The end

This morning this was all that was left of my tomato plantation. By this evening the last batch of salsa verde was cooling, the last tomato salad had been made and eaten and all the plants were dug up and in the bin.

When I discovered five weeks ago that the plants had blight, and heard that I should burn the lot immediately, I instead stripped off all the leaves to make their immediate environment less humid and to give the tomatoes access to any sun available. The plants have battled on, turning flowers into tomatoes, and growing and ripening the fruit on woody trusses on soggy stems. It's been a fascinating display of the imperative of species continuation.

My first attempt at tomato growing has been an enjoyable and interesting experiment and I'll grow them more confidently next time - if I can find any soil not contaminated by blight spores.