I don't know if you can access my link so here is my layout.

First 4x4 bed
North side
pole bean*pole bean*pole bean*pole bean
tomato*tomato*tomato*tomato
lettuce*lettuce*lettuce*lettuce
cilantro*basil*oregano*mint

Second Bed
North side

Summer squash 1 plant

tomato*tomato*tomato*tomato
cukes*cukes*cukes*cukes

Third Bed
North side
Summer Squash 1 plant

spinach*lettuce*spinach*lettuce
peppers*peppers*peppers*peppers

Is that 1 summer squash per 2x4 square?

Make sure your paths are at least 2 feet wide

I'm not sure you can do your toms like that, especially if they're not trellised. I think bush varieties take up too much room to do one per sqft. That, and the beans and toms would shade out the lettuce completely.

In that first box, I would plant pole beans on the north side of the trellis, and the toms on the south side of it. You'll really have to keep those pole bean vines in check, though....

EG

Crap.....I just realized that you'll probably attach a trellis outside the box, oops! To do what I was talking about, you'd have to position your trellis between the 2 sets of squares at the top.

EG

I second the 2' path space.

I think you'll have problems with the cuke & tomatoes. If you're planting bush toms, I don't think you'll have enough room. I planted one bush Celebrity (don't recommend it BTW) and gave it 4 square feet. It used every bit of that space. I don't know much about it if you're planting the vining toms and plan to prune, but reaching over the cukes to do it would be a PITA I think.

With the cukes, you could also consider grouping those 4 squares together and planting them hill-style. I can't remember if cukes are one that does better when grown in groups or not. Maybe someone else will chime in on that one. Just a thought...

If it were me, I'd put the spinach & lettuce nearer the edge if you're planning cut-and-come-again harvesting unless you need it behind the peppers to shade it so it won't bolt, in which case leave it where it is.

From what I hear, you want to keep your mint contained. I hear it tries to take over the world. I have not grown it, so I may not know what I'm talking about :-)

These are just a couple of suggestions, please feel free to take them or leave them, agree or disagree...

I think you're off to a good start!
GB

Your graph paper garden design encouraged me to sign up and post. I can remember designing so many gardens this way. The paths if to scale are only 8 inches wide. The minimum I would suggest are 16 inches. The long dimention of a 8 by 16 by 2 inch paver. 6 pavers fit nicely on each side of a 4 foot garden. I always left the corner two empty for extra non raised bed experiemental plants and just hopped over them. Now a days I would do wider than 16 inches for ease of work space. Date your chart and put it in your record notebook. It will be great to look back on. At the end of the season write what you would do differently.

For a one person garden one zuchinni and one yellow squash plant is plenty. The smaller they are when picked the better. Micro size the best.

I am test posting to see if this works.

Are the summer squash small type? If not a normal plant can easily take a whole 4X4. Certainly a 3X3 but then the leaves would break off when walking by the paths. Lettuce and radish can be planted in the space before the squash grows into it. I would plant 2 or 4 plants of each close by each other and if bugs or rabbits do not get them, trim leaving only the biggest one squash plant at the last moment.

Peppers fit beautifully in a single square. They are so well behaved most all of the season.

The pole beans might only need 4 or 6 inches wide. Gained some space there.

The tomatos look a little squished. If not caged or pruned they will take over and make a tomato jungle. Maybe as much as 2 or 4 squares per tomatoe unless massive pruning.

You might want the tomatos on the inside squares and the lettuce on the easy to harvest outside squares.

Basit is a well behaved plant. Trim and use it frequently. Each plant needs not a full square but almost. Maybe plant more than needed and then harvest/cull the extras.

I would fence the whole north side and try to get the cucumbers to grow up that like the beans.

I can tell you had tons of fun designing the garden. It was great to be reminded of how much fun designing a square foot garden with a bit of graph paper in February can be.

Thank you all for your responses. Since last night I have re designed it again! I'm sure this will happen many times. I decided to stagger the veggies on the north side so that I could plant a new batch every 2 weeks or so.

My paths will be 3 feet wide. My graph paper wasn't big enough to draw it "to scale". I will have trellises on the north side of all the boxes so the cukes, beans, and tomatoes will grow on that.

I do plan on keeping the tomato plants trimmed to the main stalk(?). I have to re read how to do that.

I decided to do 1 small yellow squash bush and 1 small zucchini bush. Does anyone know how tall they get?

Also what do I use for the pepper plants? Do they need stakes or a cage?

Thank you for all your help. This is my first time and I am very excited. I read the most recent SFG book and I followed the spacing accordingly except for the squash-I am 1 sq. ft. off. I thought it might be ok if I planted it closer to the edge of the box rather than the center.

I thought lettuce liked to be shaded. Is that wrong and should I move the lettuce south?

As far as trimming the tomatoes to one stalk. I did it last year, and it was really a pain in the butt to keep up with daily. It also hurts the plants if you don't keep up with it daily and you have to cut instead of pinch.

Unless space is at a premium in the garden, I wouldn't recommend one tom in a square. I'd just either give them their own 4x4 and let them intermingle or put them in SWCs.

Some of my Toms will be in SWCs that I will have to watch, but I'm going to put the rest in their own 2x? bed with cages made out of cattle panels. Depending on how many I decide to plant I may just do a 2x10 row with 6 or 8 plants in it.

I've never really seen a bush type zuch or squash stay like a bush. They all end up wandering everywhere and some of my squash leaves got almost a foot in diameter themselves!

Shading the lettuce will help it last longer into the summer season. My first thought was convenience of picking. Since I don't know where you are and how hot it gets there, I threw that out there. Sorry if I caused you doubts on that one.

I think my zucchini were about 3' tall last year.
I used sticks around my peppers as stakes. I think it helped them, especially with the wind we get here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

Thank you for all your help and responses.

I am in the east TN mountains. Here is my new plan.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1262972}}

I saw in your new plan that your are planting pole beans next to tomatoes. Some of the companion planting literature says that these two are not friends (dunno why). Another thing to think about is crop rotation for next year. I also like interplanting all the veggies, but then I wouldn't know what to plant the next year since there is the possibility of bugs that like each plant to be in the bed. Just things I've been thinking about for my own garden. good luck

Lisa,

I'm sure you can find companion planting info on the web... but I picked up a copy of "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" which has some great info as well as a companion planting table. Being a new veggie gardener myself I can use all the help I can get.

Liisa

Thank you again. Time for another plan, lol.

Just thought I would throw my two cents worth in here. I would give the squash plants each a 3x3' growing space. I leave a 6" - 1' space in center of a 3x3' space where I will be planting squash, then I plant radish around it, then lettuce, beets and spinach around the outside. The radishes are harvested before the squash goes in and the rest are harvested before the space is need by the squash. No space wasted waiting for the squash.

I grow tomatoes 1 to a sq ft, pruned to 1-2 main stems and trained up strings as in Mel's first book. I find it much easier and like being able to plant more varieties.

There is a nice little clip on the Johnny seed site on pruning tomatoes to 2 main stems.

Good gardening, Mary