Spacing is a yield decision, not a suggestion
Recommended spacing exists because plants compete — for light above ground and water and nutrients below. Crowded tomatoes shade each other into vine; crowded carrots stay pencil-thin forever. The counts above use standard extension-service spacing per crop, editable if your variety or method differs (dwarf varieties tighter, sprawling heirlooms wider).
Rows vs. grid: pick by how you garden
Traditional rows put walking space between every line — the right call for in-ground gardens where you need to hoe, hill, or run irrigation lines. Intensive grids drop the internal paths entirely and space plants equally in both directions — the standard for raised beds up to 4 feet wide that you tend from the edges. The same 4×8 bed holds strikingly different counts under each system, which is exactly what the toggle above shows.
Plan the whole bed, then the calendar
Once you know how many plants fit, work out when they go in with the planting calendar and how much soil the bed needs with the soil calculator. Crop-by-crop spacing and timing guides live under when to plant.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between row spacing and grid (intensive) spacing?
Traditional rows leave wide walking paths between lines of plants — right for field gardens and crops you hill or till. Intensive grid spacing (the square-foot-garden approach) uses the in-row distance in both directions with no paths inside the bed, which typically fits 2–3× more plants in a raised bed you can reach from the sides.
Can I plant closer than the recommended spacing?
A little, with trade-offs. Tight spacing means smaller individual plants, more disease pressure from reduced airflow, and more watering. It works best for leaf crops you harvest young (lettuce, greens) and worst for fruiting crops like tomatoes and squash, which genuinely need their room.
Do I measure spacing from the edge of the bed or the first plant?
From plant center to plant center — and give the outermost plants half a spacing from the bed edge. The calculator’s counts assume plants are centered in the space, which is why a 4-foot bed at 12-inch spacing fits 4 across, not 5.
How many tomato plants fit in a 4×8 raised bed?
At the standard 24-inch spacing: 8 plants in a grid (2 across × 4 down). Crowding more in is the most common raised-bed mistake — 8 well-spaced plants will out-yield 12 crowded ones by August.