow. Courgette soup anyone?

Another star performer is my Jack O'Lantern pumpkin. It has really started to motor in the past month, with its vines and tendrils reaching far and wide across the plot. I am training the vines as best I can to maximise the growing space available and so as not to swamp its (currently) less vigorous companion - the butternut squash. This flush of growth is now carrying a heavy crop of fruit, so I'm hoping for plenty of football-sized pumpkins come the autumn.

One rather worrying sight has been the beginnings of blight on both the potatoes and tomatoes. Last year's monsoon brought about an early and severe attack which decimated the tomatoes in particular, so last week I took some drastic remedial action and removed about 50% of the leaves from the tomato plants. This won't eradicate the blight completely, but I'm hoping it will stave off its worst effects long enough for the majority of fruits to ripen. The first Sungolds were just starting to change colour last week, so it won't be long before we can dispense with the tasteless, watery offerings from the supermarkets and feast on frest, tasty, homegrown tomatoes for the rest of the summer - hopefully...

Potato blight has become an annual problem on our site, so I'm seriously thinking of growing only first and second early potatoes next year to avoid it altogether. That said, I'm partial to my King Edwards so there might always have to be a small space allocated for them, regardless of blight problems. They should be ready to lift in early September and what they lack in quantity of crop they certainly make up for in quality. They are the 'king' of roasting potatoes and for the past few years we've managed to store some of our harvest long enough to have them for Christmas dinner - yum!