Tomatoes with curling leaves

Following on from the last post, here are my Tigerella tomatoes looking a bit sorry for themselves. Joe told me I put too much Bordeaux Mixture on them. I don't know whether the leaves are curling because of that, or whether it's the start of the dreaded blight.

Spraying my potatoes

Today I sprayed my maincrop potatoes with Bordeaux Mixture against potato blight. So far, there's been little sign of it, but this is the time it strikes. Ted Smith (Plot 44) was telling me today that for blight to thrive it requires the Smith factor: a certain degree of humidity and a certain temperature. So far this year it hasn't had that combination. It has been incredibly dry for the last month at least, and what rain there has been seems to have passed Swindon by altogether. But that could all change overnight.

Joe and tomatoes

Joe told me off for putting too much Bordeaux Mixture on my tomatoes. I told him I'd measured it carefully according to the instructions, but he said I might kill the tomatoes. I see what he means - it might stop their leaves breathing.
I asked him whether he'd sprayed his tomatoes yet, and he said yes, twice. I hadn't seen any of the telltale blue on them, and he explained that he had started using some ghastly chemical beginning with Di-. My other neighbours are using it too - they nearly gassed me with it a couple of days ago. Mind you, the leaves of my tomatoes are looking very curled. But I need to look into this Di- stuff before I use it.