I'm going to kill them if I do this, aren't I?

[RunsWithScissors]

Have 18 lovely tomato plants growing from seed.

Forgot we are going away the end of the month for 11 days... so no way to water them.

Was wondering if it would be safe to plant some out in raised beds with fleece overtop to keep them warm.

Will this work? Or will they end up getting killed off by cold? We're in the south just outside of London.

If not, what are my best options?

Help.

On a soaked towel in the bath?

Plastic bottle cloches over the top bottle top off.

I kept mine alive last year with my very own insane watering invention. I drilled holes in bottom of the sides of a milk bottle, about 1-2" above the base, & poked string through. I then tied knots in the strings, leaving enough that the ends of the strings rested in the base & pulled the string back through so the knots blocked the holes & filled the milk bottle with vermiculite until it was above the level of the holes. I then buried the strings in the soil & spritzed the exposed bits of string until they were soaking. I carefully filled the milk bottle with water this bit got rather messy, taking care not to disturb the vermiculite too much. I was ridiculously chuffed when we came back a week later to healthy looking tomatoes & an empty bottle that was so air-tight that it had collapsed in on itself as the tomatoes drew the water out!

I'm considering doing the same again this year purely because we had problems with flies last year & this would avoid having any accessible standing water around. I'll use a glue gun to secure the string-knot in place & make the bottle watertight so shouldn't need the vermiculite. DH is pondering how well that would work though as he thinks 'the glue may not adhere to the plastic very well'!

Won't it be almost time to plant out anyway

I'm sure I put mine out end of April last year.

Wow jojo, you're one of those people that probably has a working gin still in their shed. Come the apocalypse, I want to buddy up with you!

mis had thought about bottle tops or bathtub, might be the best way.

laurie I think it is close, but the late frosts have worried me more than they probably should have.

Hmm, maybe I'll divide the plants and try a few different ideas. Then hope at least one way works.

Thanks!