Contractor's blends sound impressive since contractors are pros, so they must use the best, but contractor's blends are usually really cheap blends designed to germinate quickly and give a lawn ASAP so a house can sell. If you're looking for a short term solution, that's fine and it might get you through the summer, but need a reseeding with something better in the fall. I think I remember your earlier posts and you've got a lot of shade. Is that right? If so, I'd go ahead and seed the contractor blend now, but plan on seeding a fine fescue blend in the fall.

Yes, I asked there. They're the ones who told me Latham! I can't believe I'll have to go all the way up there (and I just hate the traffic - I'm really becoming a country girl!). I also asked at GNH - they don't have it. I was hoping that there was something closer, maybe even something out Hudson way, or down towards Woodstock. Those are places I actually like to drive to.

2 is definitely Late Blight. 3 might have been chewed by a hornworm -- they sometimes eat a slice or a chunk out of a fruit and leave the rest. When a fruit has been damaged, it will begin to ripen early. Compare these photos: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomFrt/Hornworm_Tom.htm http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/hornworm.html http://debsgardens.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/the-tomato-hornworm-has-arrived/ 5 is probably a tomato fruitworm or an armyworm. The armyworms like leaves as well as fruit. Definitely not a hornworm -- they don't excavate holes in the fruit, just eat the whole thing bite by bite, from one side to the other. I can't identify 1 at all. 4 could be LB, but might be something else for all I know. Cornell's diagnostic page for fruit problems: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomFrt/TomFrtKey.html

Phoenicia? Then you just HAVE to provide a list of good places to eat! We have been disappointed by most that we have tried. We do like the Bun n Cone for simple stuff and there is a place on the way to and from the area that is good (the name escapes me at the moment) but it is not near either Plattekill or Bellayre. We have found a few good places for breakfast and the B&B we are staying in again does a nice spread. It is dinner that is really rough.