I'm glad you're well now.
I am a newbie so I take this fwiw. Based on Pat Lanza's book, I'm guessing the sooner you make your lasagna bed the better, since it will have more time to compost, right?
(I made one bed in Nov to plant veggies in in Spring, adn I am hoping i will have enough time to make another one for blueberries in ... just waiting for the soil test results to come back).
Is the tomato still alive? Maybe you can just leave it in ... maybe your area is warm enough for it to survive as a perennial?

you can do it either way. I prefer to make them in the fall and let them sit but many other people plant directly into the beds after preparing them.

I dont know if planting seeds directly will work. I have never tried it, I am sure someone else will have a good answer for that one.

Glad you are feeling better!!!!

Carey

I also have the same question about seeds being directly sown in lasagna beds. I plan to try it, because it should work since they will be planted in compost!

In my experience, transplants have flourished even in new lasagna beds.

I recommend digging the ditch now, filling in, and then adding maybe a mound of store bought compost right about where you wish to grow the plants.

The store bought will provide a short-term source and by the time the plant roots start to reach out, your trench should be good to go.

Good Luck...

Hi Lisa,

Glad to see you are doing better and back to posting, you have been missed.

IMO, I would wait until the bed had time to break down some before planting. In your climate that shouldn't be long before the lasagna bed can be planted; you can always do as you did last year, sounds like that worked well for you if the bed is not ready.

As it relates to digging to see what has happened, why not? What you see may be a motivator to get you really in the mood (the bed will recover, just make it a small hole). The tomato plant I would cut off at the base and leave the root, the roots will add organic matter to the soil. I can't/won't speak on trench composting for I don't compost that way.

Lasagna beds are one of the best techniques I have found for my clay soil. Although I always make sure my beds are completely composted before planting, enough members have confirmed making and planting at the same time has worked...

Blutranes

Everything that I have read about Lasagna Gardening says you can plant as soon as you have the bed constructed, providing the weather is acceptable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Gardening 101