[I asked this question on the Garden Web forum also.]

This is my first garden and I have read a lot about intensive planting
and square foot gardening and it makes sense (less weeds, less
watering, more veggies). I have also read quite a bit on companion
planting and it makes sense -- seems to be the first step in preventing
pests organically. Anyway, I am looking for some folks with experience
with companion planting in an intensively planted garden.

I live in Northern Alabama and my spot slopes gently toward the south
and gets full sun all day long. I prepared my garden spot last year in
the late summer. The soil is heavily amended with compost (8 to 12
inches!) and organic fertilizers (soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, some
blood meal, etc. tilled in as deep as the tiller would go) The soil is
looking very good now -- black, soft and crumbly (even saw some
earthworms recently).

Part of my problem is that I do not know how all the plants grow or how
big they get.

I am mostly concerned about the onions and the carrots as they are good
companions to almost everything. If I companion plant onions with
carrots, I fear the onions will not get enough light. Square foot
spacing for both carrots and onions is 9 per square foot (i.e., 3").
For example, consider the following square foot diagram:

[C] [O] [C] C = Carrot
[O] [C] [O] O = Onion
[C] [O] [C]

Would the carrot tops shade the onions too much? I'm thinking something
like this might work better:

[C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] C = Carrot
[C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] O = Onion
[C] [C] [X].[O] [O] [O] X = Empty

I am not using raised beds, but I have 4' wide rows that are pretty
long and run east to west. I want to plant two long rows of okra in
one wide row with the rows about 2' apart and the plants about 1' apart
within the row. I would like to plant something in the area between
the rows. Would the okra plants create too much shade for onions or
carrots?

Also, can you interplant carrots with bush beans? If so how do you do
it? Along the edge of the beans or in amonst them?

Has anyone done these sorts of things before? Or, am I just "off in the
weeds"?

Thanks!