Re: [tomato] Poor planning...
Joy Williams (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Tue, 03 Aug 1999 09:09:33 -0700
Greg,
well I guess it depends on if you believe in biointensive gardening or not.
Tell me, how DEEP are your raised beds? From what I see you have 50
plants in close to 200 square feet. In John Jeavons book "How to Grow More
Vegetables" in a 20 sq ft area he planted 7 tomato plants, each with a 21"
center. 28 plants in an 80 sq.ft. area. the chart says anywhere from 18"
to 24" so it sounds to me like you are right in there. He has maximum
number of plants per 100 feet set at 53 with an 18 inch center, 25 with a
21 inch center and 26 with a 24 inch center. 18 inch center is for
cherries, 21 inch center for regular, 24 for big. If the leaves are
"barely" touching they provide a living mulch, mini climate under ther
leaves, however if they are entangling each other, you may want to bind
them up a bit.
In general however, I haven't had a lot of problems with biointensive
methods :) In fact it gives me greater yields.
and no weeds to speak of, I normally only weed once or twice during the
season.
I have 10 tomato plants in a 40 sq.ft bed. I conceivably put in more but I
planted cilantro and basil with it.
Organically Yours,
Joy Williams
http://www.dancinghummingbird.com/joyw/garden699