Help needed - how to position the rows of tomatoes?

ivanaz · April 25, 2013

I have unexpectedly found myself an extra little garden for this season. The tomatoes and cukes that I had started from seed are ready to be transplanted but I'm puzzled as to how to position the plants. The garden is a rectangle - 15X26 ft. The longer side is east-west. There are tall structures pretty close to the east and west and a 8ft high fence to the south. The fence is pretty close, but the shade covers just a few feet of the garden. The structures to the east and west cast a shade so that the sun hits the east side around 9 and the shade starts on the west end around 2. I realize that this is far from ideal, but that's all I got.

My question is how should I position 20 tomatoes that I want to grow there so that I can use a part of the garden to grow chilli peppers, cukes and eggplants. If I put the tomatoes in two rows along the north side of the garden can I trellis the cukes parallel to the tomatoes? If I do, how far away do the cukes have to be planted not to shade the tomatoes? Can I fit 20 indeterminate tomatoes in two 26 ft rows? If I do it in two parallel rows won't the 'southern' row shade the 'northern' one? I was thinking of putting the eggplants south of the cukes and the peppers south of the egg plants. Is there a better way to organize these 4 vegetables?

April 25, 2013	#1
ivanaz Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Serbia Posts: 5	Help needed - how to position the rows of tomatoes? I have unexpectedly found myself an extra little garden for this season. The tomatoes and cukes that I had started from seed are ready to be transplanted but I'm puzzled as to how to position the plants. The garden is a rectangle - 15X26 ft. The longer side is east-west. There are tall structures pretty close to the east and west and a 8ft high fence to the south. The fence is pretty close, but the shade covers just a few feet of the garden. The structures to the east and west cast a shade so that the sun hits the east side around 9 and the shade starts on the west end around 2. I realize that this is far from ideal, but that's all I got. My question is how should I position 20 tomatoes that I want to grow there so that I can use a part of the garden to grow chilli peppers, cukes and eggplants. If I put the tomatoes in two rows along the north side of the garden can I trellis the cukes parallel to the tomatoes? If I do, how far away do the cukes have to be planted not to shade the tomatoes? Can I fit 20 indeterminate tomatoes in two 26 ft rows? If I do it in two parallel rows won't the 'southern' row shade the 'northern' one? I was thinking of putting the eggplants south of the cukes and the peppers south of the egg plants. Is there a better way to organize these 4 vegetables?