Yes..........definitely do not plant Nettles and Comfrey. If you do you will be sorry for the rest of your life. Comfrey tea is very good. If you have a large property go out on the back forty and plant Comfrey in a fence row.

Investigate to find a leaf supply. Use them for so called free mulch. My supply is three city blocks away at the Township yard waste collection place. They are all free.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders. If you can put a gallon of compost in each planting hole you may have enough. I would consider purchasing a bag of organic fertilizer with low numbers like 4-2-4. One handful when planting and a top dressing of a handful when the first bloom is set.

It sounds to me like you are planting a whole lot of tomatoes. If you are heavy eaters figure just two plants to each member of your family. Twice that will give you between ten and twenty pints to freeze. These are minimal estimates. I would hate to see you needing to hire help just to pick them all.

You are definitely thinking the right direction. Without some kind of cover crop or cover mulch you may be thinking to big. I have never used a cover crop while growing. Any cover mulch will work but the supply of material should be close by at the time you need it. My personal experience is that if I do not have huge pile of material waiting it just does not get done. That is when the trouble begins.

Hope this gives you some things to consider. I like the original question. Your care to tell us where you are in process helped me to think I know where you are heading.

I hope you get several other responses from which you may consider and choose some advise.

docgipe - Thanks. I did a little more research, and I don't think a cover crop would work this year. And I'm not sure it would be best for my situation anyway. I'm also reconsidering my nettles and comfrey plans. I don't think I'd have a problem with the sterile bocking 14 comfrey. But nettles could be trouble. Although I read they don't compete well with grass, and may not be too difficult to remove. I'm just wondering how much work it would be to keep them from spreading.

I have a bird delivered spot of nettles I have been putting Round-up and Weed Be Gone on for at least ten years and have not wiped them out. Yes I have tried vinegar and some other non working non-invasive products first....boiling water and hand digging. In all fairness there may be degrees of difficulty with various types that may be out there. I would not chance any as a planting.

Comfrey is ten times worse. I have my comfrey planted and contained in a huge Wall Mart plastic container. That gives me enough tea making material for my whole property needs. I have another friend who turned Comfrey loose where it was close to his gardens. He greatly regrets that decision. I do not know why the Comfey lovers do not tell the whole story. They seem to get overjoyed with the tea values which is OK. However that stuff is very difficult to control. It is not pretty to my eye. I can't even control it by mowing over it every week in an escapee grouping not far from my contained planting. Both are on my back forty acres so to speak here in suburban Williamsport, Pa.

I think common comfrey, the stuff that produces viable seed, would be a big problem. But I've heard that bocking 14 doesn't have the same problem with spreading, since it doesn't produce viable seed. But you still have to be careful about cutting up the roots, since they'll grow from the root cuttings. I wish I could find some nettles in the woods, and see how contained they are in a natural setting. But so far, no luck.

My tomatoes shall be interplanted with carrots and beans. I also have a section under winter rye that I shall be mowing for a mulch. The rye has allelopathic effect on weeds.

My only addition for fertility is cured compost. My tomatoes are 5-7 week old transplants. Further nutrients and beneficial organisms are contributed with bi-weekly compost tea.

This year I am also seeding white clover on paths.

My soil sample has been collected and any amendments shall be as directed by the report.

organicdan - My tomatoes will be mixed in with some carrots too, since most of my weeds are wild carrots. I was considering planting carrots anyway. But since they're already there, I don't have to worry about it. I'm not sure yet what else I'll be interplanting. I want to confuse the bugs, and hopefully help contain any tomato diseases that may show up. So I think a variety of things would be good. And I'm going to see if I can get by with weed tea, and maybe some compost, for fertilizer. I'll see how things go this season, and then figure out if I need to do anything this fall for next year.