It’s blowing a gale today, no change there then, so I looked for an indoor job to do.

For some reason this year my tomato plants have looked sad for weeks. I’m watering and feeding as normal, and the tomato crop is fine, but the plants are now a real mess, and in no danger of producing anymore fruit.

So I decided to take the 2 gro-bags, containing the worst plants, out of the conservatory. I’ll probably save the rest to do on another grotty day, the forecast for the rest of the week is rubbish. I started by picking all the tomatoes (red and green) and then consigned the plants to the compost heap.

In doing so I discovered a very small toad (?) living among the debris. I scooped him up and carefully popped him into what I hope was a suitable place for him in the garden.

Earlier in the year I wrote about tomato ‘Ildi’ and how it was proving difficult to germinate. Later on, though I don’t think I wrote about it here, I had serious doubts about it’s prospects of producing a meaningful crop.

It had plenty of flowers, but unlike the other varieties where you could see the young fruit swelling, on the ‘Ildi’ they looked for all the world like they were withering and dying.

How wrong could I be. ‘Ildi’ is obviously a late starter, because whereas the other plants are now way past their best, ‘Ildi’ is festooned with small yellow fruits.

So, ‘Ildi’ I’m sorry I doubted you.