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.
