I will bet you can start lettuce every day from today to march and it will work in seattle. why do you think you can not grow lettuce in seattle. The great grow season for Seattle is just beginning. You are in the only area of USA where you can truely grow spinach starting about now or soon in the future. Winter is the Seattle grow season. Seattle is very different from all other parts of USA. You need to get connected to local growers to learn all about growing in Seattle. Here is a link that might be useful: try this for help

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.

I did this one year. Cut your plants down to about 4 inches. They will send out new growth. Throw the bug eaten parts you cut off in the garbage (in a bag to help suffocat them and so they won't escape!). That is the only way you will be able to have some more beans. It is getting too late to plant a fall crop. Also, keep in mind, late crops are usually eaten by bugs. So, you might want to spray for bugs now that you are starting over with these plants. You could probably use a row cover immediately after you spray the plants. I'll leave it to you what you spray your beans with. I'm an organic grower. I usually tear the plants out and re-plant or cut them back and try to get another crop (based on how late in the growing season it is). Your only option would be to cut the plants back and let them bush back out.

Christi62, when I saw your post that the speckled BB are just now starting to flower I have a question for you. Lima beans are much more heat tolerate and actually do rather well in the heat were as the common beans like it cooler. If you planted them both at the same time I would quess that was late may? or early June. If so Commom beans need to be planted about a week after average last frost date which for you I would quess is first week of April so the common beans should be in the ground by 15 April with harvest for bush types in May and pole types in early June. The plants will be done with by July. The limas like good warm soil and can be planted early to mid May with first crop first of Aug and secound crop mid to late Sept. and with luck a third crop late Oct early Nov. I have always known that common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) Like cool nights and warm days and will not produce well when night temps exceed 70deg. The past two years have proved this bite of wisdom. I plant dozens of varieties of beans,Phaseolus vulgaris. The ones that are in the ground by mid April produce a bountiful crop the ones that are planted later will normaly only produce a small crop but with weather like the past two summers, I have had little to no production for beans planted in May . So to have a crop of beans they must be planted as soon as the soil is warmed in early spring. For us in the south we can do two crops a spring and a fall. Plant fall beans end of July thru end of Aug for pole types and mid Aug till mid Sept for bush types. Bush beans take about 4 weeks on average and pole types take 6weeks. Plant limas (Phaseolus lunatus) a couple of weeks later for you mid to late April or by mid May at the latest for harvest begining in late July till frost. I have pictures of several varieties of beans posted on my website. As of today only the limas are still producing the commom beans all died in Mid July and I still have not harvested all the seed yet. I will post some more pictures of the seed as they are harvested. Here is a link that might be useful: Beans