Heh, I would say you have about enough room for 8 tomato plants and nothing else ;), I give each of mine a 5x5 patch of dirt that they dont have to share, which is a number I settled on after some problems with crowding, disease spreading, and excessive irrigation needs due to overlapping root systems. Cucumbers, watermelon and squash are all extremely space hogging, though you could trellis them to save some space. I dont know much about the other things you have listed, as I've never grown them before.

Hey - can you do Onions in same spot as lettuce, swiss chard and brussel sprouts? Or should I put Onions away from them?

You need more garden space or a shorter list.

You have too much stuff on your list for that small of a space. Way too much. You may want to check out "square foot gardening".

Here is a link that might be useful: Win Free Garden Stuff

I am going to be the contrarian and say you can fit all of those things in a 200 sq ft space.

It really depends on how much of everything you want. You also need to accept that you will be planting densely and for things subject to foliage disease you need to hope for the best and I would avoid overhead watering that wets the foliage and wouldn't go near the garden after a rain as touching the wet plants will spread any disease from one plant to any other susceptible plant.

You also need to ensure high soil fertility as there will be a lot of competition for nutrients with dense planting.

I agree you should look into the square foot gardening forum and the concept in general. That is similar to what you will be doing.

For the tomatos you can space them with 4 (2x2) sq feet each. The square foot method calls for 1 sq ft each for vining (indeterminate) types if they are staked and pruned.

This will take up 60 sq ft of the 200. You are going to want pathways to walk in about 2' wide. Wider would be nicer, but... Figure 2 pathways 20'x2' for 40 sq ft each. that's 80 sq ft plus the 60 for tomatos. You now have 80 sq ft left for everything else.

Lettuce and onion will take up little room with 4" spacing between plants. Let's say 15 sq feet total. We now have 65 sq ft left.

Broccoli and Brussels give 1 sq ft each. Eggplant treat like tomatos for spacing. 6 broc, 6 brus and 2 eggplant would put the remaining space at 53 sq ft. 2 eggplant would bring it down to 45 sq ft.

That remaining 45 sq ft needs to be trellised for the vine crops OR you need to allow them to grow into the lawn area. Give cukes 6-12" between plants. Squash and watermelon give 1-2 sq feet between plants and accept that you are going to have a cluster of foliage that will make a haven for stink bugs and cuke beetles to hide in.

So, it can be done, but it is called 'intensive' cropping for a reason. You will need to labor intensively to manage the plants, water and feed them and keep the pests off them. It will be a jungle out there :)

Hey Naturalstuff!

I was wondering if you still visited this site. How is the rest of the property? Any flower beds or anything where you can mix lettuce, chard and some of the onion into the planting? A spot or two outside the main garden for a trellis?

Right now, I think you can go...

Maybe 9ish tomatoes (depending on what they are)
1 eggplant (consider buying a bigger container than the ones I see and growing it there)
lots of broc. (define lots)
onions planted all over the garden.
Lettuce and chard tucked in groups here and there along the front.
a few cucumbers after the broc, lettuce and chard are done.

The 11- 3 PM sun...well you know. It will be hard to be successful with the sun lovers.

Dave is correct about your soil needs. I plant a french-intensive type garden and it is all about soil management. A lot of organic material, high in nutrients. Not just to feed the soil but to supply both moisture retention and good drainage.

You don't say what kind of squash you plan on growing. A bush zucchini or a sprawling winter-type? You can grow them up, but winter squash really does like to sprawl and spread out.

The cucumbers would be very happy growing up the rail of your deck.

The tomatoes will take more or less space depending on the variety. Little Roma's need half the space as a Mr. Stripy. That sure is a lot of tomatoes, I take it that you do a lot of canning?

I do space out my tomatoes to prevent plant to plant contamination of early blight, but I under and inter-plant them pretty heavily. Basil, broccoli, onions and flowers fill the space between and under my tomatoes. I have to keep the leaves up and away from the ground - also to prevent early blight, but the dense inter-planting helps with that as well. Last year I did not see a spec of it until late August and it was easy to contain.
Kay

Just realized title mispelled. Oh well.

Reign - Nice to see you too. I'm a seasonal garden forum guy. lol Usually here Feb - July.

justaguy2 - I'll read your reply in detail later. Thanks.

jennoz - I've been doing tomatoes at 15" apart and had plenty of success. So I figured tomatoes in a 7 x 10 area I can fit 16.

ruthieg__tx - I have more room, just hate to tap into more yard right now. Shorter list? Never! lol

midnightgardener - SPAM?

kay____h - I had the cukes on the deck railing but problem is sun.. that gets shaded after about 2pm.

I have all types of Tomatoes. Cherry, Big Boys, Roma, Black Krim, Garden Delight, Black from Tula, ect.

Isn't that bad having that stuff near the root of the tomatoes?
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