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Maybe three DETs spaced as indicated above, but even that is tight.

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This, directly above, would be better for two DETs.

Yeah, if by "full size" you mean indeterminate varieties it will be very crowded. But it all depends to on how you plan to support them and how much pruning you plan to do?

Staked and pruned severely to 2 stems? Yeah they would fit. In cages? No.

Dave

Hi roper2008,

With gardening, there are as many ways to do things as there are gardeners. ;-)

No, a 4' x 4' raised bed is not too small for 4 indeterminate tomato plants. There was a study done that showed they got good results spacing indeterminate tomato plants less than 2 feet apart (and even better production if they were only 24" x 18"). This assumes that you have good sunlight, support and well amended or good soil and you water so that the plants do not get too much or too little water. Optimization of spacing and drip irrigation scheduling in indeterminate tomato

I have planted tomatoes in a staggered double row two feet apart and used the Florida Weave to support them when I had a lot less gardening space than I do now.

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With indeterminates, you are going to find that you may have trouble getting to the fruits in the in the center. But if you cage, stake or trellis them, and perhaps prune to 2 or 3 main stems, it will make it more manageable.

A Virgina Tech online document says SPACING: 18 to 36 inches by 36 inches if staked or caged. So if you put the plants 6" in from the edge, they would have the 36" x 36" inches spacing. Spacing is most often done for the convenience of the gardener. You wont be walking between the plants in a raised bed, so you can put them closer if you want to.

There are many gardeners that successfully raise indeterminate tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Their yield is probably lower, because their roots have no place else to go. (Not to mention the problems of keeping the soil from getting too dry.)

A 5 gallon bucket is about 1440 cubic inches, a 10 gallon one would be 2880 cubic inches. If your raised bed is 4' x 4' x 10" of dirt, then it holds about 23000 cubic inches of dirt (not counting the soil under it) or about 80 gallons of dirt. That is sufficient for 4 indeterminate tomatoes.

I'd suggest planting them 6 to 12 inches in from the edges.

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And then there is square foot gardening , they are getting great amounts of stuff from 4Â x 4Â beds that are not always on soil. (Although I am sure you donÂt have to put a grid on it, but their purty white boxes do look nice.)

Here are examples of what can be planted in each square foot:
9 onions, beets, beans, peas, garlic, or spinach
16 carrots or radishes
4 lettuce, chard, marigolds, or kohlrabi
1 tomato, pepper, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, or corn
1 squash, cucumber, or melon per 2 sq.ft.

Go for it! Have some fun!

Bets