According to this chart, which I just find most helpful to read, it says not to plant cucumbers or peas by tomatoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

I've decided to move my zukes into a container so that it didn't take up so much room in my sq ft garden. You may want to do this as well, and I believe you could do almost an entire 4'x4' box of tomatoes and peppers which work well tgoether. Looks like a nice border of petunias would work great with that bed as well.

That is a most helpful chart, thank you! I only wish it explained why those are not good as companion plants...

The problem I'm facing is that so much of what I'm planting needs to be trellised. The 2 squares of peas, 2 squares of cukes, and 3 squares of beans all have to be trellised. So... if I do a whole box of tomatoes and peppers I'll have to add a 3rd box, to make room for all those trellised plants, right? And then to add a whole 'nother container for my zukes; my husband might faint ;)

My logic was planting from tallest to shortest, north to south, and taking advice from another thread about the zukes - using 9 squares of a 4x4 box. But if my tomatoes and peas/beans/cukes are going to be at odds if planted next to each other, I'm not sure what to do. Sigh.

What I have been doing it using that chart as a quick reference (it's a chart, so obviously they can't add too much info). Then I go and google it "campanion plants + peas and tomatoes" then read several sources to see what they all say.

From looking, there are very few other things that say peas and tomatoes are bad together and only one other I can find that says cucumbers. Then of course I found something else that says peppers are not good next to tomoatoes when that is exactly opposite of what I read before, so who knows!

I say go for it but watch for disease and bugs. If you do see something, some on here and there looks to be a solution for everything from sprinkoing things with cornmeal to spraying leaves with milk.

bamasfg - i'll give you my thoughts, for what they may be worth.....

2 okra plants isn't enough to provide a reasonable harvest for even one person. If not planting at least 10, I wouldn't even bother with it. 3 squares of Kentucky Wonder beans isn't hardly enough, either.

The zucchini "might" work, but you'll really have to be aggressive with keeping the growth in its designated area.

4 cucumber vines isn't gonna provide much of a yield - unless you just occasionally slice one for salads and such....

If you would be interested in how and what I grow up here in Russellville, just click on the link below.

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's gardening blog

I'd like to see how the beans stay in their space, even with staggering. Second the waste of space on okra. Don't know how the zuke will be controlled - only one in that box, and even then...Otherwise I like it.

Dan

Yes it is odd because under tomato on the below website, it says cucumber & tomato are allies. It also says bean & tomato are allies and it does not mention anything about peas & tomato being incompatible.
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

Do you have the ability to do two 3x6 boxes instead of two 4x4 ? This will give you more trellis space and 4 more squares, plus you can still reach the middle rows even with the trellis blocking on one side. Leave room to walk around the back side so you can tend to your trellis from the back.

As far as cukes go, I only had 1 vine last year, and we could not keep up with eating them. We did not make pickles, this was for fresh eating only.

This is my first year growing okra, but the FAQ's from this website says 1-2 per sf, so you could possibly do 4 in those 2 squares ?

You can get away with cheating a little with trellising the peas if you want to. You can use "pea sticks" - branches stuck in the soil for the peas to climb. You can also try teepees for the pole beans (and I'd imagine the peas also) if it helps any.

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

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I've completely overhauled my plan. Over the weekend we built 3 boxes:
One 5x3 for the tomatoes and 6 okra plants
One 4x4 for the zucchini
One 4x4 for the peas, cukes (for salads and snacking, no pickles here either), peppers, turnips, and cilantro

The two 4x4s have an arched trellis between them. I'm planting 4 squares of beans (total 36 plants, surely that's enough for a family of 2 adults and an almost 2 year old?) on the edge of my zucchini box, and train the beans up the trellis, away from the zukes. I've got a sheet of mesh wire, aka 'mini trellis' that I can put up between the zukes and beans if it becomes necessary. We'll see how it works :)

Then on the edge of my other box I'm going to plant peas and cukes to grow up the other side of the trellis.

My husband surprised me by building legs for the boxes so they're 1 foot off the ground. So.. I'm hoping that will help me keep the zucchini in check, since it will have room to grow down the sides of the box.

The marigolds won't have their own box anymore; they'll go in wherever I have room.

That plan sounds fantastic! I can't wait for you to share pictures!

I'm thinking about using cement rebar now to make "cages" for things like my peas, pole beans, and cucumbers. Take a look at this post!
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/emilees-square-foot-gardening-plan-a-case-study/

That is exactly what we bought to use for our trellises. It is super cheap and serves the purpose. I bet it would work great to make cages too!

Are you planning on pruning your tomato plants. They get pretty
big, especially the cherries.

I agree with Roper. I use 4 sqft for each indeterminate tomato plant and 2 sqft for determinates. And I know that many others here do something similar. Now, Snibb, one of the GW members has excellent results staking and pruning down to a single very controlled vine and can plant tomatoes in 1 sqft with that method. But most of us don't have the heart to do that much pruning. And Okra can be fairly large plants as well...

Best of Luck!
Susan

I may well be in for some crowding, and be forced to do quite a bit of pruning. That'll be ok with me.

My hubby used a sheet of rebar to create a sort of zig-zagged 4ft high trellis for my tomatoes; not what I had in mind but I'm going to work with it and see what happens. I'm thinking I'm going to have to construct something additional to allow my peacevine cherry toms (and perhaps some of the others) to grow higher...

I think I'm going to learn a lot this year and do it even better next year. Thanks everyone for all the encouragement and advice! I'll try to get some pics uploaded soon.