Free tool
How many plants fit in my bed?
Pick a crop and give your bed's length and width. It works out how many plants fit at RHS spacing, as a range where the RHS gives one, and draws the rows out to scale.
Runner beans (climbing) in a 240 × 120cm bed
How many fit
16 to 32 plants
At 15cm to 30cm apart in double rows 45cm to 60cm apart, 150cm between double rows(RHS). That is about 5.6 to 11.1 a square metre over 2.88m².
At the widest spacing: 2 rows along the bed, 8 plants in each, 30cm apart, 16 plants. Where RHS gives a range, it usually depends on the variety, so check the packet for yours.
Climbing runner beans go in a double row of canes, the two rows 45 to 60cm apart. RHS leaves at least 1.5m between one double row and the next.
Share this answer: vercro.com/tools/plant-spacing-calculator?crop=runner-beans-climbing&length=240&width=120
What this knows, and what it doesn't
- Spacing from RHS, figure by figure. Every crop's spacing comes from its RHS grow-your-own page, with Garden Organic where RHS gives none. The spacing chart lists every figure with its source.
- Half a spacing to the edge. Each plant gets its spacing as its own patch, so the outer plants sit half a spacing in from the edge: a 120cm bed at 30cm takes four across. Rows run whichever way fits more.
- A range, not a false exact number. Where RHS gives a range (runner beans 15 to 30cm, for example) you get the count at both ends.
- The 20% option is a rule of thumb. It comes from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening crop planner, not from each crop's page.
- 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, so no single count would be honest.
- Not a planting plan. It fits one crop into one bed. Mixing crops, paths inside the bed and climbing supports are up to you.
Spacing: published RHS and Garden Organic guidance, read 19 September 2026. This tool does not use the Vercro app's catalogue, which holds no spacing. Nothing you enter here is stored, and there is no sign-up.
Put your beds on a plan, free
In Vercro you add each bed with its size and what is growing in it. Vercro keeps the record and shows what each empty bed could take next.
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