What are the spacings for vegies in raised garden beds?
I've been getting a lot of mixed and inconclusive answers from a variety of websites and books, does anyone know a definite answer or have a table on veggie spacing? Thanks!
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DoubleDogFarm
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Spacing in raised beds is different from that in row gardens. Basically, row gardens have more room to go around than raised beds do, so they can give all that room to each plant, and the gardener can walk up to each plant and examine it carefully.
OTOH, in a raised bed, the gardener can reach in from any side/end and tend to any given plant. Therefore, he/she need not be able to walk to each plant (one of the reasons for the row-garden spacings). Thus the recommended spacings for raised-bed plants are based on the mature sizes of the plants.
How big will X plant be when mature? ==> Then plant the seeds/transplants that far apart. Example: If you're planting beets (a good possibility this time of year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere) which are 3" in diameter when mature, plant the seeds at least 3" if not 4" apart to give the beets enough room to develop. Be ready to thin them down to this spacing, too, when the seeds send up multiple seedlings. Beet seeds (and chard, same plant, just bred for root vs. leaf development) are little seed clusters. If you can look at one under a magnifying glass, you'll see their potential for sending up so many "plantlings."
Another principle is interplanting. It's not necessary to plant all the (say) beets together here and all the kale together there; they can be planted among each other. This is more important in hot weather, when plants that want slightly less heat can be planted in the shade of those that want slightly more heat.
For good diagrams of how this works, see Jon Jeavons' [url=https://www.bountifulgardens.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BEA-0301]How to Grow More Vegetables....[/url]. He uses triangular or hexagonal spacing for seed placement rather than lines/squares. (The link I've provided is to Jeavons' own organization.)
Mel Bartholomew (Square Foot Gardening) has yet another system. I used his system quite conscientiously when I returned to gardening in 2008 after a long hiatus (car accident), but got more return for my efforts with Jeavons' approach.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
OTOH, in a raised bed, the gardener can reach in from any side/end and tend to any given plant. Therefore, he/she need not be able to walk to each plant (one of the reasons for the row-garden spacings). Thus the recommended spacings for raised-bed plants are based on the mature sizes of the plants.
How big will X plant be when mature? ==> Then plant the seeds/transplants that far apart. Example: If you're planting beets (a good possibility this time of year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere) which are 3" in diameter when mature, plant the seeds at least 3" if not 4" apart to give the beets enough room to develop. Be ready to thin them down to this spacing, too, when the seeds send up multiple seedlings. Beet seeds (and chard, same plant, just bred for root vs. leaf development) are little seed clusters. If you can look at one under a magnifying glass, you'll see their potential for sending up so many "plantlings."
Another principle is interplanting. It's not necessary to plant all the (say) beets together here and all the kale together there; they can be planted among each other. This is more important in hot weather, when plants that want slightly less heat can be planted in the shade of those that want slightly more heat.
For good diagrams of how this works, see Jon Jeavons' [url=https://www.bountifulgardens.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BEA-0301]How to Grow More Vegetables....[/url]. He uses triangular or hexagonal spacing for seed placement rather than lines/squares. (The link I've provided is to Jeavons' own organization.)
Mel Bartholomew (Square Foot Gardening) has yet another system. I used his system quite conscientiously when I returned to gardening in 2008 after a long hiatus (car accident), but got more return for my efforts with Jeavons' approach.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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CharlieBear
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Check out one of Mel B.s books on square foot gardening from your local library. He deals only in raised beds. Note that is spacing for very large plants like broc and c-flower are probably too close. I like to give the plants a little more room.
Another way to estimate is to see how far they tell you to thin the plants out and use that spacing or a little farther apart, definately not closer. I believe that a lot of this info is also available on the ed hume seed site as Ed himself is also a raisedbed or widebed gardener.
The third way to estimate is that the mature plants should just barely touch leaf tips at their closest point. So spinach that is 12-14" across at maturity should be planted no more than 14" apart or thinned to that distance.
I hope this helps
Another way to estimate is to see how far they tell you to thin the plants out and use that spacing or a little farther apart, definately not closer. I believe that a lot of this info is also available on the ed hume seed site as Ed himself is also a raisedbed or widebed gardener.
The third way to estimate is that the mature plants should just barely touch leaf tips at their closest point. So spinach that is 12-14" across at maturity should be planted no more than 14" apart or thinned to that distance.
I hope this helps
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ReptileAddiction
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Gabriel; It would help to know if your beds are
1. Double-dug (French intensive)
2. Bio-Dynamic (blood & bone meal, Azomite, Compost,hornmeal, guano, seaweed, rock dust, greensand) and other organic plant foods dug in.
If both of these are in place you can plant equidistant, at much closer spacings.
1. Double-dug (French intensive)
2. Bio-Dynamic (blood & bone meal, Azomite, Compost,hornmeal, guano, seaweed, rock dust, greensand) and other organic plant foods dug in.
If both of these are in place you can plant equidistant, at much closer spacings.
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rainbowgardener
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Sounds like you are doing well!
As you discovered vegetable spacing is a controversial issue. Like almost everything in gardening, the answer is "it depends." I grow veggies in raised beds and I don't necessarily grow in rows at all. I may do wide rows, which would be sort of like three rows crammed together or I may just broadcast sow a whole area (like maybe half of an 8x4) with seed without any rows and then just thin as needed. As Elizabeth pointed out, growing in beds, you don't need to get in to the bed.
As you discovered vegetable spacing is a controversial issue. Like almost everything in gardening, the answer is "it depends." I grow veggies in raised beds and I don't necessarily grow in rows at all. I may do wide rows, which would be sort of like three rows crammed together or I may just broadcast sow a whole area (like maybe half of an 8x4) with seed without any rows and then just thin as needed. As Elizabeth pointed out, growing in beds, you don't need to get in to the bed.
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ElizabethB
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Like several of the others I have been useing the square foot gardening method for years with a great deal of success. I am always amazed at the amount of produce I get from such a small area. I grow cucumbers and indeterminate tomatoes vertically. My boxes are next to a chain link fence so I train the cucumbers up the fence. My huband welded pieces of rebar in an upside down U shape and pushed the ends into the soil along the back of the boxes. I hang twine from the top and train the tomatoes up the twine. I have not been growinng melons because they take up so much room but my husband wanted canteloupe. So last spring I trained a couple of canteloupe plants up the fence. As the fruit started maturing I was concerned about the weight so I made slings from old stockings. Those were the most beautiful, sweetest canteloupe ever. I will definitely do that again.
BTW - if you can not find the book at the library it is available from Amazon.
There is also a lot of good information on starting plants and protecting plants over winter.
My niece is in a wheel chair and we built a box on saw horses so she can have her own garden. When she saw it she was so excited she cried.
BTW - if you can not find the book at the library it is available from Amazon.
There is also a lot of good information on starting plants and protecting plants over winter.
My niece is in a wheel chair and we built a box on saw horses so she can have her own garden. When she saw it she was so excited she cried.