Charles, I'll be 69 this year and have citrus in heavy 22" clay pots. I also have figs in half whiskey barrels. Been rethinking that one. Anyway my husband and I move them with a 2 wheeled cart (dolly). I think that I could move the clay pots by myself if I had to - probably not the half whiskey barrels. The leverage is all wrong. If worst comes to worst, I'll top and root prune the plants to fit them in smaller pots, sort of bonsai them over time. I suppose when I get very old I may not be able to grow the plants that I like but I intend to fight it. Buylady, We move the citrus out in the Spring about mid-April and back in in the Fall about October 7th. The timing is based on frost dates here. Because the moves are only twice a year, it may be easier to coordinate it with your helper than this year. Cath

The biggest issue is fungus gnats. Tiny black flies that love to live indoors or out and infest every single plant even if its in a pot. They are smaller than fruit flies. Outdoors, I use a form of Bt and also benefical nematodes as I used to get a LOT of these fungus gnats, they even get inside the leaf layers of brussles sprouts, which are not good eating when you see tiny back flies in the cooking water. Indoors, when I start seeds, I use a mix of seed starting soils, like Natural Beginnings from Gardens Alive, as well as a Jiffy mix that is sold by the bag through sevral web sites, and even shreaded coconut husk fibers called coir. These are all quite 'clean' and have little to no real soil in them. They help hold just the right amount of moisture too. The fungus gnats usually come from outdoor soils, lay eggs in the soil that turn into tiny maggots and these feed off the tender roots of any plants. Thats one reason you see house plants suddenly dieing for no apparent reason. To check indoor plants, I use yellow sticky traps that rest horizontally on the edges of the pots. After just a couple of days, these traps can become loaded with tiny black gnats! Outside is where I use a form of Bt and also water in the beneficial nematodes that live in soil and go after the fungus maggots. My garden soil here isn't perfect, but if I can reduce harmful bugs from killing plants, its a big help. I use scent lures and sticky traps for my apples, peaches, and even cucumbers. Each sticky trap has a scent lure that attracts the pests common to these plants. Some plants and trees are highly resistant to diseases and bugs. Asian pears, asparagus, and blueberries to name a few. It may be better to head to a nursery/garden shop, as Home Depot and Lowes tend to offer a very limited amount of organic supplies. Here, we have only a very few products that are organic and most are for bugs (Neem) and disease control (Serende). The bags of soil offered by Miracle Grow tend to be a bit harsh as they simply use chemical equivilents to the real soil nutrients. I have a small leanto shed that stores corn gluten, fish meal, humate, kelp meal, and a few others. I use these as natural nitrogen additives, or in the case of humate, many minerals and micro nutrients. If you do plan to spray for any bugs that might be feeding on the leaves, try Neem. I wouldnt spray any herbs with anything unless the bugs are chewing holes in the leaves however. Bt, is a liquid mixed with water and has several different strains, of which one is for the gnat control. Ever hear of squash vine borers? These bugs bore into the base of squash vines and destroy the insides which cause the plants to quickly die. I have used another form of Bt and actually injected it into the main stems of squash plants, by using an insulin syringe. The Bt attacks the borers and kills them. Imagine a garden thats a living thing like us, it just can't survive all by itself if you want good yields and quality crops. I have only 2000 sq. feet of garden space, and there is also areas all around the edges of my garden that have fruit trees, or some permanent plants like asparagus and horse radish, which I harvest every spring. For your pot of cilantro, add some seeds every 2-3 weeks, so they can give you more than 1 or 2 harvests. Only thing is, if they are clumped together, they are hard to seperate if there are two stages of growth within each other. Indoors, I start about 60 petunia plants, 60 or so impatien plants, peppers, tomatos, basil, and a few others about mid April. This year, seedless watermelons with a necessary pollinator, as well as a few cantaloupe types. Brussels sprouts again too, but will be covered with a light weight white plastic fabric to block out the bugs, then my big batch of corn, which I plant every other year. I have a small tractor and a big rototiller to turn the soil over every spring, and work in any soil ammendments needed. Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Beginnings

First you need to find out if your problem is actually Late Blight, or if it is something else. Good Late Blight pics: http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm Pics and/or good descriptions of multiple diseases: http://kdcomm.net/~tomato/Tomato/d_out1.html -- take a look at B. and C. http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html -- Begin with the green chart. Look at the diseases which have an X in the "Stem" column and also say "leaves" in the right-most column. Do they match your symptoms? http://vegdis.cas.psu.edu/VegDisases/Identification_files/tomatoleafspot.htm#septorialeaf

Thank you all for your support it means the world to me. I've always been the type to beat myself up for not knowing how to do the things just right. It would not be so bad if dad's mind wasn't clear as a bell right now. His abuse of his medicine is a real concern for me. I got a call from him today saying he needs his antibiotic for his sinus, well he'll only take one or two and he says it cures his sinus. You and I know this isn't so and even if it does help it's short term, taking the antibiotics like that can cause harm but no one can get this through to my dad. I have had so many problems with doctors in my past that I don't trust them easily. It was me that saved my husband from a possible stroke, his blood pressure was high and I could tell when it was up but with the sleep apne he had to take showed how bad it was. They could not get it down all night so I marched into our dr.'s and told them about this and they looked back at his chart and seen that it was high everytime he went in for a check up. Now why don't they pay more attention to this? This is why I fear looking for yet another doctor. I have no luck with them. Only once did I have a wonderful doctor and within a year my insurance changed and he didn't take it :( He was the one that listen to me about my weight and took test finding that my thyroid was bad. I went through years with a sore throat and my throat closing up at night in my sleep, waking up unable to breath for 10 or so seconds but felt longer and didn't know if I'd get my breath. If it's wasn't for y'all I don't know if I'd be able to be strong for my dad. I never knew it could be so hard. I look at pictures of my grandparents, dads parents and talk to them and wishing they were here. They had a hard life and I can just image that they went through just what I am now. They took care of my great grandmother for 17 years then told my grandmothers brother it was time for him to care for his mother and give them a break. Great grandmother was called little granny and I never seen pictures of her but heard great stories about her, I found a picture of her the other day and I'm so happy to finally seen her, she past away a few years before I was born. Sorry for being long winded. Barbara