Free garden planner for your vegetable beds
Sketch each bed square by square, and PlotPlan works out how many plants you need, which neighbours clash, and when to sow for your hardiness zone.
Typical last spring frost Apr 13 · first fall frost Oct 27. Adjust
Start from a proven layout
Not sure where to begin? Open one of these ready-made plans in the planner and change it to fit your space.
How to plan a vegetable garden in five steps
- Find your zone and frost dates. Your USDA hardiness zone sets the rough calendar; your last spring frost is the date everything counts from.
- Draw your beds to scale. 4 ft wide is the classic raised-bed width because you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil.
- Put tall crops on the north side. Corn, trellised beans and caged tomatoes cast long shadows. In the planner, the top row is north.
- Space by the square. One tomato fills a square foot; sixteen carrots share one. The spacing chart explains why.
- Plan the whole season. Follow the planting calendar, refill gaps with succession sowings, and rotate families next year with the crop rotation planner.
What makes a garden plan work
Most first-year gardens fail from overcrowding, not neglect. Seed packets list spacing for long farm rows; a raised bed can take plants closer because there are no paths between rows, but only up to a point. Crowded plants compete for light, stay damp and pick up fungal disease.
A plan also tells you what to buy. The planting list under the grid turns your squares into a plant count, so you know whether you need six pepper transplants or a whole packet of beans.
Once the garden is growing, log sowings, jobs and harvest weights in the garden journal, so next year's plan starts from what actually happened.
Questions gardeners ask
Is PlotPlan really free?
Yes. The planner, calendars, companion chart and journal are free with no account. Your plans are saved in your own browser, not on a server.
How big is each square in the planner?
One square equals one square foot, the same grid used in square foot gardening. A 4×8 ft raised bed is 32 squares. The planner multiplies squares by each crop's spacing to tell you how many plants or seeds you need.
Can I plan an in-ground garden with rows, not just raised beds?
Yes. Make a bed as large as 16×16 ft and paint rows across it, leaving empty squares for paths. The row garden example on the layout ideas page shows how.
How does the planner know when to plant?
It uses your USDA hardiness zone to estimate a typical last spring frost date, then counts weeks before or after it for each crop, the same way seed packets and extension-service calendars work. You can type in your own frost dates for accuracy.
What do the red outlines mean?
A red outline marks neighbouring squares holding crops that gardeners traditionally keep apart, such as potatoes next to tomatoes (they share blight). Much companion planting is tradition rather than proven science, so treat it as a prompt, not a rule.
Will I lose my plan if I close the tab?
No. It is stored in this browser's local storage and reloads next time. Clearing your browser data, or using the clear button on the privacy page, deletes it. Use Print plan to keep a paper copy.