The vegetables that make the most of a raised bed

The vegetables that do best in a raised bed are compact crops that love loose, rich soil and give a lot back for the space: salad leaves and lettuce, carrots, beetroot, radishes, spring onions, dwarf French beans, chard, kale and herbs. Tomatoes, climbing beans and courgettes earn their place too, if you plan for their size. Sprawling squash and maincrop potatoes are usually better grown elsewhere.

Raised beds warm up early in spring, drain well and are never walked on, so the soil stays loose. That suits roots and quick crops above all.

The best crops for raised beds

Crop	Why it suits a raised bed	Per 30 cm square
Carrots	Loose, stone-free soil means long, straight roots	16
Beetroot	Quick, compact, and can be sown from spring to August	9
Radishes	Ready in about four weeks, fills any gap	16
Lettuce and salad leaves	Pick for months from a small patch	4 lettuces, or a sown patch
Spring onions	Slim and quick, sown little and often	16
Onions from sets	Like the drainage, store well	16
French beans, dwarf	Heavy cropping, no supports needed	9
Chard	One sowing crops for a year	4
Kale	Stands all winter and keeps giving	1
Herbs: parsley, chives, coriander	Pick a little at a time, right by the kitchen	4 parsley or chives, 9 coriander

To see how many of any crop fit in your bed, use the plant spacing calculator.

Bigger crops that are worth the space

• Tomatoes. One plant per square, on the north side of the bed so they don’t shade the rest. Basil and marigolds fill the gaps.
• Climbing beans and peas. A row of canes or netting along the north edge gives a lot of beans from a narrow strip.
• Courgettes. One plant takes about four squares. Two plants are plenty for a household, and one is enough in a small bed.

What to leave out

• Maincrop potatoes. They take a lot of room for months and give cheap food in return. Grow earlies in bags instead.
• Squash and pumpkins. One plant can cover a whole 1.2 m bed. Grow them at the edge of the plot or on the compost heap.
• Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli. They’re tall and stand for most of a year. Worth it if you love them, but they tie the bed up.
• Asparagus. It needs a permanent bed of its own.

How much fits in one bed

A 2.4 m by 1.2 m bed is 32 squares of 30 cm. A typical mixed summer planting might be:

• 2 tomatoes and 2 squares of basil along the north side (4 squares)
• 8 squares of carrots and beetroot (around 100 roots)
• 4 squares of lettuce (16 heads), resown as you pick
• 4 squares of dwarf French beans (36 plants)
• 4 squares of onions or spring onions (64)
• 2 squares of chard
• 1 courgette in a corner, taking 4 squares
• 2 squares of parsley and chives

That’s all 32 squares. Radishes go in the gaps between slower crops, as they’re pulled within a month.

For laying out the bed and planning for the whole year, see how to plan a raised bed, and for grid sizes, our square foot gardening chart.

Keeping it cropping

The secret of a productive raised bed is never leaving a square empty for long. When a crop comes out, sow or plant the next one straight away. Sow salads, radishes and beetroot a little at a time every few weeks rather than all at once. Our seed sowing planner shows what’s due to sow for your frost date.

Move each crop to a different bed or end of the bed every year. Even in a single raised bed, keeping potatoes, tomatoes, brassicas and onions out of the spot they grew last year helps keep soil problems down.