Raised Bed Planner

This raised bed planner lets you design a bed square by square. Set the bed’s length, width and height, choose a crop, and tap or drag across the grid to place it. Each square is one square foot, and the planner applies each crop’s typical spacing as you go, so you can see exactly how many plants fit: 16 carrots in a square, 4 lettuces, a single pepper, or one zucchini spread across nine squares. It also works out how much soil the bed needs. Your plan saves automatically in this browser, and you can print it to take into the garden.

How to use the raised bed planner

1. Set the bed size. Enter the inside length and width in feet, up to 12 by 6, and the height in inches.
2. Choose a crop from the list. Each option shows its spacing rule, such as “4 per sq ft” or “1 per 9 sq ft”.
3. Paint the grid. Tap a square to plant it, or press and drag across several squares. On a keyboard, move between squares with Tab and press Enter.
4. Use the eraser to clear squares, “Fill empty squares” to plant every empty square with the current crop, or “Clear bed” to start over.
5. Read the summary. It lists each crop’s squares and plant count, warns if a large crop has too few squares for even one plant, and gives the soil volume to fill the bed.
6. Print the plan when you are happy with it.

Want a head start? The garden layout generator can draft a bed and send it here for you to adjust.

How spacing works in the planner

The planner uses square foot spacing, the same system described in our square foot gardening calculator. The number of plants per square comes from each crop’s normal spacing: divide 12 inches by the spacing and square the result.

• 16 per square: carrots and radishes, about 3 inches apart.
• 9 per square: spinach, beets, onions and bush beans, about 4 inches apart.
• 8 per square: peas and pole beans along a trellis.
• 4 per square: lettuce, chard, parsley, garlic and cilantro, about 6 inches apart.
• 2 per square: trellised cucumbers.
• 1 per square: staked tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, kale and basil.
• 1 per 9 squares: zucchini and winter squash, which sprawl across a 3-by-3-foot block.

These are the same figures used in our plant database. Compact varieties may fit more closely, and vigorous ones may need more room; use the planner as a starting point and adjust for the varieties you grow.

Designing a productive bed

Tall crops on the north side

Place tomatoes, trellised cucumbers, pole beans and peas along the north edge of the bed, so they do not shade the shorter crops in front of them. In the planner, use the top row for tall crops if the top of the grid faces north. If your bed runs north to south, put tall crops at the north end instead.

Easy access

Keep crops you harvest often, such as lettuce, herbs and beans, along the edges where they are easy to reach. Slower crops that need less attention can sit in the middle.

Mix families

Rather than filling a whole bed with one crop family, mix them. Spreading brassicas such as broccoli and kale among other crops makes it harder for cabbage worms to move from plant to plant. Adding a square or two of flowers such as sweet alyssum attracts beneficial insects. The companion plant finder suggests good pairings.

Leave room for successions

Quick crops such as radishes, lettuce and spinach finish early. Plan what will follow them: a square of spring radishes can be replanted with bush beans in early summer, then with fall spinach. Keeping a few squares free for successive sowings keeps the bed productive all season.

Give big crops their space

Zucchini and winter squash need about 9 squares each in a 3-by-3 block, and the planner will warn you if you give them fewer. If space is tight, choose compact bush varieties, grow squash up a strong trellis, or give them their own bed.

Sample plans for a 4 by 8 bed

A salad and herb bed

Along the north edge, 4 squares of snap peas on a trellis, followed by cucumbers in summer. In the middle rows, 8 squares of lettuce sown in batches, 4 of spinach, 2 of chard, 2 of parsley and 2 of cilantro. Along the south edge, 4 squares of radishes sown every few weeks, 2 of green onions, and 2 of sweet alyssum.

A summer harvest bed

Along the north edge, 3 tomatoes and 2 squares of trellised cucumbers. In the middle, 3 peppers, 2 basil, 4 bush beans and 2 squares of kale. Along the south edge, 6 squares of carrots and 2 of beets. Add a zucchini only if you have a second bed, because it would take 9 of the bed’s 32 squares.

A beginner’s bed

Two tomatoes and 2 squares of cucumbers at the back, 2 peppers and 2 basil in the middle, then 4 lettuce, 4 bush beans, 4 radishes and 4 chard, with the remaining squares used for a second sowing of lettuce and beans. Our list of the easiest vegetables for beginners has more ideas.

Soil for your bed

The planner’s summary includes the soil needed to fill the bed, with 15 percent added for settling. A 4-by-8-foot bed 11 inches deep needs about 34 cubic feet, roughly 1.25 cubic yards. For a breakdown into topsoil, compost and aeration, use the raised bed soil calculator. Our article on why raised bed soil sinks explains why the settling allowance matters.

Bed sizes and how many squares they hold

Tips for using the plan in the garden

• Mark the grid. Lay string, thin wooden strips or twine across the bed at one-foot intervals so you can match the plan.
• Print it. A printed plan in a plastic sleeve is easy to take outside.
• Plant by timing, not all at once. Cool-season crops go in first, warm-season crops after the last frost. The planting calendar gives dates for each.
• Update the plan as you go. When a crop finishes and you replant a square, change it in the planner to keep a record for crop rotation next year.

Planting the grid in practice

Once your plan is ready, mark the bed into one-foot squares with string, twine or thin wooden strips fixed to the frame. Then plant each square according to its crop:

• 1 per square: plant in the center of the square.
• 4 per square: divide the square into quarters and plant one in the center of each, about 6 inches apart.
• 9 per square: plant a 3-by-3 grid, about 4 inches apart.
• 16 per square: plant a 4-by-4 grid, about 3 inches apart. Poking holes with a finger first makes it easy to space evenly.

For crops sown in batches, such as lettuce and radishes, sow one or two squares at a time every couple of weeks rather than the whole allocation at once.

Rotating crops across several beds

If you have more than one bed, rotate plant families between them each year. A simple four-bed rotation moves fruiting crops such as tomatoes and peppers, then legumes such as beans and peas, then leafy crops and brassicas, then roots such as carrots and onions, one bed along each season. With a single bed, rotate within it by moving families to a different section each year. Printing each year’s plan makes rotation easy to track.

Common raised bed planning mistakes

• Planting one crop per bed. Mixing crops makes better use of space and reduces pest problems.
• Putting tall crops on the south side, where they shade the rest of the bed.
• Underestimating big plants. A single zucchini can take more than a quarter of a 4-by-8 bed.
• Leaving no room for flowers that attract pollinators and beneficial insects.
• Skipping the plan for later in the season. Decide what follows each early crop before you plant.

Planning several beds

The raised bed planner holds one bed at a time. If you have several beds, a simple approach works well: plan the first bed, print it, then change the size or clear the grid and plan the next one, printing each as you go. Label each printout with the bed’s position in the garden, such as “north bed” or “bed by the fence”. For a view of all beds together, with paths and planting dates, use the vegetable garden planner, which maps a whole plot of up to 30 by 20 feet.

Keeping a printed plan for each bed every year is also the easiest way to rotate crops. At the start of the next season, lay last year’s plans side by side and move each crop family to a different bed or section.

Frequently asked questions