Damp summers bring the disease

[Queen bee]

I live in an even damper than avrage part of Ireland , the North West . This summer we had poor growth, blight, both tomato and potatoe. It's a community garden and we are growing organically. Any advice for curtailing the spread of blight on the toms ?
Also broad beans got somthing. leaves all blackened and withered, got a good crop up until late July , and the second sowing is completly distroyed with it.
I have always applied prevention techniques up to now. It's different when you are gardening with a bunch of folks, (much more fun actually )

[Two_Sheds]

. Any advice for curtailing the spread of blight on the toms ? Not really much you can do.These wet cool summers are just simply unsuitable for growing outdoor tomatoes

Also broad beans got somthing. leaves all blackened and withered

They do that when they are finished ... they are cool weather crops and don't like warm weather.
You may also have had a bit of chocolate spot

[BUFFS]

like you,i live in a rainy area,south west scotland...known as rain central to the local gardeners..,we had the lovely summer that they predicted..until mid july,then it was back to normal,it was just as we went on our hols and since we came back some 4/5 weeks ago it has rained virtually non stop,like your area,the only crop not badly affected by the rain and the very low temeratures has been the rhubarb,so we wont eat as much home grown food as thought,but at least we will be regular......if you dont look on the daft side you would probably pack it in,but...there is always next year..hopefully, anyway the lad next door says he sprays his plants with bordeaux mixture and says it really helps him, i dont know as i have never tried it,i just keep piling on the compost made the previous year and dont tread on the growing area to keep drainage good,best of luck and at least you know you are not on your own.

[Queen bee]

Yes , thanks for words of comfort. It at times like these one can find solace in the crowd.

[King Carrot]

We've had the highest rainfall ever in this part of Ireland this Summer - I did learn from lessons last year where all my tomatoes were devastated with botrytis.

I used 2 plastic tunnel greenhouses (rather than 1 last year)to cover plants and keep rain, wind off the plants

I grew some new varieties, Cristal, Legend and Ferline (all free seeds and disease resistant to some extent) Milifleur, a latah vine breeding project as well as the usual Brandywine, Gardeners Delight and Alicante, probably around 50 plants in all. I increased plant spacing 2-3 feet depending on variety (all 2ft last year) I’ve left as much ventilation on as poss even during the strongest gales (just closing the windward side)and I've done the barest minimum of watering to keep humidity down - my plants root directly in the soil so they easily get by on nothing extra - I've only watered in warm sunny weather so little or no watering since June! The only problem with this is the plants at the edges tend to get too much rain water from the run off from sides of the tunnels and split easily...that aside, bar one stray yellow tom plant that should have been a Legend and clearly wasn't which succumbed to blackening and was swiftly removed yesterday, all is well apart from lack of ripe toms - probably due to lack of sun/warmth!

[Peter]

Isn't Bordeaux mixture allowed under organic rules for potatoes?
If so that'll work on tomatoes as well.

[jimfin]

This is my first summer growing and I think I'm watering too much. I use containers and a GH. I've been having problems with growing Radish. I start them off in the GH in small containers and up they come, about 2-3". Then they start to die off.
The GH has not been very hot as we have had a lot of cloud cover, and I give things a sprinkle most everings.
Any advice please.