4" apart, 12" between rows

4" apart, 12" between rows <-- A typical planting/sowing instruction.

But why do the rows need to be 12" apart if the plants are in rows 4" apart, I've never understood that. I can understand it with tatties, they need earthing up. Can anyone explain it?

Steve...

 

It's so that you can get up and down between the rows, Steve, to weed and harvest.
If you grow in raised beds you can forget about the 12" between rows as you only need to be able to get a hand in there to do what needs doing.
There might also be some argument about feeding,watering and air circulation and not having the plants too crowded.

 

I think its goes back in many cases to sowing in rows and then thinning out at a later stage, allowing room for a hoe.

People tend to fiddle around a lot more these days, back then you just sowed and thinned.

Seed was cheaper and space was not a problem.

 

Unless it has something to do with letting light in between plants maybe?

Steve...

 

In general I ignore the 'rows' planting suggestions as has already been pointed out it's based on ease of weeding. I grow my carrots in triple rows but stagger each row. I do the same with my leeks though grow in 4 rows. With the latter I don't have to weed at all and can easily reach across the bed with a watering can to apply liquid feed and with the carrots and can easily hand weed the individual carrots and use a hoe up the sides.

 

I thought it was at least in part to limit the risk of disease ruining your entire crop. If one row gets diseased, you might be able to get rid of that row before the disease spreads to the next row.

I watched a program about planting an orchard, where apparently that strategy is vital to commercial success. They planted the trees in rows, but for every two or three rows they planted an entirely different species to act as a barrier (albeit with limited effectiveness) against the spread of disease. I think I read in a book somewhere that the same principle is applied to veg, although obviously the measurements involved were somewhat smaller.

 

It possibly does make sense from the aspect of disease control, particularly in the commercial sector. But if you think about the average amateur gardener with a plot of limited size I've doubts about it.
For a start I doubt if a mere 1 foot separation would present a significant barrier to the spread of many diseases and secondly one foot of non-productive ground between every productive row represents a massive proportion of veg bed. If you imagine a veg bed that's 30' wide with a row of say carrots every foot and rows spaced one foot apart, nigh on 50% of the bed will be producing nothing.
I can though understand that there possibly are benefits from growing different crops between rows of veg - almost along the lines of 'companion planting'.
I'm fairly sure that over the past couple of decades conventional wisdom based on research has resulted in the recommended distance between veg getting closer.

 

I would go with the spacing between rows is more to do with your means of maintainance cultivation.
As Pete mentioned the hoe was generally the main means so you would leave enough to be able to walk through and hoeY
You could adapt this spacing to suit your needs,but also take into consideration the ned not to overcrowd your plants ..

Dave

 

Well ... I grow my veg in 4' beds, and have no concept of rows

A row of something is way more, all-at-once, than we could possibly want.

Take Caulliflowers ... there is only about 2 weeks from first-to-last, and I grow 4 every fortnight, which is about what we eat. A whole "row" would just go to waste (or require a massive freezing-session!)

But my beds do look like a patchwork quilt as a consequence!

I have double, triple (parsnips), 4-across (Leeks) and 5-across (onions), and some things in rows across the beds (Peas)

 

I wonder what spacing farmers use in a field? That would be for "growing room", not for weeding room (well, Beet might be, as they will probably run a tractor-drawn hoe through them, but anything else will be using chemicals I expect.

 

[size=large]Interesting thread, guys![/size]