the leaves on my tomatoes are turning yellow shrivelling up drying out then falling off this can happen all the way up the plants its happenning to both container and garden plants

Is this happening from the bottom up?

First, I would encourage you to go to the Tomato Problem Solver and look through the various leaf disorders. Suggest you start with the pics and descriptions of Early Blight. However, be sure and have a look at some of the other pics as well.

With EB, you're going to be looking for the following "Leaf symptoms of early blight are large irregular patches of black, necrotic tissue surrounded by larger yellow areas. The leaf spots have a characteristic concentric banding appearance (oyster-shell or bull's eye)."

yeah it starts at the bottom and works it way up the plant finally killing it this takes a period of about a month while the plant just keeps bearing all the while i have looked at the problem solver but the pictures just dont look like my problem they have the same yellowing and some mild black spotting but nothing as bad as in the pic its happened so far to grosse lisse both in the ground and in pots to cherry tomatoes, burkes backyard tomatoes, ox hearts and now romas ive been growing tomatoes for years and have only noticed the probl;em this year. i was wondering if it could be from planting in the same spot year after year although i do compost and mulch add lime and fertilize so im afraid im still at a loss

Thought I'd mention that with the wilts, one aid in diagnosis is to cut a cross section of stem and have a look for discoloration -- here's a good site on both Fusarium and Verticillium wilts.

href=http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3122.html

So, that may be something you may want to look into, if you're thinking it's not Early Blight. However, don't expect what you're seeing in your garden to look exactly like that picture. I think it is a rather extreme example of the spots myself. Also, I find that the spots don't really tend to always be that round or oval. And you will also see some 'half spots' along the leaf margins.

But again, look carefully at what spots you do see, and look closely for that banding, as in:

"Leaf symptoms of early blight are large irregular patches of black, necrotic tissue surrounded by larger yellow areas. The leaf spots have a characteristic concentric banding appearance (oyster-shell or bull's eye)."

Have you had a look at the pictures of Alternaria
canker, bacterial speck, septoria, etc. to rule those out?