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Spacing

How many plants fit in a raised bed?

The short answer

At RHS spacing, a 2.4 × 1.2m raised bed holds about 64 garlic cloves, 64 to 144 onion sets, 16 early potatoes, 32 hearting lettuces, 8 Brussels sprouts or 2 courgettes. Planting 20% closer, an RHS rule of thumb for raised beds, fits about 50 lettuces instead of 32. The full list is below.

What fits in a 2.4 × 1.2m bed (8 × 4ft), a 1.2m square and a 1.8 × 0.9m bed, crop by crop. RHS keeps raised beds under 1.5m wide so you can reach the middle without standing on the soil, and its no-dig beds are about 1.2m wide.

Every crop, three bed sizes

Published spacing, half a spacing in from each edge, rows whichever way fits more. Where the source gives a range, so does the count.

Plants per raised bed at RHS spacing
Crop2.4 × 1.2m bed1.2 × 1.2m bed1.8 × 0.9m bed
Garlic643236
Onions (sets)64 to 14432 to 7236 to 81
Onions (from seed)96 to 14448 to 7254 to 81
Shallots (sets)48 to 7224 to 3227 to 42
Shallots (from seed)1084863
Leeks48 to 6424 to 3227 to 36
Potatoes (first early)1689
Potatoes (second early)1689
Potatoes (maincrop)934
Carrots128 to 38464 to 19272 to 216
Parsnips643236
Beetroot964854
Radish (summer)384 to 768192 to 384216 to 432
Radish (winter and oriental)96 to 12848 to 6454 to 72
Lettuce (hearting)321618
Lettuce (loose-leaf)643236
Spinach964854
Chard20812
Kale10 to 204 to 86 to 12
Cabbage (spring)321618
Cabbage (summer and autumn)10 to 324 to 168 to 18
Cabbage (winter and savoy)8 to 1043 to 8
Broccoli (calabrese)10 to 204 to 88 to 12
Broccoli (sprouting)3 to 81 to 42 to 3
Cauliflower (summer and autumn)8 to 1043 to 6
Cauliflower (winter and spring)312
Cauliflower (mini)1286472
Brussels sprouts843
Broad beans25 to 4010 to 1614 to 24
Runner beans (climbing)16 to 328 to 1612 to 24
Runner beans (dwarf)1689
French beans (dwarf)1286472
French beans (climbing)401624
Courgettes212
Pumpkins and winter squash (bush)212
Pumpkins and winter squash (trailing)111
Sweetcorn10 to 214 to 98 to 10
Tomatoes (outdoor)8 to 1043 to 8
Strawberries934 to 5
Plants that fit at the published spacing, half a spacing in from each edge. Tap a number to see the rows drawn out.

How the numbers are worked out

  • Half a spacing to the edge. In a 120cm-wide bed at 30cm, plants sit at 15, 45, 75 and 105cm: four across, not five. Nothing overhangs the side.
  • Rows run whichever way fits more. Usually along the bed; occasionally across it gives an extra row.
  • Grid crops use one spacing each way. Sweetcorn, courgettes, squash, mini cauliflowers and dwarf French beans.(RHS, RHS)
  • Climbing runner beans are a double row of canes. A 1.2m bed takes one double row.(RHS)
  • Peas are left out. They go in double or triple rows with a gap as wide as the crop is tall, which depends on the variety.(RHS)

Planting closer in a raised bed

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening crop planner suggests a 20 per cent reduction in spacing in raised beds, because there are no paths between rows to allow for. It is a rule of thumb from an educational sheet, not a figure from each crop's page. Crops that RHS says not to crowd, like Brussels sprouts, are better left at full spacing.

Try both in the plant spacing calculator: tick “plant 20% closer” and it redraws the bed.

Put your beds on a plan, free

Add each bed with its size and what is growing in it. Vercro draws the plan to scale, keeps the record, and shows what each empty bed could take next.

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Where this comes from

Every spacing figure comes from the crop's RHS grow-your-own page, or Garden Organic where RHS gives none, linked beside the figure. The Vercro app's catalogue holds no spacing, so none of these numbers come from it. Reviewed 19 September 2026.