Garden Plot Planner

Planning a garden starts with two questions: how far apart should each crop sit, and how much can you expect it to produce? This planner answers both, sizing plant spacing and projecting yield across a range of vegetables so your space works as hard as it can. Crowding plants too tightly backfires, hurting their health and cutting into the harvest, so spacing them right is what keeps a plot productive and sustainable as the season runs.

Estimates come from a row layout. The plot width in inches is divided by the in-row spacing and the length by the row spacing, each rounded down, and the two counts multiply to the number of plants. The calculator covers four crops: tomatoes (24 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart, 10 lb per plant), peppers (18 by 24 inches, 4 lb), lettuce (6 by 12 inches, 0.5 lb) and herbs (12 by 12 inches, 0.25 lb). Yield is plants times pounds per plant, and water is a weekly figure per plant: 1.5 gallons for tomatoes, 1 for peppers, 0.5 for lettuce and 0.3 for herbs.

Treat every number as a projection rather than a guarantee, since soil quality, weather, and pest pressure all push actual yields up or down. Over-fertilizing and uneven watering are two of the easiest ways to undercut the figures you see here. Your local climate and the specific varieties you grow should always shape how you read the results.