In this case you would make the rows run east/west and then you could have enough room for everything you want.To make the most of your space, you could trellis the tomato plants using string veggie trellis like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-String-Trellis-928/202819857 along one outside edge of the garden and plan on 4 or 5 tomato plants on that 1ftx8ft row. If you use a heavy producing hybrid variety of tomato like Super Sweet 100 and larger variety if you like, you will have plenty of tomatoes. I would also tuck a marigold plant between each of the tomato plants to help with pest problems. My tomatoes always grow better with marigolds around. Plant a 2ft x 8ft row of eggplant, again about 4 or 5 plants, right in front of the tomatoes. Since you'll be able to reach the tomatoes from the outside, you won't need space between the tomatoes and eggplant. Make a 2ft x8ft foot path next to give you good room to move through the garden, then plant a row of pepper plants 1ftx8ft. Depending on the variety, you may be able to get 1 per square foot of this row, so up to 8 plants total. This brings you up to 1ft tomatoes, 2 ft eggplants, 2ft walkway, 1ft peppers with 2ft remaining for squash. Pick a compact variety of squash and plant them as close as possible to the outer southern edge of the garden with the intention of them hanging halfway over the outer edge. Make sure you've amended the soil with a good amount of compost to keep things growing strong. That's what I would do to maximize the space, but I'm no expert. There are also different schools of thought about gardening so do a bit of research and see what fits you best. I loosely follow the square foot gardening method with modifications I've adapted through trial and error. This picture shows my old garden from 2yrs ago using a trellis netting. I used that set up to plant tomatoes the whole 16ft length and in the picture I used it for beans, pumpkin and watermelon. That bed it 2ftx16ft.

i used 2x12's. you can shape however you like. i dug about 2" down on the inside to retain water in the garden. (no bottom) however when i first built it, i used all garden soil from the store and since it drained so well, it dried out even better. i had to add about 40% native soil before the plants were content. but now its great. also in the winter when my plants die i use the garden for a compost bin. ive never had a problem with wood rot here, or termites. it's pretty dry here. but a 2x12 would be easy enough to replace in 4-5 years. as for the pots thats definatly a legitimate concern. any time i leave a plant in its store bought contaianer, it fries. maybe if you double up one would shade the other? worth a shot. good luck!

Further thoughts: I'd forgotten that dimensional lumber isn't actually the stated size. So 2x6s are 1.5x5.5 actual, and 2x8s are 1.5x7.25. If I did three board levels, the true heights would be only 16.5" and 21.75", respectively. And that's just the frame: in none of the raised beds I saw was the soil within 2" of the top. So, if I used three 2x8s, that would realistically mean a soil depth of about 19" or less. I've also sort of decided to make it 10x10 (or, two 5x10s) simply because I'll have trouble transporting 2x12s in my car. Ten feet is still tricky but more do-able, even if I'll have to buy/transport in batches. Plus, I was thinking about making an EMT conduit trellis for the tomatoes. Since that's sold in 10' lengths, that would make it almost perfect to affix to the sides with clamps (it would be going onto rebar buried in the ground, but the clamping would be for added stability). As far as compost goes, does it really need to be 50/50 for the whole depth? I.e., if I'm doing about 18-19", do I do a compost mix all the way down, or just the top half or two-thirds? On a similar note, I have a pile of sand around already. Should I spread that down for the bottom few inches, to aid in drainage? Flooding would be coastal--i.e., salt water--meaning that my only chance is to get the beds high enough to avoid it altogether, which is why I'm aiming high. Any really major flooding and I'm screwed (but in such a case I'll have way more to worry about than the vegetable garden).

I would say there are a number of factors that contributed to the growth difference in the Sun Sugar, which you mentioned. 2 weeks longer in their starter container - as mentioned that can cause some stunting. overcrowding - 8 tomato plants in a 4'x8' is crowded, 10 is very crowded and then 20 cuke plants?? ahhh! Even if you removed every sucker, that's not only overcrowded in the soil, but really reduces airflow, which can promote disease. No fertilizer used in the raised beds(whatever soil was added probably had minimal nutrients) water - while your plants in the raised bed probably weren't in dire need of water, they weren't getting the little extra dose. Young transplants need more frequent watering than mature plants, which have large root systems that can search deeper in the soil. They may have been able to squeak by with the rainfall, but that raised bed has a lot of mouths to feed. That's not to say that your plants in the raised bed won't produce delicious fruit and be healthy, but they weren't babied as much as your container plant. Adding high nitrogen fertilizer is not truly what you want, unless you plan on eating tomato leaves :-p A balanced fertilizer is what you want, so the plant can grow, but also produce flowers and fruit(which require the P and K as well). Ya live and ya learn! That's what gardening is all about!