Spacing in Square Foot Raised Bed Gardens

I experimented with square foot gardening in raised beds last year, and really like it! What follows is a summary from Mel Bartholomew's "All New Square Foot Gardening" for when you're planning your garden, plus some input from me:
  • Asparagus - plant 1 or 4 in one square foot - depends on the type.
  • Beans (bush) - plant 9 per square foot. Stagger plantings since they are usually all ready to harvest at once.
  • Beans (pole) - plant 8 per square foot but against support (trellis, fence, etc.) is recommended
  • Broccoli - plant 1 per square foot because they really need the room. Stagger plantings so that you won't have 4 all ready at once!
  • Cabbage - plant 1 per square foot. See Broccoli.
  • Carrot - plant 16 per square foot - sometimes I can get 22+ per square foot, and eat the thinnings - yum!
  • Cauliflower - plant 1 per square foot. See Broccoli.
  • Corn - plant 4 per square foot if you aren't doing a Three Sisters. Be sure to plant in blocks to get good wind fertilization.
  • Cucumber (bush) - plant 2 per square foot.
  • Cucumber (pole) - plant 4 per square foot, up against something to climb against, like a trellis or fence.
  • Eggplant - plant 1 per square foot (unless you buy a "container" eggplant which takes up less room - you can do 2 per square foot then).
  • Greens/Lettuce - 4 per square foot, unless you prefer micro-greens (very young greens shoots), then you can go 16 per square foot.
  • Melon - 1 per 2 square foot but I prefer to plant them on the edge of a bed and let them roam all over. These can be very long vines, and need lots of space. Never plant in the middle of your raised bed - you'll never find your other plants!
  • Okra - plant 1 per square foot (unless it's a plant bred for containers, then 2 per square foot will work).
  • Onion (bunching/scallions) - plant 16 per square foot (never near beans!)
  • Parsley - plant 4 per square foot.
  • Pea (sugar snap) - plant 8 per square foot.
  • Pepper (bell or hot) - plant 1 per square foot.
  • Potato (white/baking) - plant 4 per square foot (we'll deal with these later!).
  • Radish - plant 16 per square foot.
  • Spinach - plant 9 per square foot.
  • Squash (summer/bush) - plant 1 per square foot (my zucchini last year took up a bit more than a square foot, as did my yellow crookneck).
  • Squash (winter/vining) - includes pumpkin, butternut, etc. - plant 1 per 2 square feet - see Melon.
  • Strawberry - plant 4 per square foot.
  • Swiss Chard - plant 4 per square foot.
  • Tomato - 1 per square foot - all tomatoes should be caged and supported which will maximize your space

Hope this gets you started!

1 comment:

a said...

Thanks for your carnival submission. It can be read here
http://homesteadcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/04/carnival-93-thumbnail-edition.html

Abi