Very good design/layout. 4ft width is good. you can reach halfway from each side comfortably.
About Sun: I am growing with about 4 hours of direct sun. Not ideal but it is fine. 6+ hours is considered full sun for tomatoes.
About planting:
I would keep tomatoes separately. Plant cukes and carrots where there is less sun. Okra can get as tall as 4-6ft, depending on variety. It is HOT climate crop, normally grown down south.
Watermelon vine needs a lot of room to run, unless you find a bush type ( I don't know off).

Generally you would plant shorter plant furthest on the south,..tallest on the north. That is what tomatoes are >>>tall.

In a 4 x 8 bed you can plant 8- 10 tomatoes ( two rows, 4-5 per row) comfortably. that will be 3.2 to 4 square foot per plant. To me that is generous spacing. I ,myself, plant in average ONE plant in 2.5 sqr-ft. I do squeeze them a bit. There are people (SF Gardeners) who plant one in each sqr-ft.

Sey

Are you only planning 2 feet between beds? That can be tight. Three feet makes movement much easier.

I agree with Seysonn ... I'd put tomatoes in their own beds. My beds are 3x10 and I plant 10 tomatoes per bed. Forget the watermelon this year. It's a space hog.

Sey thank you so much for your thoughts & advice! Relieved to hear the light shouldn't be an issue in the northern beds. Good call to put the cukes & carrots in lower light areas.

When planting tomatoes that closely together, do you prune to a single stem? Is it hard to access all sides of the plant for harvest? The idea of being able to plant close to 20 tomato plants has me salivating! haha I'm worried I'll get whacked with major disease with our humidity, though. I'm thinking I might amend my plan to put 6 tomatoes per bed- possibly 8, I'll see how well the cages fit, maybe staggered?

Thanks again!!

I usually plant tomatoes 1 1/2 - 2 ft. distance.

Cherry tomatoes, 1 ft. or less.

But you will have to prune.

2-3 stems per tomato, it's ok.

If you can see through the "jungle" the air can circulate.

Glad to see you have some fairly reasonable expectations of what you can do with those beds.

What I would do...

Tomatoes in both 4x8 beds. I would probably do six plants per bed, but with the 20" cages, you could fit in eight per bed. That's 16 tomato plants which should do a good job supplying you with plenty of tomatoes.

Many cherry varieties can get quite huge, so you might want to devote the space of two regular tomatoes for one cherry. I'd actually plant a cherry between two of the cages and then train the vines into the two cages as the plant grows.

I would add the basil plants to the ends of the tomato beds. You have four ends, so consider four basil plants (if you like basil, of course).

That leaves us with the two 4x4 beds...

I'd recommend increasing your number of peppers. In one of the beds, you could probably get six pepper plants in and then use the edge of the bed for cukes that would be trellised upward. Put peppers on the sunny side so that they're not shaded by the cukes as they grow.

Use the other bed for carrots and perhaps a few more pepper plants.

Watermelon concerns me due to space requirements for most varieties. I think it would be difficult to contain the watermelon to one of those smaller beds.

Okra is also a concern due to the eventual size of the plants and only one or two plants won't be terribly productive. I think okra plants have great ornamental value, so maybe you could plant them in the ground somewhere and not try to squeeze them into your raised beds.

Agree with CindyMac regarding space between beds. Three feet would be quite preferable.

Hi fordido, I do not prune tomatoes so in a 4 X 8 bed I would plant 6 indeterminates. If you do prune extensively, then the above recommendations are great. Your garden will be wonderful!

Jennie

When planting tomatoes that closely together, do you prune to a single stem?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
It depend on how you support them. You can use cage (every other one) , you can do it with much less pruning than if you stake the.
At 24" spacing, you can have 3 -4 branches. Single stem is when you plant one plant per ONE square ft.
Since you are growing in 4 x 8 ft bed, you won't need a walkway in the bed, as you can reach everything walking around the bed. .

TOP OR BOTTOM ?
I squeeze more plants in, because real estate is limited AND it is costly to make raised bed ( frame material an soil/compost). So I try to maximize my returns.
In closely planting, ONLY the top management is an issue, not the soil volume for the roots. Example: in a 12" deep bed there will be about 7 gallons of soil under just ONE sqr-ft area. That is the size of a good size pot. Now if you plant one in 4 sqr-ft, that is over 28 gallon soil volume. Plus, the roots can penetrated the native soil too. So you can have as many branche that you can support.

Sey

CindyMac The beds are already in with a 2-foot space between & you're right, it's pretty tight! I wish we would've done 3 feet. And looking back, I would've preferred longer, skinnier beds like yours too. Oh well, say la vie. I'm not sure I can let my dream of growing a watermelon die quite yet, I've always wanted to grow one since I was little! It might end up being a really unsuccessful experiment, but I gotta try. : )

daniel_nyc That amount of pruning sounds doable! Thank you!

Nitsua Thank you.. I'm a beginner gardener but have learned so much from this site. Pretty sure it's the only reason I got a single plant to grow last year in my first garden. You idea has me intrigued! Your setup sounds like I'd end up with a LOT more produce than what I was planning. Possibly too many peppers though.. my stomach may never recover! haha I'm definitely gonna pull the the okra, as you suggested, and move it elsewhere. Great call.

jenniedhs_7b_nc Even with the best intentions, I'm afraid I might fall off the pruning wagon once the hottest part of summer arrives. Good to know that 6 do well for you without any pruning. Do you prune the bottom few branches for better clearance over the soil/mulch or not even that?

I think I will plant both 8x4 beds with only tomatoes - leaning towards 6 per bed, possibly 8 (still torn). Or should I tuck basil plants at the ends as well? The last 2 small beds are still in the air. I agree that it makes the most sense to lose the watermelon but I just can't do it! I just want to harvest a single melon & then I can probably let that go for future years.

Thanks again for all of your recommendations... This group is unbelievably helpful to a clueless beginner gardener!

antmary_Omaha_NE_5b 6 plants per bed, it is! Thank you for the prodding I needed. : )

Seysonn_ 7b-WA/HZ1 That makes sense, thank you. I hadn't thought about the soil volume & what it can support. Love this extra knowledge! Realistically, I doubt I'll be great about pruning very well. Especially since I'll be chasing a toddler around.

Melons need LARGE space, and MANY months to ripe.

Depending on location, melons can ripe in September or October.

Without an "Indian Summer" melons will not ripe.

fordido wrote: > Do you prune the bottom few branches for better clearance over the soil/mulch or not even that?

You prune the lower branches because they are yellowish or brownish, and they are not useful for the plant anyway.

I always leave a few lower "suckers" which will replace those removed lower branches. These suckers will provide food for the plant, after removing old leaves.

> I think I will plant both 8x4 beds with only tomatoes

EXCELLENT idea.

You will do well Cindymac. Good planning is the first step to success.

antmary-omaha-ne-5b I'm guilty as your neighbors! I hadn't even considered growing them directly in the ground. I'll be on the lookout for a good spot.

Daniel_nyc Several of the nearby farms have good luck with melons, so I think my growing conditions should be okay. Just maybe not my own personal expertise!

Thanks Hoosier40! I'm nothing if not an over-planner haha

CindyMac
The beds are already in with a 2-foot space between & you're right,
it's pretty tight! I wish we would've done 3 feet. And looking back, I
would've preferred longer, skinnier beds like yours too. Oh well, say
la vie.

Our first garden had four 4x4 beds and two 5x4. I knew I wanted something a little more manageable when we reconfigured the beds six years ago. I also knew I needed wider paths. You live and learn. ;)

oops sorry CindyMac, I meant fordido the OP. Not that you won't do well too!

Hoosier, I missed that the first time, lol. I did do well this year. My 8 week harvest is coming to an end as I start to pull plants.

Btw, I'm originally from NE Indiana. Used to go back every year for a visit, but my family is gone now.

I wrote:

> I usually plant tomatoes 1 1/2 - 2 ft. distance. Cherry tomatoes, 1 ft. or less.

I forgot to mention that I have a huge, HUGE real estate.

Fordido, yes I prune the lower branches and as the season goes on I am pruning a lot of the lateral branches (non fruit producing) in the center of the plant for better air circulation. I think with a toddler you are much better off with just six per bed. When I babysit my grandsons there is no way I could keep up with the pruning, spraying and the close attention needed for more dense planting and those two boys!

Jennie

6 per bed gets my vote too.

Again, thank you all so much! I'm sure it won't be long until I'm posting for help with cover crops, starting from seed & narrowing down my tomato varieties. I might wear you guys out : )

I agree that more plants does not always equal more tomatoes. Out of curiosity, i just went out to measure my tomato beds. They are approximately 6.5 x 12 feet and i have only 8 plants in each. I don't prune. Generous spacing allows sun & air to the plants which helps to keep them healthy. I do not spray. Good luck next season!

Goodground,.. That is 10 square foot per plant..
It might be true that more plants does not ALWAYS equal to more tomatoes.
It is also true that more space per plant does not equal to more fruits per plant either. There has to be an optimum range and in my view it is 30 inch spacing or 6 square foot per plant, at the most. Beyond that there will be no added returns on per square foot basis IMO. . YMMV

Sey

goodground, what support do you have for your tomatoes ? (picture please.)

sey, people who don't prune need real estate.

Also, in my experience a cherry tomato needs less space than a late season tomato, for example.

Daniel, i tried to copy/paste pic i posted in the Brandy Boy contest thread the other day but did not work on my phone. Please go take a look there to see my pvc supports. It is one of the most recent posts at the bottom. Usually, i only use one or two max but for brandy boy i am using 3 expecting big things :-)

Edit: I was able to download it.

ok, goodground, tx.

Rotated, GG's picture.

goodground, nice plant.

3 suggestions:

1. Prune the lower leaves.

2. Add some soil.3. Mulch