Last year, my tomato plants got eaten up by early blight (or something that
looks exactly like it) before I really realized what was going on and,
although I managed to get it more or less in hand, it seriously hurt the
plants and the tomato crop.

This year, I am seeing some signs of it on some plants and I am keeping on
top of it and I am starting to harvest some tomatoes -- but I don't want it
to go crazy on me again.

Do you think this fungus lingers in the soil from year to year to such an
extent that dramatic measures are required to get rid of it, in between
seasons? If so, what do you suggest?

This year, I notice that my two "Heatwave" plants have the most problem, the
"Merced" has just a few blighted leaves, and my "Sweet Millions" plant is
huge, covered with tomatoes, and not a single leaf is blighted. So, I am
thinking that some of these plants probably have an engineered
disease-resistance to this kind of thing while others do not. Comments?
Suggestions for particularly blight-resistant varieties?

gary
austin