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My neighbor in Tulsa called my tomato spacing 'wasteful' and I finally tried it his way
I used to cram my Better Boys about 18 inches apart because I figured more plants meant more tomatoes. My neighbor Dale, who has gardened the same plot on 11th Street for 22 years, told me straight up that I was 'growing leaves, not fruit' and to give them 3 feet minimum. I grumbled about losing half my plants but tried it this season, and the airflow alone cut my blight problem way down. Curious if anyone else went wider on spacing and actually saw the yield go up instead of down.
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garcia.tyler20d ago
Went the other way myself and kept mine tight at 15 inches this year because I only have a 4x8 bed and can't afford to lose the space. Got 38 pounds off six plants, which beats what my buddy got with his wide spacing on the same variety. Blight is about airflow and pruning the lower leaves, not just distance, and you can fix that without giving up half your garden. Dale's been at it 22 years so he knows his plot, but his soil and your soil aren't the same thing and what works on 11th Street might not work two blocks over. Seems like you changed two things at once with the spacing and the blight, so how do you know the wider rows are what did it?
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