How many plants fit in a 4×4 square foot garden?

The 4 × 4 is the classic square foot garden. Two tomato or pepper squares (2 large plants), four of lettuce or chard (16 medium), six of beans, beets or spinach (54 small) and four of carrots or radishes (64 tiny) is one balanced first-season layout. Swap in whatever you actually like to eat.

What to know about a 4×4 square foot garden

Four feet is the widest bed you can comfortably reach into from both sides, which is why the method uses it; University of Wisconsin Extension’s class notes recommend a single 4 × 4 frame for a first season. If the bed will sit against a fence or wall and you can only reach from one side, make it 2 ft deep instead.

Eight cubic feet of mix at 6 in is four 2 cu ft bags, or a mix of compost, peat or coir and vermiculite bought separately and blended on a tarp. Buy it all at once so the whole bed has the same mix. If the bed goes on lawn, lay cardboard underneath first so grass does not come up through the squares.

The mistake at this size is filling every square on day one. A 4 × 4 with 136 plants all sown the same weekend gives you 64 radishes and 16 lettuces ready together, then nothing. Plant a few squares now and a few more every couple of weeks, and replant each square as it is harvested.

Put the two large squares, usually tomatoes or peppers, on the north side so they do not shade the rest, and cage or stake them from the start. A 16 sq ft bed needs about 10 gallons a week at the classic inch of water; a bigger plot is worked through in how much water a 10×20 vegetable garden needs. Laying out ornamentals instead? See how many plants for a 10×10 bed at 12 inch spacing.