Heather, I intercrop many of my plants to maximize use of space and time. For example, I have lettuce intercropped with onions. I will plant my peppers and tomatoes into my garlic beds. When the garlic is ready to come out, the tomatoes/peppers are beginning to need the extra space. I also put plants quite close together which minimizes weeds. I use a very bio-intensive system. Still learning too. It's fun.