Well Tracy, I am sure you already know this, but I have been experimenting with no till on untilled pasture/sod. Much like you say, just dig a hole for each plant right in the sod. However, I mulch a strip first then plant through the mulch paper and sod. The reason for this is mowing. To keep the grass from becoming a "weed" instead of a companion plant/living mulch, you need to mow between the rows. But one really cool thing about mowing is that the grassland biome co-evolved with ruminant grazers. (bison sheep deer etc...) So they respond to grazers/mowing with a specific set of physiological changes in the roots. In essence they respond by pumping sugars and other nutrients as well as carbon into the soil. They do that to fertilise the soil for rapid regrowth. The cool thing about it is that the fertilised soil will have your tomatoes growing in it. All you need to tap into that is a symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi. Cheap to inoculate if the soil lacks them. The mycorrhizal fungi will transport the nutrients to the new dominant plant...in this case your tomatoes... every time you mow the grass between the rows.
That was the first part. The second part was figuring out how to suppress the grasses and weeds right in the rows enough to allow your tomatoes to become dominant. newspaper cardboard and mulch does slow it down...but it eventually breaks through. Especially tough ones like Johnsongrass and Bermudagrass, things like that. I don't mind them in between the rows. Mower handles that just fine. But in the rows .. not so good. So two things I learned. One is just before you transplant mow to 2 inches...then EXACTLY 5 days later mow again right down flush to the ground as low as your mower goes. Immediately lay your paper and mulch over it. This stunts the grass long enough for your tomatoes to get up and out. I also add marigolds and basil between the tomato plants. Later in the year when the grasses finally start breaking through, cut flush to the ground, don't pull. Details can be found here:
The Red Baron Project year one That first year it was my yard which was thick mostly bermudagrass. But following year I tried it in pasture. Just like what you have.
I even let the between row grass get 6-8 inches tall before I mow. I figure the taller it is before I mow (without shading the tomatoes), the more mowing fertilises my plants. (use a mulching mower if you have one)
You might be surprised how well it works. It worked better than I thought it would when I came up with the crazy idea 4 years ago.
Since then, every single day I have been working on this. Seriously..every day. I read every scrap of info about soil science and soil biology, permaculture, effects of carbon, and how it gets there..you name it. I do this to try and get and understanding of just what is going on. (and tweek it for even better results)
I even managed to grow sweetcorn with the concept........but modified even easier.
So I would say that since you are in a similar situation as I was...I couldn't plow or till either.....you might want to try it and see if it works for you too.
If you have questions, happy to help.
April 6, 2015
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