Tomatoes and Sq. Foot Gardening

[ninnymary]

I admit my interest has been piqued with all that I've been reading about Sq. foot gardening. I do not have the space for this but have a question regarding tomatoes on such a plot.

According to what I've read you plant one tomatoe plant on one square foot. Can I plant mine in a regular bed this close?

I have always planted them about 3' apart to allow for plenty of air circulation. But if I can plant them closer I could plant a whole lot more! Well maybe just 2 more plants.:/ since I don't have that much space.

Mary

 

[desertgirl]

I would think you could. There are those out there in the SFG comminity who say you shouldn't even plant tomatoes in adjacent squares (due to crowding), but last year as an overzealous noob I planted 2 and 3 in EACH square, and I got tons of maters (just turned into a tangled mess by the end of summer).

This year I built more SFG, but am playing by the rules and planting one per square (but I have many in squares next to each other.Always the rebel!).

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I have my Organic gardeners guide out. It states
Space between Plants:
In Beds: 18"
In Rows: 24" - 36"
Space between Rows:
3' - 6'

I know that if you plant to close together that you can and at some point will get some type of bacteria or fungus. The air circulation helps provent it. You still could be this with planting further but why risk it.

 

[Wildsky]

The "Square foot gardening" book says:

Bush type you can plant 4 per square, and the vine type 1 per square.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

The "Square foot gardening" book says:

Bush type you can plant 4 per square, and the vine type 1 per square.

How big is a square??? Is this the 4' square or the 12"square?

 

[LVVCHAP]

I have planted mine 18" apart for years. I use a cylinder made of reinforcing wire. Lowe's calls it remesh. It is 18" in diameter and 5 ft high. The openings are 6 x 6 making it very nice to just reach in and pluck a tomato. Each tomato is planted it the center and they grow right up the cylinder. I looked for some pics but don't have any that would show you a close up

 

[Wildsky]

The "Square foot gardening" book says:

Bush type you can plant 4 per square, and the vine type 1 per square.

How big is a square??? Is this the 4' square or the 12"square?

Per square foot.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Wow how do you have room? Even determinated take up more space then 1 sq ft. Have you grown like this?

I have a similar type of caging LVVCHAP. I am not sure of the diameter and it's raining and I'm not going to check. It's my brother's designs. It is made of a woven type of fencing (it has red at the top), anyway you measure out 8 sqs, cut the fencing, the attach by winding the loose piece of fencing aroung the last sq. so it's a big circle. I know it's not 18" diameter but it's probably close. I'll have to post a pic because I just reread what I wrote and it's not exactly crystal. It is pretty handy picking too and very sturdy.

 

[Wildsky]

Wow how do you have room? Even determinated take up more space then 1 sq ft. Have you grown like this?

I have a similar type of caging LVVCHAP. I am not sure of the diameter and it's raining and I'm not going to check. It's my brother's designs. It is made of a woven type of fencing (it has red at the top), anyway you measure out 8 sqs, cut the fencing, the attach by winding the loose piece of fencing aroung the last sq. so it's a big circle. I know it's not 18" diameter but it's probably close. I'll have to post a pic because I just reread what I wrote and it's not exactly crystal. It is pretty handy picking too and very sturdy.

I was quoting what the book said to plant per square foot. I haven't done it myself.

 

[ninnymary]

I have planted mine 18" apart for years. I use a cylinder made of reinforcing wire. Lowe's calls it remesh. It is 18" in diameter and 5 ft high. The openings are 6 x 6 making it very nice to just reach in and pluck a tomato. Each tomato is planted it the center and they grow right up the cylinder. I looked for some pics but don't have any that would show you a close up

Are your cages touching each other? If not, approximately how many inches between each other?

Mary