The Salsa Bed
Everything for a bowl of salsa in one 4×6 bed: tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro, timed so they are ready together.
The plan
Each square is one square foot; the number is how many plants go in it at recommended spacing. North is the top of the plan — the tallest crops sit there so they don't shade the rest.
No recorded bad pairings between neighbouring squares in this plan.
Why it's arranged this way
A themed bed that solves a real timing problem — cilantro bolts long before tomatoes ripen, so it is planted at the cool end and resown rather than left to run. Onions edge the bed because intercropping alliums with carrots and other crops has genuine evidence behind it for reducing rust fly damage.
- Cilantro will bolt before the tomatoes ripen no matter what you do. Sow a fresh patch every three weeks so there is some ready at harvest.
- Tomatoes and peppers are both nightshades and share early blight — give them airflow and don't plant this bed where nightshades grew last year.
- Onions are shallow-rooted and lose badly to weeds. Mulch this bed properly or the onion end will disappoint.
What's in it, and when to plant
| Crop | Squares | Plants | Start indoors | Plant outside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato | 8 | 8 | Feb 20 – Mar 6 | Apr 17 – Apr 30 |
| Pepper (sweet/bell) | 6 | 6 | Jan 30 – Feb 27 | May 1 – May 14 |
| Onion | 4 | 36 | Jan 16 – Jan 30 | Mar 20 – Apr 2 |
| Cilantro / Coriander | 4 | 36 | — | Apr 10 – Apr 23 |
| French Marigold | 2 | 8 | Feb 13 – Mar 13 | Apr 17 – Apr 30 |
What you'll need
Bill of materialsSoil and equipment
- Raised bed soil, 12 in deep 24 cu ft · 16 bags · 0.889 cu yd
- Cages or stakes for tall fruiting crops
- Soaker hose — these crops split or bolt with uneven water
- Straw or leaf mulch
- Stakes and garden twine
- Floating row cover
Seed for this bed
- Tomato seeds 8 plants · 8 sq
- Pepper (sweet/bell) seeds 6 plants · 6 sq
- Onion seeds 36 plants · 4 sq
- Cilantro / Coriander seeds 36 plants · 4 sq
- French Marigold seeds 8 plants · 2 sq
Soil volume is calculated from this bed's footprint at 12 inches deep — adjust it on the soil calculator. Plant counts come from square-foot density for each crop. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Equipment is listed because the crops in this plan need it, not because it is sponsored.
Other layout plans
The Beginner 4×8 Bed
The standard first raised bed: eight crops that are hard to kill, spaced properly, with nothing planted next to something it fights with.
4 × 4 ftThe Cut-and-Come-Again Salad Bed
A 4×4 bed of fast greens and roots that you harvest continuously rather than all at once. Ready in six weeks, productive for months.
4 × 4 ftThree Sisters
Corn, beans and squash grown together — the one traditional polyculture with measured evidence that it out-produces the same area grown separately.
6 × 4 ftThe Insectary Strip
A 4×6 border of flowering plants chosen for the evidence behind them — sweet alyssum for hoverflies, borage for pollination, calendula and dill for predatory wasps.
4 × 4 ftThe Partial Shade Bed
For the bed that only gets three to five hours of sun. Leafy crops and roots that genuinely prefer it, rather than fruiting crops that will merely survive.