Make a plan you can measure
This planner is for home vegetable gardeners arranging one rectangular bed. Start with the usable inside dimensions, choose crops, and enter how many final plants you want. Each crop receives a full-length strip across the bed. The diagram shows plant centres rather than mature foliage.
- Measure inside the frame, excluding paths and timber.
- Choose blocks or traditional rows. Inspect the linked source and edit spacing when your variety needs a different distance.
- Enter desired quantities. Add a trellis crop only if you actually plan to provide support.
- Enter the depth of soil being added, review the result, and use Print plan.
Changing the spacing method deliberately reloads crop presets. Changing units converts measurements. Desired quantity is a final plant count, not seeds to purchase or expected harvest.
How the layout is produced
Crops are allocated in list order, with a selected trellis crop first. The engine counts positions along the length, then adds enough rows for the desired quantity while respecting the available width. Every strip reserves half the chosen spacing at its boundaries; adjacent strips therefore keep their own spacing allowances.
The grid is centred within each strip. When a last row is only partly planted, vacant positions remain visible. Unallocated area is the separate part of the bed outside all strips, not a claim about canopy cover. The layout is deterministic and does not search for the mathematically densest packing.
A trellis crop is limited to one row along the back edge. A request exceeding that row is shown as unmet. If no plants fit, nothing is squeezed in and no spacing is reduced.
A worked bed plan
In an 8 × 4 ft bed, choose block spacing and request 8 head lettuces at 12 inches, 16 carrots at 3 inches, and 4 peppers at 18 inches. Lettuce takes a 12-inch strip, carrots a 3-inch strip, and peppers an 18-inch strip.
The result is 28 plants, 33 inches of allocated bed width, and an 8 ft × 15 in unallocated strip: 10 ft². The carrot and pepper strips have additional vacant positions because the requested counts are below their strip capacities. Filling the whole bed to 12 inches takes 32 ft³, or 22 bags of 1.5 ft³, before an allowance.
Assumptions & common mistakes
Block presets come from Colorado Extension guidance and traditional-row presets from Georgia Extension guidance. They describe different systems; switching methods is not simply a display change. Local conditions, mature plant size, access, and your seed packet may require changes.
- Do not treat the maximum count as a recommended planting target or a yield prediction.
- Leave paths outside the entered bed. The planner does not add walkways or simulate shade.
- Supported tomato spacing requires actual support, even without a marked trellis edge.
- Do not put total frame height into the top-up field; enter only the missing soil layer.
- Mixed crops sharing a strip boundary are not assessed for biological compatibility.
Limits: rectangular sides up to 100 ft each, 8 crop blocks, and 10,000 total positions. Very dense diagrams show a sample of dots; counts and the downloadable position list remain complete.
Planner questions
Can I plan a square-foot garden?
Use equal-distance blocks and enter the spacing appropriate for your method. This is a continuous measured grid, not a fixed one-foot-cell planner, and it does not automatically apply square-foot planting recipes.
Why are some requested plants missing?
A strip has only so many rows and positions. The result lists requested, placed, and unmet quantities. Reduce your request, change the bed size, or verify whether a different spacing is suitable; the tool never silently changes it.
Can I save my plan?
Print the result, save it as PDF through your browser’s print dialog, or download its position list. Inputs remain in memory while the page is open. Tool-to-tool transfers use this tab’s session storage, not an account or cloud save.
Will the trellis change plant spacing?
No. It changes placement order and limits that crop to one back-edge row. You must enter spacing suitable for the crop and its training system.