At the most recent monthly visit to Abbey Wood Community Centre it was time to gather all the tomatoes on the plants which have succumbed to blight. The tomatoes are edible so long as the blight isn't showing on the fruit.
I have found in the past that it is best to eat the fruit as soon as possible before any telltale scab like eruptions appear. This is also true for unripe tomatoes, better to eat them cooked rather than wait for them to ripen which you would do with tomatoes unaffected by blight (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe). All the affected stems were put in the general refuse bin to avoid them contaminating the compost with blight spores.
The other crop to harvest was the runner beans which have been trained through the rambling rose. They are decorative as well as edible and when they were first brought to England in the early 18th Century they were prized for their ornamental value, not for eating. I took only the larger ones and recommended leaving the others on the vine to grow a bit bigger before picking them. Once the plants are producing, the pods grow quickly. There is an additional crop to be had from runner beans. The vibrant red flowers can be eaten as well, having, not surprisingly, a bean like taste."
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