Raised bed size guide
Before cutting a single board, the two questions that decide almost everything else are how long and how wide the bed should be. Height matters too, and is covered separately in the depth guide, but length and width set how the bed sits in your yard and how comfortably you can work it.
The 24 inch reach rule
Most people can comfortably reach about 24 inches into a bed without stepping on the soil, so a bed you can access from only one side works best at around 24 inches wide, and a bed you can reach from both long sides can go up to about 48 inches wide. Going wider than that from a single side means either stepping into the soil, which compacts it, or using a rake or hoe for the far half, which is awkward for planting and harvesting by hand.
4x2: the compact starter size
A 48 by 24 inch bed is the most common first raised bed. It is small enough to fit against a fence, a patio edge, or a small side yard, reachable from one long side, and its long boards fit a single 8 foot board almost exactly, which keeps material cost and waste low. This is the size covered by the free 4x2 Starter Plan.
4x4: the square option
A 48 by 48 inch square bed gives the same 24 inch reach from any of its four sides if you can walk all the way around it, or a comfortable 4 foot working width from two opposite sides. It suits a corner spot or an island bed in the middle of a yard better than a long rectangle does.
4x8: the standard full size bed
A 96 by 48 inch bed is the most common full size raised bed, large enough for a serious vegetable garden while still splitting evenly into 8 foot lumber for the long sides. At this length, the side walls benefit from a center brace, covered in the 4x8 plan guide, so they do not bow outward once filled with wet soil.
2x8 narrow: for a fence line or side yard
A 96 by 24 inch bed trades width for length, useful for a narrow side yard, a fence line, or the strip between a driveway and a property line. See the narrow bed guide for the specific layout considerations.
L-shaped and multiple beds
For a corner, a downspout, or a post that a simple rectangle cannot work around, an L-shaped layout joins two rectangles at a shared corner, covered in the L-shaped layout guide. In many yards, two or three separate rectangular beds with a gap for a path between them are easier to build and maintain than one very large bed, since each stays within comfortable reach from its own path.
Sizing your own dimensions
None of the sizes above are fixed requirements. The free configurator on the homepage accepts any length from 12 to 240 inches and any width from 12 to 240 inches, and returns a full cut list, the boards to buy, hardware, and soil volume for whatever size actually fits your space. Measure the spot first, including at least 24 inches of clear path on every side you plan to work from, and let that measurement set the bed size rather than starting from a standard dimension and hoping it fits.
Matching size to what you plan to grow
A single 4x2 or 4x4 bed suits a handful of vegetable plants, herbs, or a small cut flower patch. A 4x8 or a pair of smaller beds suits a household growing a meaningful share of its own vegetables across a full season. There is no need to build the largest bed a yard can fit on the first attempt; a smaller first bed is easier to keep watered and weeded, and a second bed is straightforward to add later using the same cut list method.
Common raised bed footprints
Use these quick sizes to compare reach, fit, and planting area before opening the configurator.
| Bed | Footprint | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 4x2 starter | 48 x 24 in | 8 sq ft |
| 4x4 square | 48 x 48 in | 16 sq ft |
| 4x8 full | 96 x 48 in | 32 sq ft |
| 2x8 narrow | 96 x 24 in | 16 sq ft |
| One side reach | 24 in wide | 2 sq ft per ft |
| Two side reach | 48 in wide | 4 sq ft per ft |
Choose a footprint that leaves a 24 inch working path, then enter the exact length and width in the configurator.