Within wide beds, seed can be scattered randomly or sown in shallow furrows two or three inches apart. Thin plants enough to allow growing room. This works well for lettuce, spinach and root Crops. Beds three or four feet wide have space enough for two rows of large plants such as corn, bush beans or peppers. Tomatoes can be spaced two and one-half to three feet apart with the rows staggered.
Gardeners can borrow the idea of vertical space from skyscrapers.
Sprawling plants, such as cucumber vines, can grow vertically on a frame or trellis. Pole beans, snap peas and small varieties of squash can climb a chain link fence or an A-frame from which fruits hang for easy picking. Tomato towers, purchased or homemade, are convenient for all climbing vegetables. An eighteen-inch diameter ring made from hog wire or reinforcing wire can cage a tomato or provide support for ten cucumber vines planted about six inches apart. Snap peas can be planted every four inches.