Normally I take pictures of beautiful flowers to show on my diary. This week is very different; this is a picture I never wanted to take.

I have been growing tomatoes for over thirty years with very few problems. This year I had a few extra tomato plants going spare so I asked my daughter whether she would like to try her hand at cultivating her own tomatoes. There was no room in the greenhouse and so I helped her to plant in containers outside.

She probably gave her tomatoes more TLC than me, she was doing a good job, listening to all the advice and had started to pick fruit. There is nothing better to encourage and enthuse people to gardening that enjoying the fruits of their labour.

However, one day she asked me to look at her tomatoes as she thought they were suddenly taking a turn for the worse. Although I have never experienced the problem it was clear what the problem was, tomato blight. Thankfully this is a tomato disease that does not affect tomatoes grown under glass very often but it can devastate tomatoes grown outside when the summer is warm but wet.

On a brighter note my large flowered dahlias are open and stunning again this year. The cuttings I took earlier in the year are looking healthy so I will hopefully increase my stock again next spring.

That sounds like I am already planning for next year in the garden and, yes, I am! I have identified one area of the garden that needs revision next year. Around the patio has perhaps been a bit neglected while developing another couple of new areas but you cannot do everything. I have not decided fully what changes I will make but I always like to mull several ideas over before taking action. Whatever I do I want it to be there for a few years so it is worth taking that extra time to think it over.

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• Tomato Casual » Reader Questions: Tomato Blight - Reader Questions: Tomato Blight. Tags: blight, Questions. late-blight By Vanessa Richins. This season, we have a lot of readers concerned about the late blight that has spread throughout the Northeastern United States. ...
• Growing tomatoes and tomato blight | Grow & eat | Gardening Blog ... - Daily blogs from the experts at BBC Gardeners' World.
• Tomato blight and me | Los Angeles Metblogs - The tomato crop has been crushed to a large extent this year nationwide, thanks to a fungus that started in nurseries in the US South where the plants were.