Other than plastic, weeds can grow up through everything else listed in this thread. If you are serious about eliminating weeds to the max possible, get the heaviest mil black plastic you can find. Cut an X where the plant will go. Fold back the plastic at the X and throw some dirt on the flaps to keep them back. Plant your seedling and whisk off the dirt from the plastic flaps and let them go back to cover the hole again.

In the cool early season, leave the black plastic uncovered to help warm up the soil. When the weather starts to warm up, mulch on top of the plastic with wheat straw to keep the temps from getting too high.

That is the best way to keep weeds out of your tomato patch. For weed prevention, nothing else even comes close to this method's effectiveness.

One thing we have started doing the past couple of years is using more grass cover crops (particularly California Red Oats). Then we mow the cover crop multiple times as it develops, and put use the clippings extensively as green mulch.

[QUOTE=TomatoDon;675295]Other than plastic, weeds can grow up through everything else listed in this thread. If you are serious about eliminating weeds to the max possible, get the heaviest mil black plastic you can find. Cut an X where the plant will go. Fold back the plastic at the X and throw some dirt on the flaps to keep them back. Plant your seedling and whisk off the dirt from the plastic flaps and let them go back to cover the hole again.

In the cool early season, leave the black plastic uncovered to help warm up the soil. When the weather starts to warm up, mulch on top of the plastic with wheat straw to keep the temps from getting too high.

That is the best way to keep weeds out of your tomato patch. For weed prevention, nothing else even comes close to this method's effectiveness.[/QUOTE]

I used this method with 6mil black plastic last year. Some said the plastic wouldn't last from the sun. I also covered it with straw. It held up so well I'm thinking about leaving it down and plant peppers where the tomatoes were last year and vice versa. I'm going to discard the dirt in the hole, drop in a few pellets of Osmocoat and fill with fresh ProMix.

I had the recent realization that leaving my black plastic down over the winter keeps the Johnson Grass underneath it alive, enough to over-winter tomato diseases. I am fairly certain that is how I have managed to over-winter Fusarium wilt much farther north than should be possible.

>>I used this method with 6mil black plastic last year. Some said the plastic wouldn't last from the sun. I also covered it with straw. It held up so well I'm thinking about leaving it down ...

It may last a year, or more if it's covered. But unless it is UV resistant (made for outdoors) it will eventually break down, usually all at once, and make a mess. Don't ask me how I know this. YMMV.

I never advocated leaving it down forever. Ideally, it should be taken up after every season. At the very least, it can be pulled back and the sun and cold and weather can hit the soil it once covered. When you pull it back over the bed, you can also shift it a few inches so you don't plant in the same hole and dirt each year.

Cole, I'm going to take your advice, I don't need fusarium 150 miles north of you and Johnson grass is almost impossible to control. And yes I can imagine what a mess it would make breaking down at once. I used Dewitt Sunbelt on my garlic, it's UV resistant isn't it? And it's not a lot more cost than 6 mil.

I am loving our weather at the moment, single digit lows all week and high temps still below freezing. I know it's a few degrees colder for you. This is bug and disease killing weather. Making sure I don't shelter everything with mulch during this time is important, I think.

Got down to Zero last night! Haven't seen this in years...

I ran PEX radiant heat in all the floors of this cabin and never finished the job. Got a good deal on a couple Mitsubishi split units, they are good till it gets this cold... plan b is my fireplace insert, and it's cherry red.