4 × 12 raised bed planting layouts

A 4 × 12 ft bed holds 48 heads of lettuce, 192 spinach plants or 768 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.

12 ft × 4 ft inside, drawn to scale.

12 heads of lettuce12 in apart
15 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
32 spinach plants6 in apart
15 chard plants9 in apart
64 radishes3 in apart
96 bunching onions3 in apart

Kitchen bed with herbs

Something for most meals: cucumbers on a trellis along the north side, then peppers, basil, leaf lettuce and chives in the sun in front of them.

12 ft × 4 ft inside, drawn to scale; the trellis stands on the north side.

16 trellised cucumbers9 in apart on a trellis
6 pepper plants15 in apart
6 basil plants12 in apart
20 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
30 chive clumps6 in apart

Tomatoes and peppers

Staked tomatoes in one row along the north side, peppers and onions in front of them in the sun.

12 ft × 4 ft inside, drawn to scale; the trellis stands on the north side.

6 trellised tomatoes24 in apart on a trellis
6 pepper plants15 in apart
36 onions6 in apart

Roots and onions

Crops that store: carrots, beets, onions and parsnips, with radishes to mark the rows while the carrots come up.

12 ft × 4 ft inside, drawn to scale.

224 carrots3 in apart
40 beets6 in apart
40 onions6 in apart
32 parsnips6 in apart
96 radishes3 in apart

How many plants fit in a 4 × 12 raised bed?

If the whole bed held one crop, at the wider spacing in each of Colorado State University Extension’s ranges:

Crop	Spacing (CSU)	Plants in a 4 × 12 bed
Head lettuce	10 to 12 in each way	48
Leaf lettuce	7 to 9 in each way	80
Spinach	4 to 6 in each way	192
Swiss chard	7 to 9 in each way	80
Kohlrabi	7 to 9 in each way	80
Beets	4 to 6 in each way	192
Onions	4 to 6 in each way (dry onions)	192
Garlic	4 to 6 in each way	192
Leeks	4 to 6 in each way	192
Carrots	2 to 3 in each way	768
Radishes	2 to 3 in each way	768
Bunching onions	2 to 3 in each way	768
Bush beans	4 in apart in rows 12 in apart	144
Peppers	15 in each way	27
Broccoli or cabbage	18 in each way	16
Potatoes	12 by 15 in	36
Tomatoes, trellised	at least 24 in apart in one row	6

How the plants are placed

Colorado State University Extension’s advice for raised beds is to plant with an equal distance between neighbouring 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. Tomatoes go in one row on a trellis along a long side: put that side to the north and the trellis shades the rest of the bed least.

Before you plant

Most garden crops need at least 10 inches of soil, the University of Georgia Extension says. Filled 10 inches deep, a 4 × 12 ft bed takes 40 cubic feet of soil: 27 bags of 1.5 cubic feet. Soil for a 4 × 12 bed at every depth. The depth guide covers tomatoes and other deep roots.

To start the salad bed early or keep it going into autumn, the hoop cover calculator sizes the hoops and the cover for a 4 × 12 ft bed.

Raised garden bed ideas Plant spacing calculator Hoop cover calculator

Layouts for other bed sizes

2 × 4 ft 2 × 6 ft 2 × 8 ft 3 × 6 ft 3 × 8 ft 4 × 4 ft 4 × 6 ft 4 × 8 ft 4 × 10 ft

References

Block Style Layout in Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens (GardenNotes #713), Colorado State University Extension
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