Raised Bed Planner

Plan your raised beds square by square: how many plants fit in a 4×8 or 4×4 bed, and when to plant each one for your ZIP code. Free, in your browser.

Opening your garden…

Plan a raised bed

01Set your bed's size. A 4 × 8 ft bed is ready to start with; add 4 × 4, 3 × 6 or any size you like.
02Choose a crop and tap squares. Each square foot holds the square-foot-gardening count for that crop.
03Add your ZIP code to date every crop from your frost dates.
04Open the calendar for this week's jobs, and print the plan for the garden.

How many plants fit in a 4 × 8 bed?

A 4 × 8 ft bed is 32 square feet. Planted square-foot style, each square takes one large plant or several small ones at closer spacing [2]. Raised beds can be planted this closely because the soil stays loose and nobody walks on it.

Few gardeners fill a bed with one crop, but the totals show the scale: a 4 × 8 bed holds 32 tomatoes or 512 carrots. Mix crops square by square in the planner and it counts each one. The square foot garden planner has the count for every crop.

A whole bed of one crop at square-foot spacing, from the crop library
Crop	Spacing	4 × 4 bed	4 × 8 bed
Tomato	1 per sq ft	16	32
Bell Pepper	1 per sq ft	16	32
Kale	1 per sq ft	16	32
Leaf Lettuce	4 per sq ft	64	128
Swiss Chard	4 per sq ft	64	128
Bush Bean	9 per sq ft	144	288
Spinach	9 per sq ft	144	288
Onion (bulb)	9 per sq ft	144	288
Beet	9 per sq ft	144	288
Carrot	16 per sq ft	256	512
Radish	16 per sq ft	256	512
Summer Squash (zucchini/yellow)	1 per 4 sq ft	4	8

How much soil does a raised bed need?

Length × width × depth, in feet. Bagged soil is sold by the cubic foot and bulk soil by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet). 8 inches of good soil grows most vegetables; fill to 12 inches for carrots, parsnips and potatoes, or where the ground below is poor.

New soil settles over its first season, so order a little extra to top the bed up.

Soil to fill a bed, by depth
Bed	Sq ft	8 in deep	12 in deep
4 × 4 ft	16	10.7 cu ft (0.40 cu yd)	16 cu ft (0.59 cu yd)
3 × 6 ft	18	12 cu ft (0.44 cu yd)	18 cu ft (0.67 cu yd)
4 × 8 ft	32	21.3 cu ft (0.79 cu yd)	32 cu ft (1.19 cu yd)
2 × 8 ft	16	10.7 cu ft (0.40 cu yd)	16 cu ft (0.59 cu yd)
4 × 12 ft	48	32 cu ft (1.19 cu yd)	48 cu ft (1.78 cu yd)

Laying out a raised bed

Keep beds 3 to 4 feet wide, so you can reach the middle from either side without stepping in.
Put tall crops (staked tomatoes, pole beans, corn) on the north side so they don't shade the rest.
Leave paths at least 2 feet wide between beds for a wheelbarrow, or 18 inches if you only walk them.
Give squash and melons a corner or a trellis: one plant can need 4 to 9 square feet.

Questions

How deep should a raised bed be?

Most vegetables do well in 8 to 12 inches of good soil over loosened ground. Carrots, parsnips and potatoes like the deeper end.

Can I plant a raised bed closer than a garden row?

Yes. Rows in a dug garden leave room to walk between them. In a raised bed you reach in from the path, so plants can be spaced evenly in every direction, which is what the square-foot counts do.

What should I plant in my first raised bed?

Easy, productive choices: lettuce and other salad greens, radishes, bush beans, a tomato or two, one zucchini (it needs a lot of room), and herbs like basil and parsley.

More garden planning

Square Foot Garden PlannerA square foot garden planner with the plants-per-square count for every crop, a grid you tap to plant, and planting dates for your ZIP code.Vegetable Garden LayoutLay out your vegetable garden to scale: beds or rows, the right spacing for each crop, plant counts, and planting dates for your ZIP code. Free.Frost Dates by ZIP CodeYour average last spring frost and first fall frost by ZIP code, from NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals at the nearest weather station, with safer 10% dates.Vegetable Planting CalendarWhen to plant vegetables where you live: start-indoors, transplant and sowing dates for every common crop, from your ZIP code's frost dates.