Tomato spacing?

[Eoghan]

I crammed stuff in last year and I feel it got a little crowded and difficult to weed. What spacing would you recommend and what could I sow/plant as ground cover/complimentary to tomatoes?

[burnie]

Good air flow is the key thing, especially if there's any chance of blight, if you think 2 plants to a grow bag is the ideal sort of spacing, then that gives you a
clue.

[Peteyd]

Air flow is rather key when it comes to Tomatoes. It CAN help reduce the risk of things like blight etc. I personally like to keep no less than 2ft between plants, although I'm sure that may be a bit overkill. I had blight ravage my Tomatoes before so try to take precautions now to stop it happening again.

[quanglewangle]

This is a topic close to my heart. This is only our third season with our greenhouse and since it is small I want to work it hard.

I have done quit a bit of research on thiis: too much to summarise here but the short form is avoid high humidity with cooling conditions leading to condensation, and still air. Ventilation can help avoid these conditions as can generous spacing. But there are other ways: fans and dehumidifiers are two.

I monitor the relative humidity continuously and the problem conditions seem to occur in the early hours of the morning, when the greenhouse is unlikely to be vented,

I'll write it all up at some stage...

[edit] forgot to say we use 30cm [edited 30, not 20] spacing and fairly drastic pruning. Weeding not too much of an issue since we use fresh compost/soil each year.

[Snoop Puss]

I go for around 50 cm between plants and interplant with basil.

[Eoghan]

I go for around 50 cm between plants and interplant with basil.

I am currently taking cuttings from LIDL basil and trying to separate the root ball.

[Snoop Puss]

I am currently taking cuttings from LIDL basil and trying to separate the root ball.

Just goes to show how little I know: I had no idea basil could be grown from cuttings! The thing about herbs in pots from supermarkets is that they're usually lots of different plants. Maybe you could just separate the clump into two or three and plant each bit without worrying about separating the root ball. That might work and be a bit quicker than growing from cuttings.

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop you only have to pinch out the top couple of inches pop in water and basil soon roots.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Bren In Pots. I grow from seed, but buying a pot and taking cuttings would speed matters up.

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop I also grow from seed but the main reason i pinch out the tops of mine is to make bushier plants, the extra plants are just a bonus.

[Jungle Jane]

French marigolds & lettuce are good companions for tomatoes too,the marigolds keep whitefly away,good dotted about all over the garden & world

[Bren In Pots]

JJ I grow French marigolds in my GH amongst my Toms but not thought of lettuce, I do plant lettuce after the toms have finished though to keep me going in salad leaves over winter.