Are my tomatoes and cukes too close together?

[mansgirl]

Love the book shelf idea! Too cool. You're giving me ideas for next year.. : ) I'm thinking herbs..

Your tomatoes are very close together, as everyone else has said. I'm one of those people that space them very far apart, live in a humid climate, and do little pruning. More or less I just let them do their thing. I usually do 8 plants, this year nine because I just HAD to try a kind I hadn't heard of. But with 8 plants I get bookoo tomatoes. You'd be surprised how many you can get off of one plant regardless of how you space them.

I'm new to cukes too, but I'm reading on other posts that you can trellis them so they don't vine out all over the place.. I'm interested in learning about this. Thinking I should start a thread about it?? Your cukes look 100% better than mine BTW.

[mansgirl]

Ooo Ooo.. I just had an idea! I was thinking it would be cool if you could stand the book shelf up and still grow to conserve room.. but that wouldn't work unless you grew in containers and you'd more than likely have a lighting issue.

BUT.. what if you did an old chest of drawers.. Say a 3 drawer chest. The top drawer pulled out 1/3 of the way, the next drawer 2/3 of the way, and the bottom drawer pulled completely out? The contraption would probably only last for one season before rotting out.. but, could it work? For 5 bucks at a garage sale you could have a pretty cool standing planter with lots of room for herbs and flowers.. You'd have to figure out a water-drainage system though. And maybe if you lined the drawers and kept it on a sheltered patio or deck with a good drainage system it would last longer. Hmm!

[applestar]

If you're doing THAT, you HAVE to get the matching old bed frame to act as a border for a FLOWER BED.

I've seen photos of people doing this and it actually looks kind of cute. You might find them if you did a Google search for images.

[petechapman]

Wow! Lots of great feedback on this. I have always grown my tomatoes one to a pot or three to a grow bag...never had a problem.

But as a deep bed enthusiast anything grown outdoors in my garden is always close together.

The trick is to study your plants and give them the space to maximise their potential...bit like us really!

[mansgirl]

Apple ~ And here I thought I was being inventive! ; ) I love the bedframe for a flower bed idea!

[jal_ut]

Thin those plants or not? Yes, its controversial. I have tried planting 2 plants per pot and leaving them to grow that way. It seems to me that the two act about the same as one would. Either way they spread out and take up the space and produce fruit. I am inclined to say, don't worry about it this time, but another year you may want to do differently.

If you have read my posts, you know I highly recommend giving plants plenty of space. This is especially important for root crops if you want the nice roots to develop, however with tomatoes, I have seen them do well when quite crowded.

How big a tomato plant gets depends a lot on the variety, and also on the soil fertility and also on the space allowed for it. Indeterminate tomatos will continue to grow until frost, and they can get huge given the space to grow. Determinate varieties, on the other hand, will get about 30 inches wide and have fruit and be done.

Those cukes will run for sunlight. It will be fine.

There is only one wrong way to garden............ don't.

[rhoderider]

There is only one wrong way to garden............ don't.

Love it.

OK, sorry to frankenthread here but I figured it was my duty to report on the bookshelf container garden. I thinned out the plants and watched them grow - and grow they did. The cukes exploded and the tomatoes grew far more rapidly. I was very patient to let the cukes get nice and big and finally decided to eat on last night. drum roll please: they taste a little funny. It was heartbreaking. I think it's got to be the particle board breaking down. It's not so bad that they can't be eaten but now I'm not even sure that I should, just for health concerns. The tomatoes are still green but we'll see how they taste in a few days.

[Shoontok]

them cukes love water, keep em watered well.

[garden5]

There is only one wrong way to garden............ don't.

Love it.

OK, sorry to frankenthread here but I figured it was my duty to report on the bookshelf container garden. I thinned out the plants and watched them grow - and grow they did. The cukes exploded and the tomatoes grew far more rapidly. I was very patient to let the cukes get nice and big and finally decided to eat on last night. drum roll please: they taste a little funny. It was heartbreaking. I think it's got to be the particle board breaking down. It's not so bad that they can't be eaten but now I'm not even sure that I should, just for health concerns. The tomatoes are still green but we'll see how they taste in a few days.

Hmmmm.....you said you let them get big, this may be why they didn't taste too good. Generally, people prefer to eat their cukes when they are on the smaller side.

[jal_ut]

If cukes get stressed, they will often get a bitter taste. I don't think this has any thing to do with the particle wood. Yes, as someone already said, keep them watered well. If those are slicers, pick them when they are 8 inches long. If picklers, pick at 4 inches. Often the bitterness is only on the stem end of the cuke. Try cutting an inch off the stem end and see if the rest tastes better. Good luck.