2009 Season: This year I tried trellising the tomatoes. I erected concrete mesh down the center of the bed and grew one tomato on each side, all the way down it.
It turned out to be high maintenance, since i had to tie up the vines (all indeterminate varieties). There also wasn't enough natural shade for the tomatoes, so all of the first tomatoes were sun burned.
Next year: erect two sheets of concrete mesh to sandwich in the tomatoes. There should be little or no need to tie up the vines, and they will give each other more natural shade!
2010 UPDATE: The Sandwich Trellis Method is a hit!
This year I tried the idea I came up with in the above post. I planted my tomatoes plants in double rows, with 18" between plants and 24" between rows. Then I erected sheets of concrete mesh on the outer edges of each double row of tomatoes, right at the point the tomato plant was coming out of the soil, so the trellises were about 18" apart. I put down stepping stones in-between the rows for my pathways.
It has been a huge improvement over the past years' bed designs. There is lots of shade for the ripening tomatoes, there is very little moisture loss, and the plants have all of the support they need. It's also very easy to reach in through the trellis for pruning and harvesting.
