Extensive Plant Spacing

Fruit and vegetable plants given enough room to flourish will be healthier, more resilient and yield better tasting and more nutritious food.  Therefore we must allow each plant enough space to grow to its full potential.  To get an idea of how big plants really are below the surface of the soil, look outside a nearby window and find a healthy bush or tree.  Now imagine the bush or tree upside down and below ground.  That is roughly how big the bush/tree is under the surface of the soil.  This same rule of thumb applies to all the fruits and vegetables we want to grow.

Below is a table of plant spacings from the book Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Soloman.

 

Crop	Intensive Raised Bed	Semi-Intensive Raised Bed	Extensive Good Rainfall	Extensive Harsh Conditions
Asparagus	12 x 12	18 x 48	18 x 48	18 x 72
Beans, snap (bush)	6 x 6	12 x 18	12 x 24	18 x 48
Beans, snap (pole)	8 x 8	12 x 24	18 x 36	48 x 48
Beets	4 x 4	4 x 18	4 x 24	8 x 48
Broccoli	15 x 15	24 x 48	36 x 36	N/A
Brussel sprouts	18 x 18	24 x 30	30 x 36	N/A
Cabbage, early	12 x 12	16 x 24	18 x 24	24 x 36
Cabbage, late	18 x 18	24 x 30	24 x 36	36 x 48
Cabbage, Chinese	10 x 10	18 x 24	24 x 30	N/A
Carrots	3 x 3	2 x 18	3 x 18	6 x 48
Cauliflower	15 x 15	24 x 24	24 x 36	N/A
Celery	6 x 6	18 x 24	24 x 30	N/A
Cucumber	12 x 12	36 x 48	48 x 36	48 x 60
Chard	8 x 8	12 x 24	18 x 36	24 x 48
Collards	8 x 8	24 x 24	18 x 36	36 x 48
Eggplant	18 x 18	24 x 36	24 x 36	30 x 48
Garlic	N/A	6 x 24	6 x 24	8 x 24
Kale	15 x 15	24 x 24	24 x 36	30 x 48
Kohlrabi	4 x 4	6 x 18	6 x 24	8 x 36
Leeks	6 x 6	6 x 24	6 x 24	N/A
Lettuce, heading	12 x 12	12 x 18	14 x 24	N/A
Lettuce, looseleaf	9 x 9	10 x 18	12 x 18	N/A
Melons	15 x 15	48 x 48	48 x 72	48 x 72
Mustard	6 x 6	12 x 18	12 x 24	12 x 24
Okra	12 x 12	24 x 24	18 x 36	18 x 48
Onion, bulbing	4 x 4	4 x 18	4 x 24	N/A
Parsley	5 x 5	6 x 18	6 x 24	10 x 30
Peas, bush	3 x 3	2 x 18	3 x 24	3 x 24
Peppers	12 x 12	24 x 24	24 x 36	36 x 48
Potatoes	9 x 9	12 x 36	12 x 48	18 x 48
Pumpkins	18 x 30	60 x 72	60 x 72	72 x 96
Radishes, salad	2 x 2	2 x 12	2 x 12	N/A
Rhubarb	24 x 24	24 x 48	36 x 36	48 x 48
Spinich	6 x 6	3 x 18	3 x 24	4 x 24
Squash, summer	18 x 18	48 x 48	48 x 48	60 x 72
Squash, winter	18 x 18	72 x 96	72 x 96	72 x 96
Sweet corn	15 x 15	12 x 36	12 x 36	48 x 48
Sweet potatoes	9 x 9	15 x 48	15 x 48	18 x 48
Tomatoes, determinate	18 x 18	36 x 48	36 x 48	N/A
Tomatoes, indeterminate	24 x 24	48 x 48	48 x 60	60 x 72
Turnips	4 x 4	3 x 18	4 x 24	6 x 36

Column 1 - Intensive Raised Beds
Plant spacings recommended by popular books such as All New Square Foot Gardeningby Mel Bartholomew and How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons.  

Column 2 -  Semi-intensive Raised Beds
Plant spacings recommended by Steve Solomon, the author of Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times.

Column 3 - Extensive, Good Rainfall
 Plant spacings used by Native Americans and pre-industrial farmers in North America.

Column 4 - Extensive, Harsh Conditions
If you live in an area with no access to irrigation, low fertility and adequate soil moisture, these spacings may work.  It is absolutely necessary to keep the garden entirely weeded to minimize soil moisture loss.