I'm preparing to plant my first SFG in a 4'x4' bed. I had it all planned out to maximize sunlight, which meant putting corn and tomatoes next to each other in the northern end of the bed. But now I'm reading about companion planting, and that corn and tomatoes shouldn't be together.

What's more important: maximizing the amount of light that my plants get, or separating corn and tomatoes (or for that matter other plant combinations that aren't supposed to be ideal)? It seems to me that the issue of tall/large plants shading smaller ones could be significant in a SFG where everything is so close together.

Thanks for any advice!