Neighbor told me I was planting tomatoes too close together. Took me 3 years to admit they were right.

Back when I started my veggie patch in 2019 I was so excited I crammed 6 tomato plants into a 4x4 bed. Looked great in June but by August they were a tangled mess and half the fruit got blossom end rot. My neighbor Betty who's been gardening since the 70s finally said something after I complained about it one morning. She just said 'you're crowding them, hon, they need air to breathe.' Felt kinda silly but I thinned it down to 3 plants the next spring and gave the extras to her. Now I get way more tomatoes from fewer plants and they taste better too. Has anyone else had to learn the hard way that less is more in a small garden?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamm821mo ago

I'm gonna push back on that Betty advice because I actually crowd my tomatoes on purpose every year. My 4x8 bed has 10 plants and yeah it gets messy, but the extra shade from the leaves keeps the soil cool and stops the roots from cooking in our brutal July heat. Less might work for some people but my biggest harvest ever came from packing them in tight and just pruning the lower branches for airflow.

mark_mitchell1mo ago

Wait... 10 plants in a 4x8 bed? That's gotta be like a jungle in there by August. I'm trying to picture that and my brain is short-circuiting. I barely fit 6 in mine without them trying to escape the bed. Doesn't the whole thing turn into one massive tomato monster where you can't even find the fruit? Not gonna lie though, I never thought about the shade keeping the soil cool... that's actually kind of smart. I lost half my crop last year when temps hit 95 for a week straight and the roots just gave up. Might have to try this madness next season.

theac631mo agoProlific Poster

Doesnt all that crowding just make it impossible to get in there and actually pick anything without breaking stems?