Hi Susan,

Welcome to the forum!

How high above grade and how wide are your beds? And, will you be planting one row or two?

If your raised beds are four to five feet wide, you could plant either a double or single row, but I'd change the spacing depending on what varieties I was planting and whether they were determinates or indeterminates. I'd also stagger the two rows in an offset manner.

If your raised beds are three feet wide, I'd plant a single row and I'd plant them three feet apart, or maybe only 30" apart if they were determinates. There again, it depends on the plants.

I prefer to keep the plants a foot or so from the wood, but 6" or 8" isn't bad. The roots are going to spread out some, but mostly they will grow down into the soil. Sometimes my roots go down to the bottom of the bed and then under the boards and into the mulched pathways. Roots go where they want! Of course, I wouldn't put a tomato plant 3" or 4" from the boards if I could avoid it cause that might be crowding them a little bit.

With the jalapeno peppers, 15" pots ought to be fine as long as you have a good soil mix that drains well and also keep them well watered (moist but not soggy).

Good luck,

Dawn

The bed is 4 x 7 feet and is three 2x6s high. I removed the top layer of sod, down about 3"-4". I have it partly filled with mostly soil along with some compost and dried grass clippings. I'll be finishing filling it today. How much space at the top do you allow for mulch?

I have an Arkansas Traveler, a German Queen, and a couple of Rutgers. I was hoping a foot from the side would be sufficient. I do plan to zig-zag them, making two rows. Would it be too crowded if I put the Jalapeno plant in with the tomatoes instead of putting it in a pot?

Susan,

Since a 4 x 7 foot bed gives you 28 square feet, I think you have plenty of room to put the pepper in the bed. The number of plants you are putting in that bed should be fine.

I allow a couple of inches for mulch, but you could allow up to 4". By the time I've added mulch all season, it usually is about 4" thick and sticks up above the top of the beds including the top of the boards. Since it doesn't rain here much in mid- to late-summer, my mulch doesn't wash away. With the heavier rains you get there, you might not want to have your mulch higher than the boards though.

Dawn

Howdy, neighbor! I'm just north of you in LeFlore County.

Oops, baby just woke up so I'll just say ditto to what Dawn said on all counts. :-)

Diane

Hi back at you, Diane! Thanks for the welcome.

Welcome Susan! I am from McCurtain Co. too.(broken Bow) I've been living in Norman for 8 years. You should come to our garden party on Saturday in Oklahoma City. Its only a 4 hour drive!!! Check out the forum for Potluck. Its nice to hear from people from that neck of the woods. Good luck with your garden!

Thanks for the welcome, rookiegardener29! The garden party sounds like a great time, but I won't be able to go. If anyone posts about how it went, I would love to read about it.

I plan to bring my camera. I will take pics and post a follow up of how things went!