Something like a melon can be grown in a corner of the bed and much of the plant will hang outside. Same for zucchini. I had one hanging 4 feet out of the box last summer. Bush beans aren't that large. If it seem to crowded, try a more generous spacing. You can always stagger your planting times and put more in later.

I tried SFG for first time last year. It was a bit crowded but everything grew like crazy. Spinach and Broccoli took up more than budgeted space but luckily lettuces next door took up less. 1 lettuce per square. My mind was totally blown by the amount of produce we got. Make sure you irrigate well- got caught short a bit on that. Good luck!

I did SFG this year too. It seems overwhelming at first but organize first. We made an easy grid on our raised bed with string and nails. Also make a cheat list of plants and how many fit in 1 foot.

I also agree with jamieson some plants say more than one in a foot and they over crowd but that's hard to prevent.

Also think about where the sun travels, you don't want to have tall plants shadow shorter ones

Good luck !

When I lived in Ohio I had square foot gardens for several years. I loved it and grew so much I had to take it to work to give it away. The one thing I struggled with was sometimes forgetting to keep the plants watered frequently. Convention gardening didn't require as much watering and old habits proved hard to break!

When it comes to melons I give them 4 sqaure feet per plant and attach them to a trellis with nylon slings to support the fruit. As for bush beans, you can plant four per sqaure but I've found the plants tend to have air circulation problems, so I keep mine at a zig zag pattern of 2 per sqaure it works out to more productive plants that way.