The path will be necessary to work in a bed of that size.

The problem is that 8x8 isn't really a lot of room, not for all the plants you envision. A single zucchini plant would easily take up a quarter of the space. 16 tomato plants would take up the whole space.

Dividing the space into quarters, 4x4 minus the path space, you could do one with, say, 4 tomato plants, one with peppers, one with eggplant, one with a zuke.

duplicate

This post was edited by ltilton on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 21:26

From what I understand, taller plants (like tomatoes) should be on the north side of the garden... But I've also heard that rows should run north-south

Yes on the taller being on the North side, but I don't think so on the rows being N-S.
Your sun exposure is coming from the South, so you want to go from the smallest (south) to the tallest(north) so as not to shade other plants (unless you WANT them shaded, such as lettuce, chard, kale, etc. In that case I try to plant them under plants that shade, such as green beans, large tomatoes etc.
I also started with an 8x8 raised bed and quickly found (reading this forum) that you will want 4x8" max so you don't tromp on the soil. I made a path in my 8x8 with pavers until I was able to separate the bed into 2 beds. All of my future beds were 4x8 or 3x8 and a couple of 3x3s. These sizes allow you to stay out of the garden and still be able to reach in from each side to plant/weed etc.
Happy gardening! Nancy

In my 4x8 boxes I've done well with 8 "determinate" tomatoes, and better with 6 "indeterminate". They take space!

In this case you would make the rows run east/west and then you could have enough room for everything you want.To make the most of your space, you could trellis the tomato plants using string veggie trellis like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-String-Trellis-928/202819857 along one outside edge of the garden and plan on 4 or 5 tomato plants on that 1ftx8ft row. If you use a heavy producing hybrid variety of tomato like Super Sweet 100 and larger variety if you like, you will have plenty of tomatoes. I would also tuck a marigold plant between each of the tomato plants to help with pest problems. My tomatoes always grow better with marigolds around. Plant a 2ft x 8ft row of eggplant, again about 4 or 5 plants, right in front of the tomatoes. Since you'll be able to reach the tomatoes from the outside, you won't need space between the tomatoes and eggplant. Make a 2ft x8ft foot path next to give you good room to move through the garden, then plant a row of pepper plants 1ftx8ft. Depending on the variety, you may be able to get 1 per square foot of this row, so up to 8 plants total.
This brings you up to 1ft tomatoes, 2 ft eggplants, 2ft walkway, 1ft peppers with 2ft remaining for squash. Pick a compact variety of squash and plant them as close as possible to the outer southern edge of the garden with the intention of them hanging halfway over the outer edge. Make sure you've amended the soil with a good amount of compost to keep things growing strong. That's what I would do to maximize the space, but I'm no expert. There are also different schools of thought about gardening so do a bit of research and see what fits you best. I loosely follow the square foot gardening method with modifications I've adapted through trial and error. This picture shows my old garden from 2yrs ago using a trellis netting. I used that set up to plant tomatoes the whole 16ft length and in the picture I used it for beans, pumpkin and watermelon. That bed it 2ftx16ft.

An 8' by 8' bed is not that big an area to get lost with trying to plant thing in rows. If you plant just 8 tomatoe on the north side , half of your bed is used up and You are left technicallt with a 4 by 8 space. Now , for example, plant 6 peppers parallel to the tomatoes, the plant 6 eggplants in front of peppers. Depending on, how you space, your space is all used up (considering a walk way running E-W or N-S.
effectively you have TWO beds of 3' by 8'. OR a total of 48 sq-ft area to plant, not 64 sq-ft. That is not a whole lot.

But you can always make additional beds. But DON't make them wider than 4 ft. This way you can reach and access the whole area by walking around it. This method also makes EFFICIENT use of resources (Bedding frame material and filler soil)

My point of raised beds is that I do not have to walk on them. So my beds are always 3 or 4 feet wide(to be able to reach the middle of the bed from the path). I can cover the path between beds with gravel or wood chips to keep weeds down and not to worry it will spread on the bed, because it is raised.
Now about planting directions. Keep in mind, that when sun is on the south side, it's is almost vertical. So the shade from tall plants is not such a problem. But morning sun(in my opinion the most important sun for any plant) is different story. Sun is still very low, so the shade from tall plants will be long. This is what you need to take in consideration. Just imaging where all things will be planted, and see if they will all get morning sun.

Thanks to all for your replies! I think my initial plans were a bit ambitious... Sounds like I need to downsize quite a bit. I was originally planning on laying it out as a square foot garden, so I was thinking one plant per square foot = 64 plants in an 8x8 bed... Which is definitely too crowded, now that I really think about it.

The 8x8 bed wasn't really a choice... It came with the house, so we figured we'd just go with it our first season here. Next year, we'll be building several smaller beds that are easier to maintain.

Thanks again!

There is a square foot gardening forum here that might help you out. Nancy