As Jim said - anywhere from 2-4 feet depending on how you plan to support them and if you plan to prune or not. The Growing Tomatoes forum here (linked at the top of the page) has a FAQ on pruning and spacing and a search of that forum will pull up several discussions on plant spacing for you too. I linked some recent ones below. There are also some discussions on companion planting there. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Plant Spacing discussions...

Also consider your water budget. I just found out a friend is paying $600 a month for water!! (an acre, but only 3 people in the house, so it's mostly outdoor usage, for the lawns and the ivy [gag] they planted in the middle of summer). The LA water district used to have a waterwise landscape planning website. See if you can find out what the neighbors with landscaping pay for water, or what the past water bills were in your house (without irrigation). Think about whether you need to add irrigation, since it's a big initial expense and, if you end up with calif/medit plants, you may need only temporary drip lines to get them established. Starting in mid to late October, that's a perfect time to plant garlic, which will be ready to harvest in late spring. I've planted it as late as early December, using whatever different varieties I can find at the local farmers' market. Easy plants you can plant in late fall are artichokes (plants) and from seed, arugula, fava beans (as a cover crop, but also have pretty flowers and edible beans later), calif. poppies, and other calif. native wildflowers. You can ask for plants on your local freecycle group -- I gave away a bunch in the spring. Think about where the sun hits the house in the winter (lower angle, smaller arc) and summer (higher angle, wider arc), and plan to have deciduous trees or vines to block the summer sun (to keep the house cool and save on possible a/c bills). Also, find out if your area has seasonal winds you might want to deflect. Most important, don't try to do it all at once. A herb garden is where I would start, too. As much as I too would be eager to get it all planted as soon as possible, I highly recommend what the permaculturists call "careful and protracted observation" to learn your site.

Just some ideas: You have 3 plants that need full sun. The tomatoes will grow the largest and you don't want them shading the other plants. Marigold and basil are good companions to tomatoes. The peppers and eggplant would probably do fairly well in containers. In reality, each tomato could use at least 4 squares. Unless you cage and/or prune.

Most of these types of containers come with recommendations for filler but if yours didn't then the norm is any quality soil-less potting mix. There are many brands available but the key is no soil, no dirt. Most contain peat, vermiculite or perlite, some bark fines, some lime to balance the pH, and some mild form of fertilizer (either organic or slo-release synthetics). You'll find more info on fillers for containers over on the Container Gardening forum here. I agree with all Lisa said, especially that your list is a big one for such a small container unless you only want a few of each with limited production. I'd suggest you find other containers for your strawberries and herbs and save the space for the plants that require more room. Plus they have very different nutrient needs. If this Rustic Elevated Bed is what you are talking about then about all it is going to hold is about 4-5 bush bean plants, a short 2 foot row of green onions, a couple of heads of lettuce, 1 jalapeno pepper plant (they aren't small plants), and even that is going to be crowded. You can plant your lettuce and onions from seed if you wish and in your location should get at least 1 crop of lettuce (use leaf rather than head lettuce as it needs much less room) and some onions but they need to be planted ASAP. Better yet buy transplants for both. Good luck and enjoy your new project. Just don't try to over-crowd everything as you'll end up with little production. Sometimes planting less = getting more. :-) Dave