Blight got my tomatoes

After three weeks of damp, grey weather I went to the plot one Saturday and found my best tomato plants turning brown and limp. Dark patches on the leaves, then on the stems, then on the fruit itself. It's called blight, and once it starts it moves fast.

I pulled up the worst plants and bagged them up. I didn't put them on the compost heap, because the blight can survive there and come back. I picked a handful of green tomatoes that still looked clean and ripened them on the windowsill, and they were fine.

In hindsight, I'd planted them too close together, so the air couldn't move between the leaves. I'd also watered from above, which keeps the leaves wet for longer.

What I'd do differently

• Give each plant more space, and take off the lower leaves so air can get through.
• Water at the base of the plant, in the morning.
• Try a blight-resistant variety next year.
• Check the plants every few days in wet weather, not every weekend.

Lesson learned. Ask me again next August.