Vegetable patch update - tomato blight
Posted by DavidM in Gardening | 15 August 2007
Overall I've had as good a yield from the vegetable patch as last year but in some different ways.
With gloroious sunshine and little rain last year my tomatoes were fantastic but the courgettes never got going. This year, with a lot of wet weather and only recent sun the courgettes have been abundant but the tomatoes have suffered.
I thought the tomato plants were stunted and dying because of the lack of sun then found out they had blight. Apparently it's particularly common this year - the plants and fruit go black and there's nothing to do but pull them all up. Quite frustrating when you've spent a lot of time on them.
In other veg news, my first year growing potatoes has been a big success as have the onions and shallots which are now drying in the greenhouse.
The lettuces did well though we didn't eat them fast enough and after managing to grow a single carrot last year, this season they are plentiful and eye-wateringly large.
As ever, we are inundated with runner beans and the grean beans are producing a healthy crop.
So aside from the tomatoes it's been another good season. As well as having lots of mostly organic (I'm sorry I just can't bear to watch the bastard slugs munch through all my hard work) vegetables ready to hand, I've learned more about managing the garden again this year.
It's also been nice because my sister has also started vegetation (?) and we've bored the rest of the family rigid on more than one occasion with our crop comparisons.
I'm now considering whether to have my first try at winter crops or let the ground, and my back, rest.
