3 × 3 raised bed planting layouts
A 3 × 3 ft bed holds 9 heads of lettuce, 36 spinach plants or 144 carrots if you fill it with one crop, at the spacings Colorado State University Extension gives for raised beds. Most people mix crops: here are four plans drawn to scale, from a salad bed to a kitchen bed with cucumbers, peppers and herbs, with every plant counted.
Salad bed
Greens to cut from spring into early summer, with quick radishes and onions between the slower crops.
- 3 heads of lettuce12 in apart
- 4 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
- 6 spinach plants6 in apart
- 12 radishes3 in apart
- 24 bunching onions3 in apart
Change this plan: other crops, closer spacing or your own bed size
Kitchen bed with herbs
Something for most meals: cucumbers on a trellis along the north side, then a pepper, basil and leaf lettuce in the sun in front of them.
- 4 trellised cucumbers9 in apart on a trellis
- 1 pepper plant15 in apart
- 2 basil plants12 in apart
- 2 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
Change this plan: other crops, closer spacing or your own bed size
A tomato and basil
A staked tomato and a pepper plant need 39 inches side by side, more than this bed has, so one tomato takes a strip of its own with its trellis on the north side and basil fills the rest.
- 1 trellised tomato24 in apart on a trellis
- 3 basil plants12 in apart
Change this plan: other crops, closer spacing or your own bed size
Roots and onions
Crops that store: carrots, beets, onions and parsnips, with radishes to mark the rows while the carrots come up.
- 48 carrots3 in apart
- 6 beets6 in apart
- 6 onions6 in apart
- 6 parsnips6 in apart
- 24 radishes3 in apart
Change this plan: other crops, closer spacing or your own bed size
How many plants fit in a 3 × 3 raised bed?
If the whole bed held one crop, at the wider spacing in each of Colorado State University Extension’s ranges:
| Crop | Spacing (Colorado State Extension) | Plants in a 3 × 3 bed |
|---|---|---|
| Head lettuce | 10 to 12 in each way | 9 |
| Leaf lettuce | 7 to 9 in each way | 16 |
| Spinach | 4 to 6 in each way | 36 |
| Swiss chard | 7 to 9 in each way | 16 |
| Kohlrabi | 7 to 9 in each way | 16 |
| Beets | 4 to 6 in each way | 36 |
| Onions | 4 to 6 in each way (dry onions) | 36 |
| Garlic | 4 to 6 in each way | 36 |
| Leeks | 4 to 6 in each way | 36 |
| Carrots | 2 to 3 in each way | 144 |
| Radishes | 2 to 3 in each way | 144 |
| Bunching onions | 2 to 3 in each way | 144 |
| Bush beans | 4 in apart in rows 12 in apart | 27 |
| Peppers | 15 in each way | 4 |
| Broccoli or cabbage | 18 in each way | 4 |
| Potatoes | 12 by 15 in | 6 |
| Tomatoes, trellised | at least 24 in apart in one row | 1 |
How the plants are placed
Colorado State University Extension’s advice for raised beds is to plant with an equal distance between neighboring plants in both directions, and to start with the wider spacing of each range, closing it up as you gain experience and the soil improves. Every count on this page uses the wider figure.
Plants sit half a spacing in from the walls, the way our plant spacing calculator counts them, so a 4-ft-wide bed takes two rows of broccoli 18 inches apart; CSU fits three by planting nearer the edges. A tomato gets a strip of its own, with its trellis on the north side, where it shades the rest of the bed least.
Square-foot gardening puts a tomato in every square foot, the University of Florida’s Gardening Solutions says: 9 in a 3 × 3 ft bed. At the 24 inches Colorado State gives a trellised tomato, a 3 × 3 ft bed holds 1 trellised tomato.
Before you plant
Most garden crops need at least 10 inches of soil, the University of Georgia Extension says. Filled 10 inches deep, a 3 × 3 ft bed takes 7.5 cubic feet of soil: 5 bags of 1.5 cubic feet. Soil for a 3 × 3 bed at every depth. The depth guide covers tomatoes and other deep roots.
Sold a little bigger than 3 × 3 ft, these beds take the plans above as drawn: Vego 9-in-1 raised bed, 17-inch (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Vego 6-in-1 raised bed, 17-inch (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Vego 4-in-1 raised bed, 14-inch (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Vego Extra Tall 6-in-1 raised bed, 32-inch (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Metal Garden Beds CUADRA, EXACTO and FRESA (40 × 40 in), Vegega 17-inch 9-in-1 modular steel bed (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Vegega 32-inch 9-in-1 modular steel bed (3.5 × 3.5 ft), Gardenary corten steel raised beds (40 × 40 in) and Arrow GROW IT steel beds (40 × 40 in).
To start the salad bed early or keep it going into autumn, the hoop cover calculator sizes the hoops and the cover for a 3 × 3 ft bed.
Raised garden bed ideasPlant spacing calculatorHoop cover calculator
Layouts for other bed sizes
2 × 4 ft2 × 6 ft2 × 8 ft3 × 6 ft3 × 8 ft4 × 4 ft4 × 6 ft4 × 8 ft4 × 10 ft4 × 12 ft
References
- Block Style Layout in Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens (GardenNotes #713), Colorado State University Extension
- Square Foot Gardening, University of Florida IFAS Gardening Solutions
- Basil in the Garden, Utah State University Extension
- How to Grow Chives in Your Garden, Utah State University Extension
- Raised Garden Bed Dimensions (Circular 1027-4), University of Georgia Cooperative Extension