In the same bed? Yes. In the same cage? Nope. How big/long are your beds? Can you plant more than 2 tomato plants in some of the beds and use other beds for the other crops?

Organic fertilizers - there are many different kinds and many online sources but then you'd have to pay shipping costs. Here at least Walmart, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, Farm and feed, and Lowe's all carry organic fertilizers - several brands. No luck with any of them?

If you want to order from an online source check out Gardens Alive, Gardener's Supply, Espoma.com, etc.

Dave

My beds are big enough for other things, my tought was not to waste verticle space and utilize it to full potential. My cages are 3' across with the toamtos going into the middle i just thought maybe something like pole beans on the outside parimater of the cage. guess it would still be to crowded, ty for the info.

Consider that it would be difficult to get to the tomato plants, for harvesting and pest control, if you had plants growing up the cages. It would probably also cut down on air circulation, which might encourage disease.

As for an organic fertilizer, I've used Neptunes's Harvest fish and seaweed blend for the past couple of years and the tomatoes seem to like it. Smelly, though.

Depending on the varieties of tomatoes you are planting you are going to be surprised how little of your cages will be exposed come mid season. The plants fill out the cages and then some.

Pole beans wouldn't just be climbing the cages but would be climbing and choking out the tomato plant stems and picking would be difficult to say the least. Plus you'd have the competing for nutrients problem and the fact that pole beans don't like nearly as rich soil as tomatoes need.

That's why I suggest you group tomato plants together and the other crops in other beds. You can still maximize vertical growing room that way - give the pole beans and the cukes their own "tomato" cage to climb but not two different crops using the same cage.

3-5 cuke plants can share the same cage (depending on variety and cage size - my CRW cages are 32" diameter) and you can plant 10-12 pole bean plants around a 30-36" diameter cage.

Dave

thanks Dave and Susan, you probably saved me from making a costly mistake. In the meantime I just built a 2 X 20 raised bed to go along the side of my garage for the polebeans and picked up 20 10gal tote buckets for the cukes, I think i will surround the totes (at a buck a piece I couldnt go wrong) with the cages and let them climb them.

You might want to look into "companion planting". there are things to plant with tomatoes that some people swear enhance the flavor. Beans are on the "no" list, but basil is highly recommended.

I us cages for my tomatoes & bamboo stakes.
On the out side of the tomato cage, I plant cuke seeds on three sides. I let the vine grow up the out side of the cage.
I have had no problem with this trick, been doing it for 4 years now.
You could plant garlic or bush beans between the cages to hold down on weeds.

Jolj, Thats what I was wondering, but from most of the negitive response on growing cukes and tomatos (the fact that the cukes might choke out the tomatos) Ill stick with just the tomatos for now, not to say that I wont run a test subject just to see if the are any diffrences ie. productivity, size and taste. Never hurts to test. I did build more beds, so hopefully space wont be an issue anway. Thanks all for the great responses.

I do sometimes plant lettuce around tomato plants. They don't seem to compete and like the shade.

I'd keep them separate. You might want to come up with a plan for crop rotation also.

If you want to grow vertically, try building a trellis on the North side of your beds. You can plant shorter plants like peppers, bush beans, lettuce, carrots, etc. on the south side of the beds and use the trellis on the North side for vining crops.

I've grown pumpkins around the tomatoes. You just have to make sure the vine isn't growing over the tomatoes and shading them too much.

Not beans on tomato cages, but you might want to try the "3 Sisters". That's pole beans on corn with squash below.

For organic fertilizer, I would suggest Gardens Alive or Arbico. Their quality is good, but prices vary, so examine them both carefully for what you need. And watch shipping costs. It varies.

I us cages for my tomatoes & bamboo stakes.

Why use cages for bamboo stakes? lol..JK