Italophile

Asparagus

Crowns are planted in the ground between a foot and 18" apart, about the same between rows. I've seen asparagus grown in containers but you need pretty decent sized pots to accommodate the roots. I'd reckon one crown per 2'x2' (width x depth) pot would probably work. Make sure the pots have plenty of drainage holes. You'd need a top quality potting mix with plenty of extra organic material mixed in. The key to asparagus is caring for the roots.

Talkback: Tomato blight

Some varieties, particularly cherries, are prone to splitting. They have very thin skins. Sungold F1 is a famous example. Beyond that, splitting is usually related to excess moisture. It will often happen after sudden heavy rain. In simple terms, the sudden excess of moisture causes a growth spurt in the tomato but its skin is unprepared for it. Something has to give, and it's the skin. It's like putting on a tight pair of jeans, breathing out, and popping the top button. I speak from experience.

Simple overwatering can also cause it.

best flavoured tomatoes

Did you bag the flowers before they opened, Maud? Or do you not have other varieties nearby?

I think I might have a shower too. On my wife's orders.

Tomato Problems

Damp cool conditions are utterly ideal for any sort of fungal problems. There have been a lot of reports of same.

Greenhouse after tomato blight

Nytiri, toms are subject to a variety of diseases. They can broadly be classified as fungal, bacterial and viral.

The problem is that "blight" has become a generic term for fungal disease. There are only two actual Blights - Early Blight, and Late Blight. Other fungal diseases - Septoria Leaf Spot, etc - have similar but identifiably different symptoms, but the end result is largely the same. The big difference between the Blights - and SLS, etc - is that Late Blight can and will wipe out an entire plant within a week. Early Blight, SLS, etc, will eventually spread across the plant - unless you take preventive measures like removing affected foliage as soon as it appears - but take a long time to destroy the plant. In fact, the plant usually runs out of steam first or cold weather sets in.

All fungal spores - the nasties that carry the pathogen - are airborne. They're invisible, they travel on the breeze, and they're everywhere.

I don't know what your particular symptoms are but it's very unusual for some toms in a greenhouse to be affected by fungal problems and others not. Greenhouse toms are particularly prone to fungal problems because of the enclosed environment and lack of air circulation you get outdoors. No tomato variety is immune to fungal problems.

Do you have any photos of your symptoms?

New site - bugs

Yup. I'm getting about 50%. Got yours!

Uploading pictures

Click on wherever in your forum post you want the image to appear.

Click on the Tree. It will open a window that lets you choose between your computer and an external site for the image you want to post. It is set by default to your computer. If the image is on your computer, you have to know where it's stored on the computer. Click Select and navigate to where the image is stored. Select the image. Click Upload. Then Save.

The image will appear in your post where you clicked for it to appear.

New site - bugs

Ah well, too good to be true. Back to random notifications.

Talkback: Tomato blight

Glyn Hodges wrote (see)

Having lost all of my outdoor tomato plants this year through "Blight" should the ground be treated before trying again next year, and, if so, what with and when?
Help appreciated. Thanks.

Glyn, common tomato fungal problems - Early Blight, Septoria Leaf Spot, etc - aren't soil-related. The spores travel in the air. Some of the spores will fall from the leaves to the soil during the season, but, as I posted above, you can turn over the soil and bury them. Any of the same fungal problems that turn up next year will arrive through the air.

The blight that attacks both toms and potatoes is Late Blight. Late Blight spores, unusually, don't live on in the soil on their own. They only remain an ongoing problem if infected toms - or potatoes - are left lying around.

There is, though, as Phil says, an argument for not planting in the same ground in successive years. There are some diseases - mainly viral - that can live on in the soil.

Greenhouse after tomato blight

Great idea to grow outdoors if you can, Phil. Greenhouses can be incubators for so many fungal problems for toms.