Calculate how many plants fit in your garden bed with proper spacing. Choose from 30+ vegetables and herbs with companion planting tips.
Proper plant spacing is one of the most overlooked factors in a productive vegetable garden — and one of the most common mistakes new gardeners make. It's tempting to squeeze in more plants to get more food, but overcrowding actually does the opposite. Plants compete for the same soil nutrients, water, and light, leaving every plant in the bed undernourished and underperforming. Poor airflow between crowded plants also creates the warm, moist conditions that fungal diseases like powdery mildew and blight love.
On the other hand, spacing plants too far apart wastes valuable growing space in raised beds and containers. This calculator finds the sweet spot — giving you the exact number of plants for your bed size based on each vegetable's recommended spacing. Use it before you buy seeds or transplants to avoid over- or under-buying.
With the standard 24-inch spacing, 4 tomato plants fit in a 4x8 foot raised bed. If you're growing compact or dwarf varieties, you can use 18-inch spacing and fit about 6 plants. Most experienced gardeners stick with 4 full-size tomato plants per 4x8 bed and use the remaining space for smaller companion plants like basil, lettuce, or marigolds.
Square foot gardening is a method of dividing your raised bed into 1-foot squares and planting a set number of plants per square based on their spacing requirements. For example: 1 tomato per square foot, 4 lettuce plants per square foot, 9 spinach plants per square foot, or 16 radishes per square foot. It's an efficient system for maximizing production in small spaces, and pairs perfectly with our spacing calculator.
Yes, slightly. Raised beds with rich, well-amended soil support denser planting because nutrients and drainage are better than compacted in-ground soil. Most gardeners plant 10–20% closer in raised beds. However, never go below 75% of the recommended spacing — even the best soil can't compensate for genuine overcrowding. The key limiting factor in dense planting is airflow, not just nutrients.
Peppers need 18-inch spacing, so a 4x4 foot raised bed can hold about 4 pepper plants arranged in a 2x2 grid. This gives them enough room to bush out and provides good airflow to prevent disease. In a 4x8 bed, you can fit 8 peppers — though many Canadian gardeners prefer to mix peppers with companion herbs like basil in the remaining space.
Companion planting means growing certain plants near each other for mutual benefit. The classic example is the "Three Sisters" — corn, beans, and squash planted together. The corn provides a pole for beans to climb, beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the other plants, and squash leaves shade the ground to retain moisture. Other proven combinations include tomatoes with basil (basil may repel aphids and whiteflies), carrots with onions, and marigolds planted throughout the garden to deter pests.
Bush cucumber varieties need about 12 inches of spacing, so a 4x8 bed can hold 24–32 plants. However, vining cucumbers are better trained vertically up a trellis along one end of the bed — this saves space and improves airflow. With a trellis, you can fit 8 vining cucumber plants along a 4-foot trellis and use the rest of the bed for other crops. Vertical growing is one of the best space-saving strategies for small Canadian gardens.
Proper spacing prevents disease by improving airflow, reduces competition for nutrients and water, and makes harvesting easier. Crowded plants produce smaller yields and attract more pests.
Spacing is measured from center of one plant to center of next. Use a tape measure or make a spacing stick. For square foot gardening, divide beds into 1-foot squares.
You can plant slightly closer in raised beds with rich soil, but never less than 75% of recommended spacing. Better soil = healthier plants at closer spacing.
Plant fast-growing crops like lettuce and radishes between slower crops like tomatoes. Harvest the quick crops before the larger plants need the space.
Learn the planting strategies behind the numbers.