Is there a lazy way to plant tomatoes?

[antipodes]

As I am quite behind on the plot, I am looking for some time saving ideas. My toms will need to go out very soon! I had an idea:
a no dig planting method...
I wanted to build up hillock rows, using all my horded grass clippings and manure, cover that with wet cardboard like a sort of upside down guttering, then a slim trench down the middle of each row filled with compost: black plastic, toms through holes into the compost. That way I don't have to weed and dig over that area.
Between each row I want to leave another slim row filled with compost and plant the melons. That way, they too will feed off the nutrients surrounding the tomatoes.
I don't know if I have described it accurately. Does that seem workable? Or am I just being lazy? Since I still have to weed everything else and dig over the bean plot AND scrape all the edges of the plot away with a pick ans shovel, I really need something that will get the tomatoes going as painlessly as possible.

[antipodes]

[goodlife]

Certainly worth of try...sound ok to me...only but I find in your plan..the melons...they do not normally produce fruit outdoors in UK and it is still bit early for planting outdoors anyway..you may think if you could do some sort of plastic tent/ cover over them to give them heat as much as possible.
You may end up growing your melons and toms that way in future too... ;D

[littlebabybird]

goodlife i think antipodes is in france

[antipodes]

yes quite right, my garden is in Nantes, so well south of the Uk :) But of course that is not to say that they don't need heat, as it is temperate here (about 4 or 5 degrees warmer than the UK on average it seems to me, our summer temperatures on average are min 14, max 25), but not quite Mediterranean heat! Still, these are local varieties so should work. I was told that the black plastic all around them will provide reflected heat that will help them to ripen.
I was just wondering if you think the "suffocation" method will be OK to kill the weeds underneath or will I have to weed then use the plastic ( i am going to use black plastic anyway as I won't always have time to weed the tomatoes)? That seems like a lot of work to me  :-[ and time is such a precious commodity as my hours on the allotment are kind of limited.

[Robert_Brenchley]

My lazy way to plant toms is to cover the bed with a couple of inches of grass cuttings, then put the toms in through that. I leave a little gap in the mulch around each plant. Your way sounds unnecessarily complex.

[PurpleHeather]

Black plastic works.
Mulching with grass works too.

Tomatoes do need a lot more attention than some other plants, canes for support, pinching out. Keeping watered & fed. Looking out for diseases.

However there are some varieties which are intended for growing out doors dwarf so do not need canes and bushy so they do not need to be pinched out.

If you are using plastic then dig the hole first, then put the plastic over the hole and cut into the plastic. Trying to dig a hole through the plastic is hard work.

You wont get giant toms from them. But you should get some nice sweet little ones for eating whole.

[antipodes]

hmmm I have already prepared all my tomato plants - I have DOZENS!! too many for my little plot so I will give away the others. They are already about a foot high  ;D And it's too late to think about bush varieties - i have already sowed Gartenperle cherry, Harzfeuer salad toms and big Marmande beefsteaks. I also have a ton of bamboo that has been given to me and that I will use as stakes. A friend has explained how to tie the bamboo together to form a sort of grid that the tomatoes can run along.

Why do I need the black plastic etc...because I have a bindweed problem, so the ground must be well covered. and I don't think I can't plant them directly in the poo/grass clippings, hence the compost trench.
I am hoping that all the organic matter I want to put around them will suffice to keep them fed over the season.
As I don't want to dig (well Ijust don't have time) just mulching them won't do.
Well I will try my experiment and post some pics when I have done it  ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm going to be growing around 50 outdoor toms this year. Support is the biggest bugbear; stakes don't seem to work as the plants always fall down anyway.

[antipodes]

my friend's dad told me to do it this way: put one stake on the toms, then tie up horizontal stakes between each plant. Tie the main vine to the central stem then as the fruit forms on the side branches, tie them sideways. I am going to try that and see if it works. I will put little notches in the bamboo so the horizontals tie well together with the verticals.
I am growing Marmandes which as you know give big fruit so they will need good support (sounds like we are taking about bras!! firm support where you need it most! ha ha)
No greenhouse so only rough and ready outdoor stuff for me...

[Robert_Brenchley]

Sounds worth a go. It can't be worse than having everything collapsed on the ground and vulnerable to slugs.

[PurpleHeather]

What is less easy than a grow bag?

[antipodes]

 :)
good point except:
1. My toms are outdoor only so a grow bag is out (I guess)
2. I have never actually SEEN grow bags here is France? Maybe because everyone only does outdoor toms??? After all the weather (at least at our latitude) is warm enough for all the summer veg (toms, melons, cukes, squash, corn).

So I am going to stick with my strange raised row method, completely made up, which might not work (I think I will do a few just in teh ground and compare  ;)
It will keep my neighbours amused at any rate... I don't know if they have seen the lasagna bed yet  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[saddad]

Throw some damaged tomatoes down where you want them next year.. and pick the ones you want from those that germinate!! Seriously I grew Yellow currant and new plants sprang up at the end of May for the next three years, a great indicator that the soil is warmed up!!
;D