Corn should be planted in a block for best polination. In other words if your bed is 3' deep then your corn should be 3' deep by as long as you wish to make it.

The arrangement of your other plants is irrelevant, put them however you like. Lettuce doesn't need to be shaded, it grows fine in full sun. Some think lettuce needs to be shaded so it doesn't bolt(go to seed) as quickly. From what I have seen heat results in bolting, not light.

Why are you growing 6 cucumber plants??? If you intend to make pickles then I can understand, but otherwise 1 or 2 plants will satisfy the cuke needs of any family, they are fairly prolific if you keep picking them when they are small.

I had problems growing cukes last time, I'm having problems with butternut squash in regular beds right now, (silvery leaves from some kind of bacteria that dries up the 'veins' of the leaf and eventually turns it brown, sigh)
so I figured if I plant 6 cukes I would have a better chance of getting something out of them. I will be giving some away if all take, to neighbours and church family. Cukes are quite popular here.
Thanks for the corn info... I never grew them before. I'd read about the pollination but completely forgot.
I've recently harvested lettuce in regular beds and some of them had bolted, I waited to long to pick them, plus this place is really hot!

Gotcha on the planting many to have a couple live thing, I have frequent issues with my cukes and similar plants as well. It is because I refuse to spray stuff in my veggie garden to deal with the pests/diseases.

I am considering growing a single cuke in a whiskey barrel half next year outside the main garden area to see if I have less problems that way.

For the lettuce you might consider growing it in your winter. I am not familiar with your climate so I can't comment on that, but I find that here the best lettuce is started inside the house in the late summer (inside temps 70F, outside 80-90F which is too hot for germination) and set it out once it grows to look like lettuce. By that time the days are getting cooler and the nights quite cool (50-60F). This way the lettuce never gets hot enough to want to bolt and some varieties will continue to grow throw many frosts. With a cold frame over it some folks can keep it growing all winter even after the ground freezes. In other words start it from seed at the end of your hot season so it produces for you during your cool season for best results.

Mikhailah,

google the words "companion planting" and find some lists of what each plant "likes" and "dislikes". Don't go too crazy with it, sometimes the lists contradict eachother, but pay try particular attention to what each plant dislikes. I did that and found that for example, lots of things don't like onions, but a few do so I put the onions in a corner and surrounded them by the plants they liked. It gave me some 'rules' to go by. And it may even work :).

There's a book called carrots love tomatoes that explains some of the concepts (I don't have it yet but it's supposed to be good). Some of the combo's protect eachother agains't pests, others give needed shade, and others prevent you from planting onions with things that will be stunted by them.

Best of luck.

Kristi

Oh and be sure to plant enough corn plants and in a block like people said, I think a minimum is like 9 plants to get good wind pollination. If you have bad pollination you will get corns that aren't full of kernels. (I gave up on corn this year cause I just don' thave the space to plant that many.