Thanks everyone for your advice, this 4'x4' is a single bed, so if the plants exceeds their space they won't be encroaching on other plants. We are going with two plants. EG - 54 fruits from 4 plants was wonderful! As for the butternut, after reading your posts, I've decided to plant one seed in a 4x8 bed with the trellised cucumbers and give it full run of the bed. This bed is also going to be covered with insect cloth. The other butternut will go on the old rose trellis and we will have to beat off the bugs. I love squash, can't you tell! I saute crookneck squash with sliced onions in butter and my husband says it like eating candy. My other 4x8 will be planted with trellised pole beans, bush limas, and cherry tomatoes, green onions and 2 eggplants. The okra will be in a bed on the west side of the house in native soil with compost added. Granny, this is for you - loved your idea for using clorox bottles cut up for plant stakes, what about using old wire lamp shade frames for plant supports?

My brother doesn't grow mint, it just grows... everywhere. Like Justaguy, it's in the cracks of his concrete patio and he has to keep pulling it like weeds. I love it though, he has a mini-hedge of mint between his patio and his raised bed garden. Whenever I go over I give it a kick to brush my foot through the hedge and it smells like mint for a good five minutes. His herb garden is a jumble of herbs. It's 4x4 but he doesn't follow SFG. The basil was huge, and grew together. The rosemary is insane but at least that mostly goes up. The rest just grows together so I'm not even sure what it is. That said, if you want it managable (if that's even possible), I'd suggest 1 per SF. Let us know how it goes. Sinfonian Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden in progress...

I had 27 tomato plants last year. Six were romas, two were supersweet 100's, one was yellow pear, and the rest were either big heirlooms or hybrid, but mostly heirlooms. I was feeding just myself and my husband and I liked having some to share with family and friends on occasion and plenty for freezing/canning. I was so glad I planted that many in the end, because I didn't account for the ones that ended up with blossom end rot due to the drought we experienced last summer, nor the ones that the tomato worms would ruin, or the ones that the birds/squirrels/rabbits would nibble on. I ended up with just enough for ourselves, and some for GOOD friends and family, and I froze about 20 quarts of tomatoes and 10 pints of tomato sauce. So, this year I have, I think, 42 tomato plants. I need to recount with my latest purchase. But I decided to grow more so that I'd definitely have plenty for us and the critters and pests. Plus, I just love to grow different varieties. This is my long-winded way of saying plant at least 30 plants for a big supply of tomatoes. In perfect circumstances, 15 might do you fine, but you never know what weather or animal factors might come into play.

Dave, I can only speak for myself. I had no troubles from my 'jungle'. They were easy to harvest. Were caged and had no appreciative broken branches (as many as would have broke from distant spacing.) I did not 'aggressively' prune (just kept each plant to 2 - 3 main branches until they were 5' tall, then they were allowed to do what they wanted.) I used no fungicides and did not have any appreciative difference in disease than anyone else posting their experiences on this site, and... I used no pesticides at all and had the same problems with stink bugs as everyone else in my area, including those who used chemicals. I didn't even fertilize as heavy as others and did fine. As I said, there are many ways to garden, and those of us with a lot less space than others will continue to just ignore the recommendations given by well meaning gardeners with acreage to spare. Should Etta crowd her plants? That will be entirely up to her. Instead of pressuring her one way or another, I will just continue to phrase it as I have... there are many different ways to garden, and each gardener is going to work under their conditions in the way which seems appropriate to them. I've seen 100's of plants squeezed into small spaces with no soil, nor sun whatsoever. I've seen many of the so-called 'rules' broken with incredibly positive results. Every place I've gardened I've had neighbors absolutely fawn over gardens that out-produced everyone following the many 'rules'. This isn't to say I'm a better gardener than someone else, in fact, I'm quite mediocre. However, what it means is that I have been able to push the limits of what so many have learned, and have been successful in my efforts. Why? Because I listen, I learn, and I do it the way I want to... When giving advice, I have no desire to make mini-me's. Rather, it seems appropriate to encourage others to learn to be themselves. For example... in saying that there aren't ways to preserve watermelons... Just make juice from the entire fruit and freeze it. Mix some simple syrup into the juice, pour it into ice cube trays, and voila, watermelon freeze pops. Google watermelon rind and you'll find lots of uses. I wasn't kidding about the wine either. There might be things no one has thought of yet, and if everyone follows the so-called 'rules', there never will be. Should Etta listen to me? That will be up to her. Hopefully, she'll read the differing responses, realize that there are many ways to proceed, want to do what's best, and then... do it her own way!