Thoughts on how to organize a tomato bed?

[applestar]

So, I'm thinking about the two main tomato beds I have planned for 2013 season, and which variety to plant where...(what? It's too early? Nah! )

Do you have a group pattern for planting?
- indeterminates together, determinates together?
- potato leaf together, regular leaf together?
- tall growing vines together in back, shorter varieties together (in front)?
- dwarf only
- by fruit color -- reds together, yellows together,....

Do you alternate by characteristics?
- RL/PL/RL/PL
- red, yellow, GWR....
- beefsteak, cherry, heart, sausage,....
- indeterminate/determinate/indeterminate (I was thinking this might be a good way to provide extra room to really large indeterminate varieties -- plant early determinates in between and take them out when done....)
- tall/short/tall/short....

No, they are planted alphabetically by variety.

--- Any tried and true planting plans?

[gixxerific]

I try (may I reiterate "try") to plant unlike colors/shapes/sizes next to each other. Than when one or the other or both try to take over everything around. You can tell them apart easier.

I have a ton of dwarfs I will use them mixed in to allow for breathing room for the bigger guy's. This was an idea Blane discussed with me he is trying.

I also am on the fence about putting all the crosses together. Or any other certain type together. I had a few rows go down this season. Very oddly you could pull lines from one side to other. A perfect block like a bus ran through my garden. Left and right with no damage. So mixing it up is probably a good idea if possible.

Really I have no set plan. What looks good gets planted next!

[dustyrivergardens]

You know I have never really thought about that. But maybe I should potato leaf, regular leaf, wispy leaf, or maybe very the colors hmm....

[ElizabethB]

I like to grow indeterminate tomatoes vertically. My husband welded some re-bar in an upside down U shape. The feet fit into the back corners of ny 4'x4' boxes. I run twine from the top of the re-bar and train my tomatoes up the twine. Great use of space and lots of beautiful fruit.

[imafan26]

I never really thought that much about how tomatoes are grouped. As long as they have enough space so that they will not be growing into each other and as long as you are not saving seed, I guess you can plant them any way you want.

[digitS']

Since this came up again, I think I'll share a little of my problems in the 2012 tomato garden.

Last year, the gardens were all back in the 4' wide bed scheme. Before, when I had tomatoes in beds, they were the beds that did not run east-west. Little short beds, too.

This time, as far as the eye could see , 2 rows of tomato plants in 4' beds lined up east to west. It was a problem for production on the north side . . . not sure how to handle that. Those short beds were in a garden that I had until 2005.

What I might do is combine 2 beds so that I've got 10' across with 3 rows of plants. There's no way I can keep my big feet out of there as I'm staking, tying up and harvesting. But, the plants would have more light.

I put cherries together and should separate the 2 to 6 ounce from the larger tomatoes, also. It just makes it easier to harvest. Cherries don't like it so well at the bottom of a bucket with beefsteaks on top .

Steve

[imafan26]

If tomatoes are planted too close toghether they steal nutrients and light. Both of these issues will affect production and also amplify problems with diseases and pests.
If you have alligned the garden on an east west axis. Make sure you plant your short varieties on the south side and the taller ones on the north side.
Your beds are 4 feet wide but you may actually need make your row spacing as wide as your trellis is tall to maximize light. Either that or install lights on the north side of the garden (which may not be all that practical). To maximize the space I might consider planting a single row of tomatoes in each bed or how many rows that can fit keeping the rows 6-8 feet apart. and plant companions around the tomatoes to maximize use of the space. It means planting fewer tomatoes but they may not have as many problems with shading. We don't have a lot of land here, but a lot of people have 30 ft embankments in their back yards. They usually terrace the embankment and put their gardens there instead. terracing mitigates the light issues. Is it practical to terrace the plots there?

[btrowe1]

I do 2 long rows the first row will have my paste and sauce tomatoes in it, the 2nd row will have my slicers and such in it,

I usually place smaller heigthed plants in bettween my larger varietys to keep good air circulation. I don"t know if they get cross polinated this way but seems to work rather well.

I also try to keep the different types that I grow to about 6 so I can keep track of them and know what they are.

I also keep records of what is what and if it doesn't grow right or turn out well it doesn't come back again..

[sepeters]

The past few years I have planted mostly determinate varieties and grown them all in 5-10 gallon containers. It'll be in the 90s by early April (maybe late March at the rate we're going...) and I thought having mobility would enable me to move them into shaded areas. The only tomatoes that have done well this way were a cherry tomato variety. I can't keep the conainers from drying out unless I water like 4 times a day though, which is why they do not do well.
This year I am going to try the raised bed. The only spot I have available is south facing (I can hear them sizzling now...) and up against my house. I think if I do some indeterminate varieties and give them a trellis near the wall they will get only morning sun and afternoon shade. Hoping anyway. I like the idea of spacing I-D-I maybe that will give the small guys more shade.

[banana123]

I would recommend trying to group them by the size of their fruit. I like to pinch my tomato plants so they grow out rather than up so I like to leave a good bit of space in between them so their branches can stretch out. My medium sized tall plants and cherries are also kept in a separate area so that I can have them wrap around tomato cages and they don't need as much room to grow because of that.

[digitS']

(Imafan26, this looks like maybe your first post on Helpful Gardener. Groundhog's Day!)

I didn't go to a 10' wide tomato patch bed. Didn't like the idea of rotating it around annually while changing it back to 2, 4' wide beds, separated by a 2' path. Instead, I continued to stake plants in what I felt was a too wide bed for 1 row and too narrow for 2 rows.

Then, a windstorm did so much damage to staked plants in 2014, I entirely gave up on staking! Not all the plants have been staked in recent years and the ones allowed to sprawl came through that wind with far less damage.

However, the 1 row of tomato plants in a 4' wide bed sprawl right across the paths .

Steve

[imafan26]

Well, how do you like that. Ground hog day. I don't even know what a ground hog is! Even though this is an old topic it is still useful information. I don't grow a lot of tomatoes and it may depend on how many you grow and your location. In places where the summer heat gets over 90, you have to have heat resistant tomatoes. It also helps to position them so they get their roots shaded at least. I plant corn on the west side of the tomatoes so they get some shade from the afternoon sun. Corn can handle more heat.

At work we have a tomato house with over 600 tomatoes (potentially) planted in 15 gallon containers and trained on a string trellis. It is a lot of work to string up tomatoes and have to keep pruning and stringing them until you just can't reach any higher. Pruning does cut off the suckers and some fruit branches but the remaining fruit is a lot bigger and usually lined up on the main stem.

At home, I only grow enough for myself and to give some away. Three are plenty and I have them on a CRW trellis. I wrap the ends of the CRW around the end pots to form a cage and one tomato between them. I have mine in 18 gallon pots facing east and the main garden behind it and raised about 10 inches so when the evening sun hits the tomato pots are in the shade but the tops are still in the sun.

Since I only plant three, I only look for at least one cherry and at least one slicer. I am still experimenting with varieties so I try different ones.

I have wild tomatoes popping up in the yard. I let them go as long as they don't cause trouble. They are usually sweet currants or cherries the birds bring. The birds have good taste, they don't eat anything they don't like so the bird tomatoes usually taste good and are survivors.