Check this out, and then look at the SqFt Gardening forum here on GW. Might answer alot of your questions.

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

In Sacto I could expect my toms to send their roots down 3 feet in my soil there. They will go down ~5 if the soil is loose enough (in SS zone 17, though...hmmm...). Rule of thumb: the more soil volume, the more water and nutrients available for the plant and the more mass to buffer temperature swings, esp in SS 17, where you want to keep your heat if it is foggy all day (meaning fewer swings is better for the plant). And more soil weight will keep your cages anchored in the wind! Second, design the planters to your landscape and architecture, not what you think you might grow at some unknown time - that is: what makes sense for that space and volume? Then adjust your toms to the box you build, and their spacing will work itself out. 12" is too narrow. 18" maybe, depending upon the variety, have them protrude over the edge of the box, no problem, and they'll change the lines in your yard as well. Last, my clients almost always wanted bigger everything after time, if that helps any (but it depends upon your space). Bigger patio, bigger planters, bigger yard, bigger pots, bigger bigger bigger. HTH. Dan

Congratulations on your success! I agree that digging a big hole and amending with compost will probably do the trick. You might also mulch around the area to attract earthworms, which helps loosen up the soil. (See the mulch forum for lots of info about that.) Another option would be large pots. Stupice is particularly well suited to container growing. If you can get pots the size of 5-gallon pickle buckets with drainage holes, they will do great. If you end up with leftover plants you can't keep, I'd urge you to find a local Victory Garden project to donate them to. There are lots of community gardening projects where volunteers grow vegetables to supply food banks for the hungry. It's a great way for your extras to go to good use. Happy gardening! Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Soil and mulch forum