An attack of tomato blight

I volunteer at the Lewes Organic Allotment Project. It’s in a beautiful spot above the Nevill, where the Downs embrace you and lift you up like a small child to see the view over the town to the sea beyond.The other volunteers are a lovely bunch, and I am also learning a lot about growing fruit and veg...

For example, two weeks ago my tomatoes got blight. This is a nasty fungal infection that often kills the plant and ruins the ruby red fruit. Two years ago, it wiped out my entire crop. However, this year I knew what to do.

When I noticed the first signs of blight (blackened bits of stem and shrivelled leaves) I pulled up the plant and picked all the fruit. I then disposed of the plant, but put the tomatoes in a paper bag with a banana.

The banana gives off ethylene, a hormone which triggers the tomatoes to ripen. Within a week, they were all ready and I could make them into  a small salad for lunch. It was a happy ending to a usually tragic tale.