But what I did find interesting was that blight had not affected the tomatoes plants – and that they had used Bordeaux Mix. I know it’s not for everyone – but if you do use it and are wondering what to use when it gets discontinued – then the RHS seem to be recommending Bayer’s Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control as a replacement product.

As it has been a warm day and some of the plants looked a bit wilty – I decided to do that whilst doing a watering can round. But really it was the Watering Can of Denial. As I moved through the plants I found about two that seemed to have no signs. Some had only a couple of leaves which were affected. But on most the stalks had their black dashes of doom. I felt the wild eyes of that mad Scots misery, Fraser, staring at the plants – “doomed I tell you, doomed”.

Anyway what with getting home late again – and with it being bin-night – which under the refuse regime imposed by the council leaves very little time for anything else on a Thursday evening I have watered and left them be. The weekend will see the sad sorting.

But tomorrow I am going to post some pictures of healthier times. I’d taken some photos of all the green fruit in its different varities as part of our gallery of “spot the variety before it ripens” . Which may now turn out to be the final credits for this season’s crop. But at least I’d captured them first!

On Sunday I pulled a plant as it had a few black marks on the stem – this is the one that was growing next to it which had a few splodges but that I decided to leave in place for the time being.  Tonight I went out in the garden after getting home about 30 minutes ago.. and discovered just how wrong things had gone. It’s not just this plant – this is the worst but there are others which are similarly troubled. I need to pull them so will go back out and do that in a minute but couldn’t face doing it immediately – so I thought I’d hop on here and share my pain!

I also checked on blightwatch and there seem to have been seven full Smith periods to date in my area. I only received one text some time ago (I thought at the end of May) so maybe my number dropped off the system. But equally the map isn’t showing any blight as yet – and I can’t believe I am the first case! In June the dates for my postcode were 6,8 and 21. And for July 13,16,18,21. So I think this must be the outcome of conditions on the 21st.

Anyway I must get into the garden before it gets dark … ( although I might add that darkness has already fallen in some respects!) Now I know why GQT always finishes with the “onwards and upwards” sign off.

Will I be left with any good plants to see me through to harvest – I don’t know yet!

I’ve looked in all my books and online – is is me or do all “sick” leaves look the same? I am guessing it is fulvum or  a wilt. They came from a greenhouse environment, but were grown in their own pots and then planted out in new pots and compost here and wilts seem to be soil borne so perhaps not a wilt. I will investigate further – but for the time being am now four plants down and a few others are on “sign of manky leaves watch”.

Still it’s all part of the experience! I’ve posted a few photofit shots – so if anyone knows what it is that “killed Bambi” I’d be very grateful.

The Tuta Absoluta – and in the tradition of all good villians (if you know what I mean…) has a few other names to go by – the South American Leaf Miner and the Tomato Leaf Miner – is no friend to tomatoes and whilst widespread in Southern Europe does not have a foothold here or on Guernsey where they are taking measures to make sure that this remains the case.

Also interesting to read (scrolling down to the end of one the BBC articles) were the comments on the Guernsey tomato industry. It used to be an island of 1,100 commercial tomato growers – from who the UK sourced 15% of our tomatoes – the “round” kind as they are referred to in the article. Now that number is reduced to just a handful of growers who niche in midi-plums, small plum and vine tomatoes.

Back here in totally, absolutely, leaf miner free Surrey I have some new arrivals from the module sown seeds. Front row in the propagator and first to emerge – Sungold and Suncherry Premium – attention seekers the lot of them – but very welcome to it!

Whilst this lot could learn a thing or two from sunflowers about synchronised directional facing!

( Back in my bookselling days this would have also been the correct response to ‘Yuck – take a look at the pictures in this colourfully illustrated medical textbook on foot and nail fungals and the flesh wreaking damage they can inflict‘ but we live and learn !)

However when I started growing tomatoes I came over all hypochondriacal about my tomato plants and every little blemish or less than perfect leaf became blight. So it would have been useful to have some clear pictures to look at and compare symptoms with. So ( and as long as I have correctly diagnosed that this blight and not some flip-flop fungus !) then I thought it might help to post them.

To me one way of describing it would be that it looks as if the leaves have been set fire to and then a bit like when you burn paper – it gets that charred, curled edge whilst the markings on the stalks/truss stalks are darker and more intense in colour saturation.

( And whilst they’re not pretty they’re still not as grim as feet or baked eggs gone wrong !)

There are some left on the plant which seem ok – so let’s hope. It’s disappointing not to get any of a variety to ripeness !

In the spirit of scientific discovery I also cut them open to see what BER looks like on the inside. Ignoring the disappointment of the ruined fruit, it’s quite a fetching colour combination. Reminiscent of those Chocolate Lime sweets which along with Chocolate Eclairs and Raspberry Ruffles would be in my favourite ‘quarter of’ stripy bags….It’s important to remember the sweet things when things have turned a bit sour…

PS – Just after writing this post I came across this article on Blossom End Rot. Interestingly amongst other things it recommends watering at night as this is when calcium uptake is at its optimum. This very question of timing re watering came up last week in the post on Belriccio and Blossom End Rot.

I’m surprised it was this variety. It’s one of the Sutton’s grafted, a beefsteak but it’s been consistently watered.  The ones I thought would be more likely to be the problem are the San Marzano, the determinate plums. They tend to wilt more readily so I clearly haven’t got their watering correct. They’ve also been attracting the blackfly. A ruffle through their green fruit however and I can see they too have signs of Blossom End Rot.

Last year it was Roma and Cream Sausage which suffered. Both plums. But it would seem now, flat bottomed beefsteak  maybe prone as well.

I also found it to be the early fruit which got this disorder and then it seemed to self correct – let’s hope that pattern repeats this year.  No more tomatoes which thought they were conkers please !?

20th July – BER update. For details on how the timing of watering does make a difference ( see comments section) with watering at night recommended to prevent blossom end rot- the reason – calcium uptake is greater at night.

What is humidity?
Water vapour held in the air. Given we can feel but not see it vapour in the air is measured by hygrometers and calculated by hygrometric tables.

The quantity of water vapour that air can hold depends on the temperature of that air.

• The lower the temperature of the air – the less water vapour it can hold
• The higher the temperature of the air – the more water it can hold

When the maximum amount of water vapour for a given air temperature is reached then that air has reached its Saturation Point.

If air reaches Saturation Point and then the air temperature subsequently drops, the ‘excess’ water vapour it can no longer accomodate has to be dumped. This is achieved by condensing it into water – the liquid version !

In an interior situation this creates that irritating phenomenon – condensation. In micro, on the inside lid of a propagator – or on a larger domestic scale, on the inside window panes.

Outdoors; clouds, fog and mist are the result of water vapour ‘converting’ to liquid.

And Relative Humidity – well it’s all relative, see……relative to the air temperature……
Relative humidity is the % of water vapour that the air can hold at a certain temperature. The water vapour in the air is measure by grams of water vapour per kilograms of air. But then it expressed as a % of what the maximum amount of water vapour air of that particular temperature can hold. With warm air being able to hold a greater maximum amount of water vapour than cold.

And to go back to blight and its relationship to humidity – it would seem it doesn’t get out of bed for anything less than 10C and 90% humidity over the period of two consecutive days. So when us tomato lovers feel sticky and out of sorts for a couple of days on the trot - it’s because we sense something nasty is stirring and coming to life……

This evening – after a day of no rain – and checking on the updated forecast, seemingly none in the next 5 days, I may have been better putting the kettle on and having that 2nd cuppa instead.

Bordeaux Mix is very blue ! With no rain to wash it off my plants now look as if they have a dose of artic measles. I don’t know if this is supposed to be how it looks when applied but it adds a very odd tinge to the garden. It’s not on every leaf and not every part of the leaf received a spraying. I don’t know how this affects protection levels.  

So a couple of things I learnt ( for which read mistakes made !). I hadn’t used the spray pump before. I’d recommend just putting water in the first time to see how it works. I’d several false starts; all the more frustrating with the solution already in. To begin with it wouldn’t spray at all, then it did with an erratic pattern. Then when that was fixed it was more high pressure car wash….

Then with the mix itself I mixed 1.15 litres ( powder and water) which was the max volume for the spray. Which was probably too much. A little goes a long, blue way.

So next time I’d test drive the sprayer with water to get the pressure and nozzle setting correct and then I’d mix a smaller amount of the solution.

Will there be any scary outcomes ? How will the plants cope with blue leaves ? I don’t know … I only hope the consequences aren’t as scary as the colour …..