Well, as for your math problems, you'll probably do better if you forget all of the terms that have been tosses at you ("area") and just think in terms of dimensions (visualize it). You have two dimensional issues (length and width without regards to depth - think of a sheet of paper) and you have three dimensional issues (length, width, and depth - think of a cardboard box). Most of the problems you're looking at (how close to plant different items) are largely two dimensional issues - you don't care about depth because the container either is or isn't deep enough for what your planting. Regardless of whether you're dealing with a two dimensional issue or a three dimensional issue, you can always find the total space occupied by multiplying the dimensions involved (2D is Width X Length. 3D is Width X Length X Depth) To address some your questions though there are a few things you need to realize about gardening (I'll probably get a lot of objections at this point, but such is life): 1. A plant doesn't care how much space it has to grow. It cares if it has the inputs it needs (water, light, nutrients) and enough physical space to fit what it's growing in (you can't make two carrots occupy the exact same physical space - they're side by side or some other setup. You can't violate the laws of the universe...) 2. Because we don't know exactly (we know roughly) what any given plant needs, and given the logistics and expenses involved, it's pretty much impossible to grow plants side by side smashed into each other with no space in between and still provide for their needs. This given, there has to be some space involved. How much space becomes a trade-off which is dependent upon your growing environment. The better you provide for your plants needs, the closer you can plant them. Given that you're not going to do it perfectly (or even close in most cases) - none of us do - there will have to be a reasonable amount of space. If you space your plants somewhat too close together, this means they're going to have less of the things they need (light, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.) and they won't produce as well. On the other hand, if you space them too far apart, you reach a spacing where adding additional space does not benefit the plant any further and production does not improve. 3. Square foot gardening (which isn't a good fit for container gardening, but there are some good things we can learn from it) hinges on the principle of production per space. It tries to maximize NOT YOUR PRODUCTION PER PLANT, but your production per given amount of space to grow in. If you space wider than typical square foot gardening recommendations, you can get better production per plant, but probably won't have as good of production per given area of space. So with square foot gardening principles, your accepting less production per plant so you can cram them in closer together and get a higher production per given area of space. That said, in the guidelines for square foot gardening, there's also an assumption made about the space requirements for a given category of plant. As any of us know that plant heirlooms, there is an infinite variety within any particular vegetable you care to grow - tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, you name it. Some of these varieties have very different space requirements. I've grown some tomatoes where the plant was so small and compact I could comfortably fit about 4 plants in a square foot. I've had other monster tomato plants that would have been more at home in a 2x2ft square - but only if I was growing vertically and let it go about 7ft straight up. 4. At the end of the day, you have to know the plant you're planting to have a real good idea about how much space it's going to need. How good you intend to take care of it will be important to how close you can space them. 5. Realize, that other than your root crops, many of your vegetables do most of their "underground work" in the top 6-8 inches of space. A foot depth is plenty for just about everything even including a decent number of root crops. Anything beyond a foot is usually a waste representing excess unused soil in the bottom of the container. If you find yourself with extra deep containers - strongly consider cutting some holes in the sides of the containers and planting something in the sides of the containers. Take a look at some of the strawberry planters available and you'll get the idea. 6. Don't forget about light. For your fruit producing vegetables (and really the others too), there's going to be a direct (very direct, very obvious) correlation between the amount of light your plants get and the amount of produce they provide. If you don't provide enough light, it's possible you'll have what looks like a very nice, very healthy, very big plant that doesn't produce a single fruit. Not one. I speak from experience. The first house I started gardening in as an adult looked like it had been dropped in the middle of a forest with no thought for a clearing. The only "clearing" I had was the road out front, so any planting I did I had to do on the front of my property. I had more moss than grass in my yard. I had a fenceline that went out to the front of the house that I grew tomatoes along. The closer you got to the road, the more light they received and the more tomatoes they produced. About 10 ft back from the front of that fence I had some really nice looking plants, but no tomatoes. I've had other examples of this as well. Proper sunlight is essential to crop production. Pay attention not only to your container placement in relation to the sun, but also in relation to the crop(s) in them - you don't want some of your crops shading the others enough they can't get proper sunlight. 7. You can grow crops of any size in containers - just be prepared to deal with the results. If it's a big melon, it's going to vine out over the sides and take up some space unless you arrange for it to go vertical. Big crops are also typically going to require more inputs, so make sure you're keeping enough of what it needs in that container (starting with water). If you're going to grow very high vertically, and you're outside, wind may be an issue. Be prepared to tie down, stake, etc. that container in some way so that it doesn't tip over when it has your seven foot tomato hanging out of the top (voice of experience). Some spacing I've done when container gardening which may be of value to you: typical 5 gallon bucket - 1 or 2 peppers. Square pot roughly 1.5x1.5ftx1.5ft - I put one large vining tomato in the center and one pepper in each corner. This is a bit tricky and crowded, but it can be done successfully. Shallow flower planters roughly 3ft long by 0.5ft wide by 0.5ft deep - 3 to 4 peppers, a row of strawberries, or 3 really small, compact tomatoes. Hope this helps.

Volume is more important than width, and depth may or may not be critically important. If you grow in a shallow container, you need to use a coarse medium to prevent the perched water table (PWT) from occupying a very high % of the soil. In other words, fine/heavy soils can be 100% saturated in a shallow container because the PWT may be as deep as or deeper than the container. The same soil in a deeper container will leave more unsaturated soil to grow in. If you don't understand what I'm trying to convey (an important part of container culture), you can find an explanation at the link below. Al Here is a link that might be useful: More info if you click me! ;o)

Hi, This is a great forum for getting help with your daylilies. Welcome! It isn't unusual for daylilies to not bloom the first year you've planted them. They need time to settle in and become established. They do need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight for best growth and performance. Since they are dormant, they may die back, depending on how cold it gets here in Texas this coming winter. Some of mine die back, and others sort of shrink in size until spring. Some dormants do very well here, but others will not survive more than 2-3 years. It just doesn't get cold enough over a sustained period of time for them. There are some really good on-line vendors where you can buy evergreens or semi-evergreens that should do well in your area. You can get a much better variety from these people. (Sunset Meadows, Sunshine Gardens, Aren't I Pretty, and Eclectic Gardens are very reasonable and are great people to do business with. Marietta Gardens and Maryott's are more expensive, but well worth every penny.) You might want to check the back side of the yellow spots on the leaves for orangey pustules. Give them the white glove (white Kleenex will do) test. If it rubs off, then you have a rust problem, which is very common here in the South. It is worse in the spring and fall. There are a number of good websites that can suggest remedies, if that be the case. Daylilies do grow new leaves from the center, and the outer leaves turn yellow in places first, eventually turning all yellow and then brown. It is natural for the outer leaves to die. If I have the time, I remove them. I hope this answers some of your questions. Nancy Nancy

On the ventilation question, the top fits so badly at the corners that it always vents. To hold in heat, I cover the closed box with an old blanket if it's going below 20. As a safety precaution against a closed lid on warm days, I place a wood stake across a front corner of the frame's top, then prop the lid open with another stake. If my prop fails, there's still an inch of open vent from the spacer. Very high tech! The great thing about the shower door is its weight, which makes it wind resistant. Still, I only use this thing from Nov to April, then store it through summer. In addition to my box, I have a couple of small hoop tunnels for kale, arugula, parsley, etc. They are useful, but not as reliable as the box with a heavy lid. Last week it was 5.6 degrees one night, then a few days later a half inch of ice. Under these conditions the tunnels needed checking (it was slippery out there!), but the box ran itself. Here is a link that might be useful: my website