plant-spacing

Vegetable Garden Spacing Chart: Plant Spacing Calculator and Yield Guide

Vegetable Garden Spacing Chart: Plant Spacing Calculator and Yield Guide Vegetable garden spacing follows a simple density formula: divide the square footage of your bed by the spacing area each plant needs (in square feet) to get total plants per bed. A 4x8 raised bed (32 sq ft) fits 8 tomatoes at 24-inch spacing, 32 peppers at 12-inch spacing, or 128 carrots at 3-inch spacing. Getting this number wrong is the fastest way to lose an entire season to disease and poor yields. Tracked plant counts, spacing, and harvest weights across 14 raised beds over four growing seasons in Zone 6b show the pattern clearly. In one overcrowded trial, 20 basil plants packed into a 4x4 bed (16 sq ft) at 4-inch spacing -- where 9 plants at 6-inch spacing was correct -- developed downy mildew on every plant by July. In a properly spaced season, 8 indeterminate tomatoes in...