Planting seeds - how important is spacing please?

aliasojo

Now that the gardening/growing things bug has bitten, I've been out collecting more bits and I now have loads of packets of veg seeds.

Reading the back of the packets, the spacings given between drills (I assume that's rows?) is given as 12" for a lot of them (carrots, radish etc). Onions are 18". If I stick to that spacing, I'll not get much in so I was hoping to lessen it to around 8" for the carrots/radish etc and 12" for the onions but there's no point if things wont grow/wont grow well.

So advise me please? Do I need to stick to the packet stated spacing? Is it really important?

I now have 2 of these raised beds, and want to get in as much as poss.

lolly5648

I am roughly halving the distances stated for my raised bed but imagining the eventual size of the veg and planting accordingly, ie carrots are planted much closer together as they are quite slim (the ones I am growing are) and onions are planted further apart.

evie451

you can plant stuff closer together especially in a raised bed root veg needs to get thinned out a bit usually anyway....i havent bothered with onions this year as you can get them quite cheaply and i havent noticed much taste difference between shop bought and home grown. I try and grow things that crop and then you can clear out and nothing thats in too long like Leeks have a long season etc....dont plant stuff so close together that you cant weed though!:rotfl:Most fruit and veg hates the competition

stilernin

The spacing given on seed packets seem to still refer to the traditional method of growing. That is long rows that the gardener could walk up and down to weed. This had the disadvantage of compacting the soil, so the roots found it harder to push through the soil. Traditional growing made it harder to water so if plants were more widely spaced, each plant had more soil to take water from.

I you are growing in a raised bed, your plants will have much softer soil so the roots will go deeper (for food and water) so assuming you give the plants enough 'elbow room' to make the required size, you can put things much closer. This does have the advantage of crowding out the weeds too.

For example, I would put onions in at 5" (assuming you are not going for championship sizes). Some people put them in groups of three 9" apart (they push against each other as they grow). Beetroot would go in at 2" apart and as they begin to swell, pull out alternate ones to use when they are small, this leaves the rest at 4" apart to get bigger.

If you grow replacements in modules, you will always have something ready to go into spaces you get when early things are harvested.

Google 'Square Foot Gardening' for ideas about growing in small space. Don't forget you can use pots for crops too.

Lotus-eater

The answer is.... it depends what it is you are growing.

As said above, the figures on packets and in most books relate to an allotment style of gardening, where they assume you have loads of space.

In general, you can ignore the row spacing and plant out at the spacing given between plants, ie, if they say 8" between plants and 12" between rows, you can sow squarely with 8" between all plants.

If you imagine that for example with leeks you fit 8 leeks into a 6" square, now those leeks are going to roughly produce the same amount of leek flesh as 4 leeks planted in the same space.
However.... 4 leeks might grow better, thicker and not crowded for space, water and nutrients.
That works for things like leeks, for other things like courgettes, cucumbers, PSB, sprouts, potatoes, they need the space they need to grow, no point shoving them all in together, they won't do well and will have poor harvests.

Stuff like beetroot, carrots and radish, I completely ignore the spacings and shove them in as tight as I can, when the first ones mature, pull them out and let the others grow on, a continuous harvest from one spot.

LJM

im embarrised to say i pay no attention to instructions on packets i throw things in where i have space thin out as necessary,probs not much help but my garden is quite small so i have to put things where i can and make use of the space i have

aliasojo

Thanks very much everyone. Got a bit better idea now so I'll play it by ear rather than by packet iyswim.

ukbill69

I just work out what the paint is going to be like in the end and then work out spacing that is needed. But in general I just dont care, just everywhere will do.