Get the most from late-season tomatoes

Tomatoes are at their glorious best this month, with more fruits ripening to a deeper shade of red, gold or purple as each day passes.

But you don’t want the plants to grow any bigger now, so snip out the tops of cordon toms (trained up a cane) and remove any new sideshoots too, so the plants don’t waste their energy producing greenery when they should be ripening their fruits instead.

While you’ve got your head among the leaves, scan them for brown blotches – your warning that blight is taking hold. If you spot any signs, then pick off all affected leaves straight away to slow the spread, and keep the remaining leaves dry to discourage more infection. An attack of blight will inevitably curtail your harvest, but the longer you hold it back, the more of your crop you’ll rescue.

Now is also the time to remove greenhouse shading to let in all the light you can. Then cut back on watering and stop feeding altogether, as stressing the plants a little helps to jolt them into maturing their fruits.

If the thermometer starts falling while you still have green trusses, gently uproot each whole plant and hang them upside down in a warm (but not necessarily light) garage, conservatory or spare room to finish ripening. Or just pick your tomatoes green – we love them dipped in polenta and fried as a teatime treat.

BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT Ensure tomato plants focus on ripening their fruit by removing sideshoots and cutting off the top to stop growth

RIGHT Help your remaining green tomatoes to colour up by removing shade paint from the greenhouse glazing to let in maximum light