Guide
How Far Apart to Plant Cabbage (Rows + Raised Bed)
Space cabbage 12 to 18 inches apart in rows 24 to 36 inches apart, or 1 plant per square foot in a raised bed. Spacing table, layouts, and a calculator.
The short answer
Space cabbage plants 12 to 18 inches apart in rows 24 to 36 inches apart. In a raised bed or square-foot garden, give each plant a full square foot (1 per square), or stagger them on an 18-inch triangular grid to fit a few more. Tighter spacing gives smaller heads, wider spacing gives larger ones.
Try it — Plant Spacing Calculator
Full calculatorExtra to cover losses (10% is typical).
You can plant
32plants
- Per row
- 8
- Rows
- 4
- Buy (incl. spare)
- 36 plants
Why cabbage spacing is really a head-size dial
Cabbage is unusual among garden vegetables. The spacing you choose does not just decide how many plants fit. It decides how big each head gets.
Give a cabbage plant 12 inches and it fills that space with a smaller, tighter head. Give it 18 inches and it spreads its leaves wider before it starts to form a head, so the head itself ends up bigger. University of Illinois Extension confirms this pattern: closer spacing trades head size for head count.
That is why the right number depends on what you are growing. A small, early "personal size" cabbage wants closer spacing. A big storage or kraut-type cabbage, the kind you grow to fill a crock or a root cellar, needs the wide end of the range.
Match spacing to the variety, not just the crop
Seed packets sort cabbage into early, mid, and late varieties, and each group grows a different final head size.
- Early varieties. Small, fast-maturing heads. Plant around 12 inches apart, per Illinois Extension.
- Mid-season varieties. Medium heads. Plant in the middle of the range, between the early and late spacing.
- Late-season and storage varieties. Large, dense heads bred to keep or ferment into kraut. Plant at the wide end, 18 inches or more, with the full 24 to 36 inches between rows.
Check your seed packet for the days to maturity and the expected head weight, then pick your spot in the range. When in doubt, the site defaults to 18 inches, the safer choice if you want full-size heads and are not sure which type you have.
Cabbage spacing by method
Rows and raised beds are two ways of describing the same plant density. This table lines them up.
| Method | Spacing | Plants per area |
|---|---|---|
| Rows (in-ground) | 12–18″ in-row, 24–36″ between rows | About 7 to 10 per 10 ft of row |
| Square-foot grid | 18″ on a grid | 1 per square foot |
| Triangular (offset) | 18″ staggered | About 15% more than square |
An 18-inch in-row spacing and a 1-per-square-foot grid describe the same density, just counted two different ways. For the full crop-by-crop view, the plant spacing chart lays out in-row inches and square-foot counts side by side.
These ranges track US extension guidance. University of Maryland Extension lists 15 to 18 inches in-row with rows 30 to 36 inches apart, and Iowa State Extension puts plants 12 to 24 inches apart depending on the head size you want.
Square vs triangular layout
A raised bed gives you a choice most row gardeners never think about: how to stagger the plants.
Take a 4 ft by 8 ft bed and cabbage at 18 inches:
- Square spacing: 10 plants (5 down the 8-foot length, 2 across the 4-foot width).
- Triangular packing: 9 plants. The staggered rows give up one plant to the short edges of this particular bed.
Pro tip
Square spacing wastes the diagonal space between plants. Triangular (offset) spacing staggers every other row, so each plant nests into the gap between two plants in front of it. That fits about 15% more plants in a large bed, per Michigan State University Extension. The gain grows with bed size. In a small bed like this one, the offset rows can lose a plant to the short edges, so the calculator shows the real count for your dimensions.
Square-foot gardening counts 1 cabbage per square, which pencils out to 32 plants in that 4 by 8 bed. That is far too tight for full-size heads. Treat the per-square count as a starting point, not a rule, and give cabbage the room a big brassica actually needs.
Why the airflow matters as much as the sunlight
Cabbage leaves are broad and they overlap fast. That is the real reason the extension ranges run wider than you might expect for a vegetable this size.
Clemson Cooperative Extension recommends wide plant spacing specifically to help the leaves dry out between waterings and rain. Damp leaves that stay damp are what fungal leaf diseases need to take hold.
So the spacing does two jobs at once. It gives each head room to size up, and it keeps air moving through the bed so the leaves dry. Skimp on either end of the range and you trade one problem for another: crowd the plants and you get small heads and wet leaves, space them too far and you waste bed space you could have filled.
Common mistake
Planting cabbage at salad-green density to "fit more in." Cabbage is a full-size brassica and needs a full 12 to 18 inches. Pack it to 6 inches and you get a bed of leaves with golf-ball heads, plus trapped humid air that feeds disease. Thin to one plant per 12 to 18 inches and let each one earn its space.
Common spacing mistakes
Most cabbage spacing problems come from treating it like a small crop. It is a big brassica and it acts like one.
The frequent errors:
- Ignoring the variety. An early 12-inch cabbage and a late storage type at the same spacing will not give you the same result. Match the spacing to the head size the variety is bred for.
- Skipping the between-row gap. In rows, 24 to 36 inches between rows is not optional. Skinny rows shade the lower leaves and slow the air down.
- Forgetting the plant gets wide. A cabbage plant can span 18 to 24 inches of leaf at maturity. Space for the mature plant, not the transplant you just set in the ground.
Feed the bed before you plant. The how much compost do I need guide covers the amendment, and cabbage is a heavy feeder that earns it. If you are planting other brassicas alongside it, the broccoli spacing and cauliflower spacing guides use the same method with their own numbers, and the broccoli companion plants guide covers what to plant alongside a mixed brassica bed.
Timing it to the season? When to plant cabbage covers spring and fall windows for transplants, and cabbage companion plants covers what to grow alongside it.
Put your bed's numbers in
Cabbage wants 12 to 18 inches between plants and 24 to 36 inches between rows, or a full square foot each in a raised bed. Closer packing trades head size for head count, wider packing does the opposite, and the variety you chose points you to which end of the range to use.
Pick cabbage and your bed size in the Plant Spacing Calculator to see how many plants fit in square, triangular, and square-foot layouts. When the heads firm up, the when to harvest cabbage guide tells you the day to cut.
Common questions
How close together can I plant cabbage?
The tightest workable spacing is about 12 inches in-row, the bottom of the extension range. At 12 inches you get smaller, denser heads but more of them across the bed. For full-size heads, hold at 18 inches. Closer than 12 inches crowds the plants and traps moisture against the leaves.
How many cabbage plants fit in a 4x8 raised bed?
At 18-inch spacing, a 4 by 8 foot bed holds 10 cabbage plants in a square grid (5 down the length, 2 across the width). A staggered triangular layout fits 9. Square-foot gardening counts 1 per square, but 32 full-size heads in that bed is too tight in practice.
Can you plant cabbage too close?
Yes. Crowded cabbage competes for light and nutrients, so heads stay small and slow to firm up. Tight spacing also traps humid air between the broad leaves, which invites fungal leaf disease. Give each plant 12 to 18 inches and a clear path for air, and the heads size up faster.
How far apart should cabbage rows be?
Space cabbage rows 24 to 36 inches apart, per US extension guidance. The wider end suits big late varieties and gives you room to walk and harvest. In a raised bed you skip rows entirely and use a 1-per-square-foot grid instead.
Does cabbage spacing change the head size?
Yes, and you can use it on purpose. Plant at 12 inches for smaller, tighter heads and a heavier total yield per bed. Plant at 18 inches for fewer but larger heads. The same plant gives a different result depending on the room you give it.
What should not be planted near cabbage?
Keep cabbage away from tomatoes, pole beans, strawberries, and other brassicas like broccoli and cauliflower. The brassicas share the same pests and soil diseases, so packing them together feeds both. See the cabbage companion plants guide for the full list of good and bad neighbors.
Sources
Agronomic claims in this guide are checked against these primary sources.
- Growing Cabbage in the Home Garden — Iowa State University Extension
- Cabbage — University of Maryland Extension
- Square Foot Gardening — Square Foot Gardening Foundation
- Intensive gardening methods — Michigan State University Extension
- Cabbage — University of Illinois Extension
- Cabbage & Chinese Cabbage — Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
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