Ezzirah, I get by with a lot less. I am sure 2 ft. deep would be great, but some of my beds are tilled down a max of 6" and built up no more than 4", these are max. dim.. I mulch and have a water tube running along close to the plants. Due to cost and the lack on amending material this is the best I can do at this time. The beds will get better as time goes by and I add more material, but they are pretty productive as they are. I have very shallow, hard packed soil.

You can get by with less than perfect beds, you may have to water and feed more till you get the soil the way you want it.

I like to place my tomatoes 3' apart in the row, I will try some 4.5 to 5 feet between rows this year. I started out at 32" between rows a few years ago, went to 48" last year, and will widen a little more this year.

Years ago I would dig and amend a hole like I was going to plant a tree and just use that hole as a garden, move over to a spot I had a little room and do the samething. I dont recommend this method but you can make it work.

Larry

Realistically speaking, it all depends on the tomato varieties because some get only 3 or 4' tall and spread out just a couple of feet across and others get 6-8' or taller and spread out 3 to 4' or even more.

I like to space the bigger tomatoes three feet apart, but some years when I'm experimenting with a lot of new varieties and don't really have space for all of them, I've put them 18-24" apart so I could squeeze more tomatoes into the available space, although that only works if you have (a) very loose, friable and highly fertile soil, and (b) good air flow to reduce disease. Tomatoes are prone to all kinds of foliar disease and that's one reason close spacing is hard on them. It doesn't matter how many tomatoes you can squeeze into a bed if they all get sick and either die or produce poorly. With close spacing, you also need to be extra-careful to avoid overhead watering because water on the foliage can contribute to foliar disease and closely spaced plants often stay wetter/are slower to dry when the foliage gets wet.

The risk involved in planting too closely is that you'll often get less fruit per plant.

If you're growing shorter determinate types that only get 3 or 4' tall, 24" spacing might work for them. If you're growing indeterminate cherries, they can be huge monsters and need 3' spacing. Some currant types, like Tess's Land Race Currant do alright at 3' but really need 4' spacing or more.

You can, to some extent, get away with closer spacing if you prune and intensively manage your plants, but pruning can leave your fruit vulnerable to sunscald, especially from July onward, and I don't prune because of that.

This is one of those questions for which there is no easy answer because individual varieties can tolerate different spacing depending on their typical size.

Dawn

Thank you Larry, Dawn, for the advice. I planted a variety of tomatoes this year, San marzano, Yellow pear, Sweet 100's and a determinate variety. It was really way too much, but last year was such a bust, this year I am determined to grow some. All though last year would have been ok I think had it not been for the hail, I still over planted this year so I am going to keep all I can and give the rest away.

Thanks again!!

Essirah,
The spacing was well covered in the posts above. I've used spacings through the years from around 20inches to 4 ft between plants. I use cages and also let many sprawl. In my opinion unless growing an extremely small plant you need to use cages or another support containment system on anything spaced less than 36 inches. If using cages you can plant them a lot closer. You should be ok. If too close you might see a little less production. Jay

After posting above I went and found an old link to a site that has what I feel is some interesting pictures about the formation and maturation of a tomato. I'm sure Dawn has seen it as a poster on another site is the one who created this if I remember correctly. Haven't seen him around the forums in a while. Thought it might be of interest to some. Remember the timeline will change with varieties and climate conditions. Also there is links to some other information that might be of interest to some. Again one persons experience. Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatosite.com

Jay,

I'm glad you linked this. I always forget about it until someone starts complaining about their tomatoes staying green forever, and then I link it to show them how long it takes.

It has been so long that I no longer even remember who the original person was who posted it. (Maybe it hasn't been that long and my memory is just rapidly deteriorating.)

Dawn