Plant Spacing Calculator

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How plant spacing is calculated

Spacing is the distance from the centre of one plant to the centre of the next. In a square grid each plant sits at the corner of a square whose sides equal the spacing, so each plant uses spacing × spacing of ground. In a bed, the calculator counts how many plants fit along the length and across the width, leaving an edge gap — usually half the spacing — so the outer plants have room to spread without hanging over the path.

1. Plants along the length = (length − 2 × edge gap) ÷ spacing, rounded down, + 1.
2. Plants across the width = (width − 2 × edge gap) ÷ spacing, rounded down, + 1.
3. Square grid total = plants along × plants across.
4. For large areas without edges: plants = area ÷ spacing² (square) or area ÷ (spacing² × 0.866) (triangular).

Square or triangular planting?

In a triangular or offset layout, every second row is shifted by half the spacing, so each plant is the same distance from six neighbours. The rows are closer together — spacing × 0.866 apart — so the same bed holds about 15% more plants while every plant still gets its full spacing. Triangular spacing is common for ground covers, perennials, hedging and intensive vegetable beds. Square grids are easier to mark out and to weed with a hoe, and they suit square-foot gardening.

Typical spacing for vegetables

Seed packets give the most reliable figure for a specific variety, but these ranges are typical for home gardens. Use the smaller figure in rich, raised beds and the larger one for vigorous varieties or poorer soil.

Square-foot gardening counts

Square-foot gardening divides a bed into 1-foot squares and plants a set number per square according to plant size: 1 for large plants such as tomatoes, peppers or broccoli; 4 for lettuce, chard or marigolds; 9 for bush beans, spinach or beets; and 16 for carrots, radishes and onions. Those numbers correspond to spacings of 12, 6, 4 and 3 inches. Enter one of those spacings with the edge gap set to half the spacing to reproduce the same counts for any bed.

Worked example

A raised bed is 10 feet by 4 feet and you want lettuce at 12-inch spacing, half a foot from each edge. Along the length there is 9 feet of plantable space, so 9 ÷ 1 + 1 = 10 plants; across the width there is 3 feet, so 4 plants. A square grid holds 40 plants. An offset layout with rows 10.4 inches apart fits 4 rows alternating 10 and 9 plants, 38 plants — fewer here because the bed is narrow. In a wide bed, the triangular pattern usually wins.

Ground covers, perennials and hedges

Nurseries usually recommend spacing that lets plants fill in within two or three seasons. Closer spacing covers faster but costs more; wider spacing saves money but leaves bare soil to mulch and weed for longer. For a hedge in a single row, use the row layout. For a double staggered hedge, set the width to the distance between the two rows and use the triangular figure. Adding a few spare plants — 5% is typical — lets you replace losses in the first season with plants from the same batch.

Why spacing matters

• Airflow: crowded plants stay wet longer, which encourages leaf diseases such as powdery mildew and blight.
• Light and roots: competition for light, water and nutrients reduces yield per plant even if the total number is higher.
• Access: you need room to harvest, prune and stake; leave paths or keep beds narrow enough to reach the middle, usually no wider than 4 feet.
• Mature size: always space for the plant's size at maturity, not its size in the pot.

Marking out the layout

For a square grid, stretch string lines along the bed at the row spacing and mark positions with a measuring stick. For triangular spacing, cut a stick to the spacing length, mark the first row, then offset the second row by half a stick and use the stick to form triangles with the plants of the row before. A cardboard template with holes at the right spacing is quick for small crops such as onion sets or carrots.