It’s late August and until recently the only change of colour on our tomato plants has been blossom end rot. But now one, yes one, of our tomatoes has started to turn red. It’s on one of our outside plants. On our greenhouse plant, another solo tomato is showing signs of changing … slowly.

The unseasonable dreary, rainy weather and lack of sunshine of the last few weeks, after a brief hot period, has to be the main factor. Not enough heat and sunshine. This time last year we were in the midst of a glut, with tomatoes into November (and even a handful in December). But in these strange times, there can be no more year on year comparisons.

Our solo ‘ring of fire’ chilli plant too shows no sign of colour change, though it had produced lots of healthy looking fruit at least.