Plan what to plant in your raised bed
Start from one of our drawn plans, then change the crops, how much of the bed each one takes and how far apart they grow. Every plant is counted and drawn to scale at the spacings Colorado State University Extension gives for raised beds.
This 4 × 8 ft bed holds 10 trellised cucumbers, 4 pepper plants, 3 basil plants, 16 leaf lettuce plants and 18 chive clumps.
- 10 trellised cucumbers9 in apart on a trellis
- 4 pepper plants15 in apart
- 3 basil plants12 in apart
- 16 leaf lettuce plants9 in apart
- 18 chive clumps6 in apart
Along the north side: trellised cucumbers, 9 in apart on a trellis, in a 12 in strip. From one end of the bed: peppers 30 in (15 in apart), basil 12 in (12 in apart), leaf lettuce 36 in (9 in apart) and chives 18 in (6 in apart).
How the planner counts
Each crop takes a strip across the bed, side by side from one end. Its plants sit an equal distance apart both ways, half a spacing in from the walls and from the next crop, the way our plant spacing calculator counts them, so no two plants are drawn closer than their spacing. Bush beans and potatoes keep their rows 12 and 15 inches apart.
Tomatoes and cucumbers can grow in one trellised row along the north side of the bed, in a strip 24 or 12 inches deep, where the trellis shades the rest of the bed least. In a narrow bed, grow them as a strip across the bed instead, with the trellis on its north edge.
Two crops never share the same ground: if the strips add up to more than the bed’s length, the planner says so and waits for you to shorten one. A strip too short or too narrow for one plant counts none, and says why.
Closer spacing, or your own
The counts start at the wider figure of each of Colorado State’s ranges. Its advice for raised beds is to start there and close the spacing up as you gain experience and the soil improves. Choose the closer figure for a crop, or the spacing on your seed packet, and the count and the drawing change with it. For basil and chives the figures are Utah State University Extension’s.
Start from a drawn plan
Each bed size we draw has four plans: a salad bed, a kitchen bed with herbs, tomatoes and peppers, and roots and onions. Pick one under “Start from”, or open a plan from its size page, and change what you like.
2 × 4 ft2 × 6 ft2 × 8 ft3 × 3 ft3 × 6 ft3 × 8 ft4 × 4 ft4 × 6 ft4 × 8 ft4 × 10 ft4 × 12 ft
Keeping your plan
“Save on this device” keeps one plan in this browser, with the bed’s size, to open here next time. “Save as a file” gives you a copy to keep or to open on another device with “Open a file”, and “Copy link” opens the same plan for anyone you send it to. Printing gives the drawing, the plant count and each strip’s length and spacing, so the plan can be marked out in the bed. There is no account, and nothing you plan is sent to us.
If you saved a garden plan in our raised bed planner on this device, its beds are offered here by size.
What it leaves out
How much each plant will yield, which depends on the variety, the weather and the season; which crops do well side by side; and when to sow or plant out. It counts plants in the space you have.
For the soil, the raised bed soil calculator counts the bags for your bed at any depth, and the depth guide covers the crops that need more soil. For a planter on legs, see what to plant in a raised bed with legs.
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