One of the most important things you must understand when planting a garden is that different vegetables require different amounts of room to grow. The possibilities are virtually endless as are the spacing calculations. Every variety you choose should not only be chosen for the end product (the veggies and fruits your family will eat and any flowers you have in mind), but also for their ability to fit into the space you have to work with. The space at which you plant out your crops has a direct effect on their size and quality. Space crops too closely, and yield is poor. If you set them too far apart, you’re wasting valuable plot space. But there’s more to it than that: light soils can’t support spacing as close as heavier ones due to their free drainage.
Root and bulb crops are very sensitive to spacing: for baby carrots thin to 1⁄2in apart, but for big main crop roots leave 3in between plants. If you fancy huge slicing onions, place sets 10in apart each way. Massive cauliflowers can be achieved at 3ft spacing, but mini-heads can be grown with 12in distances. So many kinds of vegetables need different spacing, and it can be difficult to remember how much space goes between each plant. Here is what I have learned about plant spacing, including a couple of plant spacing calculators which help do some work for you. In order to make growing a garden easier, I have put together a plant spacing chart to help you.