Plant Spacing Calculator
Plants that fit a garden bed from its length, width and spacing: square grid, staggered grid (about 15% more) and edge-to-edge counts. How it works
Use the Plant Spacing Calculator
About the Plant Spacing Calculator
A 10 × 10 ft bed with plants 12 in apart holds 100 plants on a square grid and 115 on a staggered (triangular) grid, about 15% more. If a plant also goes on every edge of the bed, the same bed takes 11 rows of 11, or 121. For a hedge or one line of plants, Single row or hedge puts a plant at each end: a 10 ft row at 12 in takes 11. Sizes go in feet and inches, or in metres and centimetres.
A 10 × 10 ft bed by spacing
| Spacing | Square grid | Staggered grid | Edge-to-edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 in | 400 | 461 | 441 |
| 9 in | 177 | 205 | 196 |
| 12 in | 100 | 115 | 121 |
| 18 in | 44 | 51 | 49 |
| 24 in | 25 | 28 | 36 |
Square and staggered counts are area ÷ cell size, rounded down. Edge-to-edge adds a plant at both ends of every row and column: in this bed it beats the staggered count at 12 and 24 in and falls below it at 6, 9 and 18 in.
A 4 × 8 ft raised bed by spacing
| Spacing | Square grid | Staggered grid | Edge-to-edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 in | 128 | 147 | 153 |
| 12 in | 32 | 36 | 45 |
| 18 in | 14 | 16 | 18 |
| 24 in | 8 | 9 | 15 |
Length 8 ft, width 4 ft.
A 10 ft row by spacing
| Spacing | Plants | Spread evenly |
|---|---|---|
| 6 in | 21 | 6 in apart |
| 12 in | 11 | 12 in apart |
| 18 in | 7 | 20 in apart |
| 24 in | 6 | 24 in apart |
| 25 in | 5 | 30 in apart |
| 36 in | 4 | 40 in apart |
Single row or hedge, no end gap: floor(120 in ÷ spacing) + 1 plants, with one at each end of the row.
One acre (43,560 sq ft) by spacing
| Spacing | Square grid | Staggered grid |
|---|---|---|
| 6 in | 174,240 | 201,200 |
| 12 in | 43,560 | 50,300 |
| 24 in | 10,890 | 12,575 |
Entered as 4,356 ft long by 10 ft wide, which has the area of an acre (the tool accepts up to 10,000 ft per side). The edge-to-edge line means nothing for that shape.
How to use this tool
- Pick Bed (grid) or Single row or hedge, and feet and inches or metres and centimetres.
- Enter the garden length and width, or the row length and any end gap, then the spacing between plants from the seed packet or plant tag.
- If you leave an unplanted margin or path on every side, enter it as the border, in feet or, with metric units, in metres. It is taken off both ends of the length and the width.
- Read the Square Grid and Staggered (Triangular) Grid counts. The edge-to-edge figure is the small line under the square count, for plants set right on the border.
Frequently asked questions
- How many plants fit in a 10 x 10 ft garden bed?
- It depends most on the spacing. Square, staggered and edge-to-edge: 100, 115 and 121 at 12 in, 44, 51 and 49 at 18 in, and 25, 28 and 36 at 24 in. Halving the spacing roughly quadruples the count: 400 square at 6 in.
- How do you calculate plant spacing for a garden bed?
- Convert the bed to inches, then divide its area by the area one plant gets: length × width ÷ spacing². A 4 × 8 ft bed at 12 in is 4,608 ÷ 144 = 32 plants. This tool rounds down.
- Is triangular spacing better than square spacing?
- It fits about 15.5% more plants in the same area, because every second row is shifted by half a spacing and the rows sit 0.866 of a spacing apart. At 12 in in a 10 × 10 ft bed that is 115 plants against 100. The calculator does not say which pattern suits a crop, so check the plant tag.
- How many plants do I need for a hedge or a row?
- Pick Single row or hedge. With a plant at each end, a row takes floor(length ÷ spacing) + 1 plants: 11 for 10 ft at 12 in. When the spacing does not divide the row, the count is rounded down and the plants are spread a little wider: 10 ft at 25 in takes 5 plants, 30 in apart. An end gap, such as 1 ft clear of a gate post, comes off both ends first.
- How do I allow for a path or border around the bed?
- Enter it in the Border field, in feet, or in metres with metric units. It is taken off every side, so a 10 × 10 ft bed with a 1 ft border plants an 8 × 8 ft area: 64 plants on a square grid and 73 staggered at 12 in, against 100 and 115 with no border. The page shows the planting area it used, in sq ft, or in metres and m² with metric units. A path along one side only has to come off the length or width before you type it.
- How many plants per acre at a given spacing?
- An acre is 43,560 sq ft. Enter 4,356 for the length and 10 for the width, which has the same area (each side can be up to 10,000 ft). At 12 in that gives 43,560 plants on a square grid and 50,300 staggered; at 6 in, 174,240 and 201,200; at 24 in, 10,890 and 12,575.
Related Tools
View all toolsSeed Spacing Garden Planner
Plants per row, number of rows and total plants for a garden bed, from its length and width in feet and the row and in-row spacing on the seed packet.
Mulch Depth Coverage Calculator
Mulch for a bed from its area or shape (rectangle, circle, triangle, border) and depth: cubic yards and bags with 10% extra, and bags against bulk cost.
Gold Hallmark Identifier
Convert karat, fineness and gold percentage (18K = 750 = 75.0%), decode a typed stamp and find the pure gold in an item by weight.
Plywood Sheet Layout Optimizer
Turn a plywood, MDF or OSB cut list into a sheet count, cutting diagrams, a cut sequence and cost, with kerf and mixed sheet sizes, by a heuristic.
Map Scale Calculator
Real distance from a map measurement and scale, the map distance for a real one, or the scale from both: at 1:50,000, 10 cm is 5 km.
Typing Speed Test
Typing speed test with 15, 30, 60 and 120 second runs. See gross and net words per minute (WPM), accuracy and uncorrected errors while you type; pasting is off.