Blight is Back

Regular readers of this blog will know that never a year goes by that I don’t say ‘I’m never going to plant outdoor tomatoes again’ – but somehow I can’t resist finding a space for the leftover plants – and each year, just as they are looking at their magnificent best, along comes the blight. On Friday they were fine, then after the bank holiday deluge they started to show the first signs with a few blackened leaves and stems. Rather than leave them to rot, I harvested the lot. There’s a limit to how many green tomatoes I want to eat and in the hope that I can ripen some, I’m trying a little experiment. Vinegar is supposed to have anti-fungal properties, so I soaked them for an hour in a strong cider vinegar solution. I will now put some in a cardboard box with a ripe banana and see if the ethylene it contains can ripen the tomatoes. I’ve never seen the vinegar suggestion and it may have no effect, but its worth a try. I will let you know if it works. Meanwhile it’s fried green tomatoes for supper.

Before blight

After blight