Andie: Not sure where you are in SoCal, but I'm in San Diego. So, my few years gardening experience might help. And Yes --gardening is addictive. Yo be honest with you, if your area gets below freezing(AT ALL), the peppers, tomatoes and cukes just aren't going to survive. Even if they do, they won't THRIVE. Those are WARM weather crops. And they need lots of sun -- something that even the mild winters here just can't supply. Don't get me wrong. If you start those veggies between March and June, you can get nice harvest all the way up until November and December. But STARTING them this late won't yield much of anything. I like to start my peppers and tomatoes in January indoors, under a shoplight with "daylight" flourescent bulbs. Cukes can be started in Feb. or March. Or I just wait until the nurseries bring in transplants around late March. There's actually more veggies that you can grow here in the fall and winter here - lettuces, spinach, root veggies, anything in the brassica family(broccoli,cauliflower,Kale,cabbage, etc.),snow peas, etc. Do a search in google for: vegetable planting guide along with the name of your county. You'll get a general idea on WHAT to grow and WHEN to grow them. You can still get some COOL weather crops in the ground, but you're probably best off finding transplants at Home Depot or (even better) your local nursery. All I saw at MY Home Depot was lettuce. I DID find some broccoli and cauliflower at my Walmart though. Good Luck. Kevin

Andy, did you drop off tomato plants at the Central Jersey swap?! If so, I took some for neighbors and they were so happy to get them. Both of them were putting in tomatoes last Saturday the day of the swap and complaining about not beig able to buy heirloom varieties. So imagine their surprise when I gave them 4 plants each and every one had a different name. Happy Campers!

Hello again Villian189! I am glad that you are rethinking the size of your beds. There are many knowledgeable people on this forum and I am sure you will receive some great advice. I am happy to share what works for me. I have six 4x4 SFGs with paths wide enough to allow me to run a mower in between the gardens and kneel down at the edges of the garden and reach in to every square. I have a trellis at the north edge of most of these beds made out of 2x3s with nylon trellising for vertical plants. I have found that planting 3 vining tomatoes along the 4-foot wide trellis works best. As gblack mentioned, you will get more production from each plant if they are given the room to thrive. I do prune the tomatoes a little and weave them into the nylon trellis as they grow and also wrap them with twine to the trellis supports. The tomatoes do crowd the row of squares immediately in front of them by mid-growing season. So I plant spring greens in these squares (lettuces, arugula, spinach, etc.) before the tomatoes are planted out. If you keep the lower branches of the tomato plants trimmed, they will provide a nice shade canopy for the greens as the summer heats up. Ok, according to Mel BartholomewâÂÂs The All-new Square Foot Gardening book, suggested plant spacing for the varieties you wish to grow are as follows: Tomato plants, vine type = 1/square along a trellis Summer squash, bush type= 1 in a 9 squares (3x3 area) Winter squash, vining type = 1 in a 2 squares (1x2 area) Basil = 4/square Oregano = 1/square Cilantro = 1/square Parsley = 1/square Peppers = 1/square Eggplant = 1/square Pole beans = 8/square along a trellis Lettuce = 4/square So, if I understood your latest post correctly, you plan on building two 3x4 SFG. This will give you 24 squares to work with. In this following suggestion, I have assumed you will have a trellis along the north side of each garden along the 4-foot side. SFG 1: Back squares: 3 vining tomato plants can be planted along the north side along a trellis. Middle squares: 3 squares of greens and/or lettuces. 1 square herb. Front squares: Peppers and eggplant, they will shade out your lettuce, but it may help keep the lettuce from bolting when the weather gets warm. SFG2: Back squares: Pole beans - plant these towards the back of the bed right along the trellis and they will only take up inches of your garden space and grow vertically. Middle and Front two squares, plus extra room from the partial bean squares: 1 bush type squash (such as zucchini or yellow summer squash) Remaining squares: herbs or a pepper. This should get you started. Let me know what you think. Rachel GrafixMuse's Garden Spot Blog

6 by 3, left to right Back row - buttercup squash x2, sugar baby watermelon, pole beans, pumpkin x2. middle row - tomato, beets, carrots, leeks, tomato, green pepper First row - swiss chard, celery, broccoli, leafy lettuce, cucumber, green pepper. As for my problem with the tomato and cucumber not on an edge am training it across the pepper and going to trellis it on the right, (north side). I have trimmed it at the base so the peppers have sun. If the peppers do take off it will grow criss cross. Im not sure if anything will work out in my garden now as I have discovered RATS!!!! They have dug under my garden and seem to live there. I have caught one large and 3 small. They have dug holes right up to the garden and are eating my plants!!! And I have squash vine borers and cucumber beetles!! all laying eggs. This is a battle for my first year