4 × 4 raised bed planting layouts
A 4 × 4 ft bed holds 16 heads of lettuce, 64 spinach plants or 256 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.
- 4 heads of lettuce12 in apart
- 5 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
- 8 spinach plants6 in apart
- 5 chard plants9 in apart
- 32 radishes3 in apart
- 32 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.
- 5 trellised cucumbers9 in apart on a trellis
- 2 pepper plants15 in apart
- 3 basil plants12 in apart
- 4 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
- 12 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.
- 2 trellised tomatoes24 in apart on a trellis
- 2 pepper plants15 in apart
- 12 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.
- 80 carrots3 in apart
- 8 beets6 in apart
- 16 onions6 in apart
- 8 parsnips6 in apart
- 48 radishes3 in apart
How many plants fit in a 4 × 4 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 × 4 bed |
|---|---|---|
| Head lettuce | 10 to 12 in each way | 16 |
| Leaf lettuce | 7 to 9 in each way | 25 |
| Spinach | 4 to 6 in each way | 64 |
| Swiss chard | 7 to 9 in each way | 25 |
| Kohlrabi | 7 to 9 in each way | 25 |
| Beets | 4 to 6 in each way | 64 |
| Onions | 4 to 6 in each way (dry onions) | 64 |
| Garlic | 4 to 6 in each way | 64 |
| Leeks | 4 to 6 in each way | 64 |
| Carrots | 2 to 3 in each way | 256 |
| Radishes | 2 to 3 in each way | 256 |
| Bunching onions | 2 to 3 in each way | 256 |
| Bush beans | 4 in apart in rows 12 in apart | 48 |
| Peppers | 15 in each way | 9 |
| Broccoli or cabbage | 18 in each way | 4 |
| Potatoes | 12 by 15 in | 12 |
| Tomatoes, trellised | at least 24 in apart in one row | 2 |
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 × 4 ft bed takes 13.33 cubic feet of soil: 9 bags of 1.5 cubic feet. Soil for a 4 × 4 bed at every depth. The depth guide covers tomatoes and other deep roots.
Building it? The 4 × 4 build plan has the cut list, the screws and three step drawings.
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 × 4 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 × 6 ft4 × 8 ft4 × 10 ft4 × 12 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