Beginner Square Foot Gardening Planting Guide

If you use row planting in your raised garden bed, you're missing out!You could be growing a lot more, without any extra effort.

Do not worry though, ambitious gardener. There's a better way and we're here to show you the plant spacing 'light'.

Below we'll give you a quick tutorial on plant spacing needs for different vegetables. We'll explain how plant spacing works best when growing in a raised garden, how you can effortlessly partition your garden into equal growing sections, and even give you a plant spacing chart you can share with friends, put on your own website, or just use for yourself so you can grow a garden so great, the Jones's will have to keep up with you!

Already understand plant spacing and just want to reference our spacing chart? Scroll to the bottom of this page.

Need a planting spacing grid? Check out our Garden Grid™ watering system here.

Here's what you should be doing: Plant by area, not by rows.

Row spacing is meant to giving you a walking path between plants, you shouldn't be walking in a Raised Garden. When you grow a garden in a raised garden bed, the purpose of the bed is to condense your growing area to a point that you can reach all plants, without having to step into the growing area. That's why great raised gardens always have one dimension of 4ft or less. (i.e. 4×8 raised garden, 3×6 raised garden). The reason for this dimension is that an average person's arm can reach at least 2ft. So when you see a gardener with a raised bed that's 4ft wide, you'll know that savvy grower can always reach the middle of their growing area!

Since you don't need to walk into your garden, your soil never gets compressed, your plants don't get squished, and your favorite pair of sneakers stay nice and clean.

Next, let's figure out how many seeds to plant:

We have our simple plant spacing chart below if you want to jump ahead and begin planting now, but if you want to know how we got the plant spacing measurements, stick right here!We're going to do a little math.Don't panic!We promise it's really, really easy.

Step 1: Locate the seed spacing number from the back of your seed packet. (We'll use 3 inch seed spacing for this example)
Step 2: Divide the width of your planting section (about 12 inches) by the 3 inch seed spacing.
- Answer: 12 inches across / 3 inch seed spacing = 4 plants across
Step 3: Repeat step two but for the length of your planting section. (Also about 12 inches).
- Answer: 12 inches across / 3 inch seed spacing = 4 plants across
Step 4: Multiply your two answers together
- Answer: 4 plants across X 4 plants across = 16 plants!
Step 5: Start planting! With 3 inch seed/plant spacing needs, you can grow 16 plants in a 1 square foot area.
Step 6: Keep planting! You now have the plant spacing formula for the rest of your garden!

For a little garden inspiration, try out this salad garden layout we made based on our 4×4 Garden Grid™ watering system. Tap here for our full salad garden, salsa garden, or stir-fry garden blog posts.

Planting Guide 4x4 Garden - Salad

Now that you know exactly how Square Foot Gardening Plant Spacing Works…

Let's Grow!

The Garden In Minutes ^® Plant Spacing Chart

Find what you can grow the most of, or find your favorite plants, but most importantly – get out & start growing!

Vegetable Type	Plant Spacing Per Square	Vegetable Type	Plant Spacing Per Square
Arugula	4	Oregano	1
Asian Greens	4	Parsley	4
Basil	2-4	Parsnips	9
Beans (bush)	4-9	Peanuts	1
Beets	9	Peas	4-9
Bok Choy (baby)	9	Peppers (Bell)	1
Broccoli	1	Peppers (All Others)	1
Brussel Sprout	1	Potatoes	4
Cabbage	1	Pumpkins	1
Cantaloupe	2 squares per plant	Quinoa	4
Carrots	9-16	Radicchio	2
Cauliflower	1	Radishes	12-16
Celery	4	Rhubarb	1
Celtuce	2	Romaine	4
Chives	4	Rosemary	1
Cilantro	1-9	Rutabagas	4
Collards	1	Sage	1
Corn	4	Scallions	36
Cucumbers	2	Shallots	4
Eggplant	1	Sorrel	2
Endive	4	Spinach	9
Fennel	4	Squash	1
French Sorrel	4-9	Strawberry	1-4
Garlic	9	Swiss Chard	4
Green Onions	16	Tarragon	1
Kale	1	Tomatoes	1
Kohlrabi	4	Turnips	9
Leeks	9	Thyme	4
Lettuce (leaf)	6	Wasabi	1
Lettuce (sm. head/bibb)	3	Watercress	1
Lettuce (head)	2	Watermelon	2 squares per plant
Melons	2 squares per plant	Yams	4
Mint	1-4	Yellow Onion (large)	2-4
Onions (bunching)	9	Zucchini	1

So there you have it! Our all-in-one, everything your need to know, plant spacing chart and planting guide. Planting by area was inspired and made popular by the concept of square foot gardening, if you want to learn more about square foot gardening, check out our other article on just that! Also, if you're still curious about setting up a planting guide with an integrated irrigation system, where you won't need any tools, check out The Garden Grid™ on our How it Works page!

Our plant spacing chart is always growing. Have something you want added? Let us know in the comments below!