---
title: "Square-Foot Garden Planner (1, 4, 9, 16) | Civic Seedling"
description: "Plan raised beds square by square with Mel Bartholomew's 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants per square. Totals, printing and your plan saved in this browser."
url: https://civicseedling.sbs/square-foot-garden-planner/
---

# Square-foot garden planner

Draw your raised beds, pick a crop and tap squares to plant them. The planner counts how many plants each square holds and adds up every crop, ready to print.

## How the square-foot method works

Mel Bartholomew's square-foot gardening divides a raised bed into one-foot squares and plants each square according to the size of the crop: one extra-large plant such as a tomato, pepper or cabbage; four large ones such as kale or potatoes; nine medium ones such as bush beans, beets or spinach; or sixteen small ones such as carrots, onions and radishes. The classic bed is 4 × 4 ft, and no bed should be wider than 4 ft (3 ft is easier) so you can reach the middle without stepping on the soil.

## How we set each crop's count

Where Washington State University Extension's summary of Bartholomew names a crop, we use its class. For the rest we take the crop's spacing from Colorado State University's block-planting table or Virginia Cooperative Extension and round it to the nearest class: 3 in apart gives 16 per square, 4 in gives 9, 6 in gives 4 and up to 18 in gives 1. Sprawling squash and melons need a block of squares per plant. Change any count with the menu under the seed tray; seed packets sometimes suggest otherwise.

## Sources

- Custer H. *Square Foot Gardening: Simple, Versatile and Fun!* Washington State University Extension, Skagit County Master Gardeners, 2016, summarising Bartholomew M. *All New Square Foot Gardening*, 2nd ed. Cool Springs Press, 2013. [wpcdn.web.wsu.edu (PDF)](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-extension/uploads/sites/2056/2018/10/Square-Foot-Gardening.pdf)
- Whiting D, O’Meara C, Wilson C. *Vegetable Planting Guide*. Colorado State University Extension, GardenNotes #720, 2018, reviewed 2024. [extension.colostate.edu](https://extension.colostate.edu/resource/vegetable-planting-guide/)
- Jadrnicek S, Hessler A. *Virginia’s Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide: Recommended Planting Dates and Amounts to Plant*. Virginia Cooperative Extension 426-331, 2025 (Table 5). [pubs.ext.vt.edu](https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-331/426-331.html)

## Questions

**Is my plan saved?**

Yes, in this browser's local storage, so it is there when you come back on the same device. Use Print or Download CSV to keep a copy elsewhere.

**Can I plan in metric?**

The grid is in feet, as in Bartholomew's method. A 30 cm square is close enough to use the same counts.

**Why do squash show 1/9?**

A zucchini or winter squash spaced 36 in apart needs a 3 × 3 block, so each square holds a ninth of a plant. Paint all nine squares and the total shows one plant.