Plant Spacing Calculator
How many plants fit in a garden bed at a given spacing, in square rows or staggered rows, so you know how many to buy.
How this is calculated
Each plant is kept at the spacing from its neighbors and half the spacing from the edges of the bed, so two beds side by side still keep the spacing between them. In a square grid, the plants along the length are the length divided by the spacing, rounded down, and the same across the width; the total is one times the other.
In staggered rows, each row is shifted by half the spacing and the rows sit closer together (the spacing times 0.866, the height of an equilateral triangle), so every plant is still the full spacing from its neighbors. In a large bed a staggered layout fits more plants, up to about 15 percent more; in a narrow bed a square grid can fit more, so the result shows both.
Use the spacing from the seed packet or plant tag. It is the distance between plants when they are fully grown.
Limits
A rectangular bed. Paths, supports and taller plants that shade their neighbors are not taken into account. Square-foot gardening uses its own spacing per square, which this follows if you enter the spacing it gives.