Plant Spacing Chart: In-Row Inches + Square-Foot Counts

The vegetable spacing chart (inches and per square foot)

This chart gives you both spacing formats at once. Most charts pick one.

A row gardener needs in-row inches. A square-foot gardener needs plants per square. Here they sit side by side, so you can plant the same bed either way.

Two columns, two simple ideas:

• In-row spacing is how far apart to set plants down a single row, in inches.
• Plants per square foot is the count for one 12-inch grid square, the convention from the Square Foot Gardening method.

Same crop, just measured two ways.

These are the calculator's defaults, and they sit inside the ranges US extension services publish. Cornell puts tomatoes in the 14 to 24 inch band, depending on support. Broader extension guidance runs up to 36 inches for sprawling indeterminate types. The chart's 24 inches is the workable middle, and the calculator lets you nudge it.

How the two numbers relate

The in-row inch and the per-square count are the same density, written two ways. The math ties them together.

It comes down to how much room each plant needs:

• 1 per square when a plant wants about a foot of room (tomato, pepper).
• 4 per square when it wants about 6 inches (lettuce, basil).
• 9 per square at about 4 inches (beans, beets).
• 16 per square at about 3 inches (carrots, radishes).

So a per-square count is just the in-row spacing turned into a grid. That is why the calculator can switch layouts without changing your crop. Pick tomatoes, and 24-inch rows and 1-per-square are the same plant at the same density, counted differently.

How many plants actually fit your bed

The chart gives spacing. The real question is how many plants fit your bed, and the layout you pick changes the answer.

Take a 4 ft × 8 ft raised bed and tomatoes at 24 inches:

• Square spacing: 8 plants (4 down the 8-foot length, 2 across the 4-foot width).
• Triangular packing: 7 plants. The staggered rows give up a plant to the short edges.
• Square-foot gardening: 1 per square across 32 squares. That is too tight for full-size tomatoes, which shows why the per-square count is a starting point, not a law.

Swap to lettuce at 8 inches in that same bed and the numbers climb fast. Square spacing fits 72 plants. Square-foot mode fits 4 per square, for 128.

The layout drives the count as much as the crop does. That is the whole reason to run your real dimensions instead of eyeballing it.

How to use a square-foot grid

Square-foot gardening swaps row math for a physical grid. You lay 12-inch squares over the bed and treat each square as its own tiny plot.

1. Build or mark a grid of 12-inch squares across the whole bed.
2. Give each square a single crop.
3. Plant the per-square count from the chart: 1 tomato, 4 lettuce, 9 beans, 16 carrots.
4. Space the plants evenly inside the square so they share the foot of soil.

The grid is the trick. You never measure an inch in the row again, because the square already holds the spacing for you.

Spacing in a raised bed

Spacing happens inside the bed you filled, and the bed sets the limits. A deeper bed lets roots run, so root crops hit their chart spacing without fighting hardpan. A wider bed makes triangular packing pay off.

Still building or topping up? Size the fill first. The how much soil for a raised bed guide handles the soil, and how much compost do I need covers the amendment. Get the bed right, then let the chart and calculator handle the planting.

Put your bed's numbers in

The two formats are the same density measured two ways. Triangular packing buys back the diagonal that square spacing wastes. The chart gives you the spacing, but only your bed size gives you the count.

Pick your crop and bed size in the Plant Spacing Calculator to see how many plants fit in square, triangular, and square-foot layouts, with a grid preview for your exact dimensions.