I wouldn’t mix perennials with plants that are functionally annuals in MA in the same bed. So the mint, lemon balm, and chives all should be in a separate bed. They all tend to want to take over the world, so I would put each in their own small raised bed or large pot so they don’t interfere with less vigorous plants.

and I have never found that a potato plant will restrain itself to one square foot. IME they are vigorous plants that typically take up a space about 2’-3’ square, depending on the variety.

I have never tried square foot gardening, though I do tend to plant intensively, and IME it works best if the tall plants are placed where they won’t overshadow short plants since most veggies like a lot of sun.

I'm not a square foot gardener either but your plan seems pretty crowded to me. Especially the bed in the lower left quadrant with only tomatoes and peppers. If you go this route you will probably need to prune the tomatoes to a single stem.

I would also avoid mixing perennials and annuals. You also might research growing ginger. It takes about 10 months to mature and is only winter hardy in the warmest areas of the US like zone 10+. You would probably have better luck with the ginger in a large wide container that you could bring inside in the colder months.

4' x 8' beds would be more versatile and economic to build if you have the space.

Thanks to both of you, I still consider myself new to gardening, only 4 years practice, so it helps so much to have other people give me advice. I like the idea of making the beds much larger, so I'll probably do that assuming it will fit where I am trying to put it. I have half an acre but 1/3 is heavily wooded and most of the rest of it is a hillside, beautiful, but sometimes impractical lol. 4'x8' sounds good if I can manage that.

I read that about ginger and completely forgot to take it off my list, thank you for reminding me! I'll certainly put the perennials in their own space knowing how large they get, and perhaps I'll try one of those potato sack gardens they sell (just a big standup bag with a zipper on the side). For the peppers and tomatoes, would you give each plant 2 sq.ft, or even more?

lonejack - thanks so much for the specific measurements, it really helps a lot! I am going to try to do two 4'x8' beds if they'll fit, most of my property is hilly (beautiful but a pain) so flat space is a commodity. I reworked it, and got rid of things I felt I wouldn't use very much of (a lot more than I anticipated really) and drastically cut down which peppers I will grow. I spaced things out more appropriately and have the tomatoes and peppers four boxes each. I am very excited about the tomatoes and peppers since one of my husband's hobbies is cooking, he really loves making salsas, chillis and Szechuan cooking.

Here's the new layout (approximate) i ended up not putting the tomatoes smack down the middle just due to the angle I'll likely have to put the bed at the get the right sunlight. I shoved in some marigolds where I had nothing lol.

That looks like a better plan. I do think you can get more peppers in the bed on the right. I use 18" spacing on my peppers just because the cages I use for them are just under 18" at the top. 15" spacing is probably adequate if you are just going to stake them rather than use cages. You should be able to get 6 of those peppers into the back row of the right bad. Peppers actually like to be crowded and the intensive planting helps the plants shade each other and the fruit from sunscald.

ETA: one additional suggestion would be to move the cucumbers to the bottom left corner of the left bed and put a trellis along that end for the cukes and pole beans to share and climb. You would have to find a different place for the scallions and spinach. You can plant 3 or 4 cukes and 6 pole beans in that 4' length. Both the beans and cukes can grow 7' high or more. If they run out of trellis they will just cascade down from the top.

I had no idea peppers liked to be crowded, that certainly makes my life easier.

I love the idea of putting a trellis on one side and having all the cucumbers and beans running up it, this is great and exactly why I enjoy this site. A massive part of my job is based on creating efficiency for the company, so I love when efficiency also plays into the garden, I just have to learn what that looks like lol. It'll be easy to move around the other plants to put the beans and cucumbers together, I'm not too picky about where those go.

Always glad to help! Try to find some fencing or other trellis material that has holes large enough to get your hand through so you can harvest from the outside of the bed. You won't be able get into the bed to harvest after the tomatoes get big.

8 x 4 is a good size. For trellises, we bought electrical conduit, and made a big U. The garden center sells 6 in square mesh which can be threaded through the conduit. It's easy, and works well. I'd use the trellis for the pole beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Watch the 'days to maturity' on the tomatoes. Some kinds won't start ripening until late August, if then. Most people plant at least one 'Early Girl' or other short season tomato just in case.

This is even more true of the peppers. The only times we've really gotten good harvests from habanero plants is when we overwintered them, so the second season plants fruited earlier. Habaneros are pretty plants, wider than tall, and only about 15 inches tall. I've never had good luck with bell peppers. Again look for short-season early fruiting types. Cayennes are pretty much indestructible, and do well with a short season, as do serranos.

Kale gets big, and likes to seed around. I'd keep all the kale together.

4’ wide is too wide for me. I tend and harvest from the outside of the bed, my arms are too short, my plants grow outside the walls.

For tomatoes, I recommend cages made out of Concrete Reinforcing Wire.

Four foot should be ok if one can access the bed from both sides.

I have a 4 by 8 foot bed and it works well for me. I wished I put it farther away from my fence but it was done when I just started out and it can’t be moved now. Live and learn. I have never put more than three tomato plants in the bed because they spread like crazy by the end of summer. I am always afraid to overcrowd them. Next year I will try to add something to grow in front of the tomatoes that will be mature before the tomatoes take over the bed like radishes or carrots. Just remember we live where growing season is too short and pick an early girl tomato plant or some tomato that don’t take forever to mature. I have no luck with bell peppers here in Chicago. I gave up on them a few years ago. I do plant in grow bags for cucumbers and mini pumpkins and grow them with a trellis along the fence too. The bags worked well for me for the last few years. You can do your herbs in a bag too. I have used them for flowers and they grew well. Good luck to you.

The OP is planning sq ft gardening. Sq ft gardening is not 3 plants in a bed.

Try reaching across 4’, remember some plants will grow over the bed, so try reaching from 6” away. Then remember you have to buy the planting material you may not be using.

Here is a great square foot garden planner. You can create your beds any size, and fill in each square, and plan successive plantings. And its free! The year is just off, so I use whatever previous year the days match up. http://www.sfgplanner.com/#home

I usually grow peppers in 5 gallon buckets filled with compost. They love having hot roots, unlike potatoes which love cold roots. I save the space in my raised bed square foot garden for things that take up less space like onions, carrots, greens, parsnips, rutabaga, potatoes, etc. Also, I have switched to pole beans, since they take less square feet compared to bush beans. I fit 80 pole beans in an 8" by 10 foot area. This is the trellis I use, and this is early June. By July, the pole beans will be growing over the top of this ten foot trellis. I can about 40 quarts and let all my neighbors pick what they want. Pole beans grow until frost.

Before you build, do you have gophers? You'll want to line your raised beds with hardware cloth (NOT chicken wire, it rots and the holes are too big!)

Also, be sure to leave enough room around your beds to maneuver a wheelbarrow! You'll be adding compost and possibly more soil down the line and it can be REALLY difficult if you don't have that room! Have fun!

I agree that peppers can be planted closer together. I have good luck getting red ripe peppers here in NH by starting them depending on days to maturity. Some require 90+ days. I plant sugar snap peas and pole beans on trellises which are panels of concrete reinforcing wire. The panels are held in place by zip tying them to steel posts. We leave up all year so eventually the metal piece in the ground which stabilizes the post rusts off. I think you can see in this photo that I sometimes plant peppers in front of the pole beans, actually both sides of a row. I think 18-24" is good spacing but it also depends on the variety. Some plants like the mini bells stay pretty small but others get twice as tall and may get weighed down with peppers so I put the small tomatoes cages on the varieties like Buran that get big.

I agree perennial herbs shouldn't be in the bed. I like to plant marigolds, nasturtiums, basil and sometimes parsley. I don't plant anything between my tomato plants because things get too much shade and I also need to trim the lower branches to get more sun on the tomato plants. It looks like these plants might be in my high tunnel which heats up during the day although the sides are rolled up but production seems to be the same outside. Tomatoes do better for me in the high tunnel, bigger and healthier plants.

And you don't have to confine yourself to the traditional "raised bed". I use individual "beds" and line them up where the plants get the most sunlight and it's convenient for me. I trellis them with 8 foot poles, twine and the Florida Weave. It allows me to control the soil, fertilizer, water and is easy to maintain. The neighbors say it looks attractive too (the beds all face the street).

Best of all, I get lots of produce!

If you have a slowly sloping hillside, you could build terraced beds, especially if the land is sloping towards the sun, not away from the sun.

https://www.google.com/search?q=terrace+garden+beds&sxsrf=ACYBGNRZFtKl0OzYGPCvbScg39M7z_NlCw:1579817738843&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=e6XVKeinKmRtTM%253A%252CM2-NQF5QzlgvJM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTc67W3Y3YqN7_uOmx3M7IHpyJDPw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1v4jZ35rnAhXnpVkKHUusB0cQ_h0wInoECAoQCg&biw=1613&bih=778&dpr=1.13#imgrc=e6XVKeinKmRtTM:

It can still be done sloping away from the sun, you would just have to be more cognizant of mature plant height when planting.

I have five raised beds that are 4 x 8 and then four that are L shaped 4x8 with 4 x4 on end...I grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuces, radishes, carrots etc. tomatoes cannot be placed too close...peppers do like closer plantings...I had the best ones when planted one to a square foot. You will not get enough bush green beans with just one square foot...Not at all.

Peggy thanks so much for the info. Your garden sounds lovely I'd love to see photos once it's in the swing of things! Funnily enough I ended up winning a gift card for $100 off those garden towers so I got one of those for relatively cheap (as cheap as gardening equipment can really be), it holds quite a bit so I'm very excited! I will need less raised beds now :)