Thanks for all the suggestions. I feel better knowing it's possible. And now I have a lot of new ideas to research, and incorporate into my tomato system. This is what I'm thinking so far... 1) Avoid monocropping. I'm thinking about adding 10-20% more garden space, to allow for interplanting, and maybe some empty space between blocks of plants. I hope that's enough. 2) Consider a cover crop in the fall. I'm already researching this for weed suppression, and adding nutrients back into the soil. Maybe a particular crop will help with specific diseases? I need to research this more, later in the season. 3) Research the particulars for the diseases I'm likely to see here. I had blight towards the end of last year. But according to the MSU extension, it's not supposed to overwinter here. So I may be in luck with that one. Slugs got everything before that, so they're high on my list of things to deal with this year. 4) Research beneficial stuff like marigolds. I already have some queen anne's lace that's growing in my new spot. I originally thought of it as a weed that I'd have to remove. But it's a wild carrot, and it's supposed to be good for tomatoes for some reason. 5) I ran across a site yesterday that talked about grafting tomato plants. Something about cherry tomatoes will grow anywhere, so they make good root stock. I wonder how well a cherokee purple would work with something like Matt's wild cherry? And I wonder if there are any possible root stocks that are resistant to root knot nemotodes? I don't know what rkn's are, but they don't sound good. 6) Scout regularly, and remove diseased plants quickly. Get on the extension's list for forecasted diseases. 7) Start all of my own seeds. Unless I end up killing most of 'em, like I did last year. Be careful with anything I import into the garden, since who knows what might be in it. 8) Research hydrogen peroxide. I could see myself using that on a spot that's had disease issues, since it's one of the few chemicals that don't really scare me. It worked great on my dog, when he got zapped by a skunk:) Although his fur got a little lighter. 9) Expose stuff to the sun when it's possible. I had a lot of deer pass through my new spot over the winter. So I'm going to let the sun work on all the droppings for a while, before I incorporate them into the soil. 10) Be careful not to splash when watering. And try to water at times when the leaves won't stay wet for long. 11) I tried aerated compost tea last year, and I think it did some good. Although I wasn't using it to suppress any diseases. But I read some things on Linda Chalker-Scott's site that have me wondering if it's really worth taking the time to do. I'm sure it's a debate that'll go on for a long time, and both sides probably have some valid points. I'm planning a no till system, so my soil may be healthy enough without it anyway. I attached a link to her site, if anyone's interested. Here is a link that might be useful: site with stuff about compost tea

Well this is going to freak out the senior and maybe a lot of others as well. A couple of Saturdays ago I had to de-bag over 500 bags of smelly, wet, slimy, disgusting (insert your favorite descriptor) yard trimmings. After I was done, when I took the tractor back to the shop, my brother had picked up a couple of subs for lunch. Without thinking too much about it, and without washing up, I ate my sub and followed that up with a beer. Every time I took a bite I could smell the rot on my hands. There was absolutely no affect on my health! I'm gonna guess that I have been so exposed to everything under the sun, my immunity system is in primo shape! (or it could be the beer!) :) Lloyd

spraying with a good insect soap from a squirt can just be aimed at the pest , I have been pretty Organic for 35 yrs when I dig into my soil nothing but red worms and the big night crawlers have 3 compost bins and a giant leave bin for the fall collect leaves from the hole block mow them into my bagging old snapper commet66 then I run them through my chipper then into the open bin for the winter by spring they are ready for the garden mostly mulch but also till the left overs right in mixed with my first bags of fresh grass clipping plants and worms love it . also if your pest problem happens every year could be they are over wintering in in mulch or garden debris but my squash bugs are winged and fly in no matter what I do, Sometimes you do a companion planting radishes work for me I harvest a few for salads and munching but I let the rest flower also the seed pods are good to eat I put them in stir fry they have a little peppery taste . I have to go weed my spinach should enough for a salad in two weeks I plant in the fall apply a light mulch after its first set of true leaves appear and they are off and running come the early warm spring days 65-70 all week here they say happy gardening and good luck with the bugs

Week-long of humid weather, it rained today. I checked my 3 rooting-areas: In Smart-Pot with MG-potting soil, and in potting soil plus coarse sand, and in acidic pine-fines potting soil with mint-pureed (previous pic), the mint pureed have zero blackspots, but the other rootings either become yellow, or blackspotted after 8 days. Mint-pureed with salicylic acid caused wilting in the vase (no buffer, just acidic rain-water), but the mint-pureed WITH SOIL AS BUFFER is fantastic for rooting. See excerpt from below link: http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm " Thomas Powell notes that gardeners reported all sorts of plants growing remarkably better when given regular doses of tiny amounts of aspirin (1 part to 10,000 parts water; larger doses actually proved toxic),” Plants make salicylic acid to trigger natural defenses against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Aspirin thus is an activator of ‘Systemic Acquired Resistance’ (SAR). However, plants often don’t produce the acid quickly enough to prevent injury when attacked by a microbe. Spraying aspirin on the plants speeds up the SAR response. Tests have shown this works on many crops, producing better plants using less pesticide. They’re also testing aspirin and other SAR activators which could be effective against non-microbial pests such as aphids and root-knot nematodes,” Powell says. “This may be the most important research of the century. Stimulating SAR defenses with aspirin or other activator compounds could result in increased food production and the elimination of synthetic pesticides.” He recommends we experiment by spraying some plants with a 1:10,000 solution (3 aspirins dissolved in 4 gallons of water), leaving other plants unsprayed. Tests have shown that the SAR activation lasts for weeks to months." *** From Straw: Let's see how long my rootings in mint pureed stay clean. Mint has salicylic like aspirin and willow-rooting-hormone. Another German reserach showed that Salicylic acid also help plants to tolerate salt-injury better: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21143731 " Salicylic acid treatment via the rooting medium interferes with stomatal response, CO2 fixation rate and carbohydrate metabolism in tomato, and decreases harmful effects of subsequent salt stress."