Farewell solanum lycopersicum

St Abel
Yesterday's weather: gorgeous.

I had to give in yesterday in my fight against tomato blight. I had to admit defeat and remove my remaining plants. They will be burned later this morning to prevent reinfection. I managed to salvage a few green plum tomatoes which look quite healthy so there may be some chutney on the boil later, and my cherry tomato plants on the patio are still doing well but looking quite tired now.

There are three baby chilli plants on their way and two bigger plants on the patio which are bursting forth evil looking skinny chillies called 'Java'. I'm waiting for them to turn red before I pick them. The peppers are still doing really well but I've almost given up on the courgettes which have been a failure this year. I think it's me, the green fingers haven't been quite green enough this summer, but it's the first time for years that I've grown veggies and never in this area. Hopefully I've learned some lessons for next year.

Such sad news about foot and mouth in Surrey and it's scandalous to learn the source of the infection. The UK farming community was only just winning back confidence after the last epidemic. Now we hear that England is the main producer of vaccines for F&M - but it isn't used in the UK. I hope that lessons will be learned from this, and quickly.