He Ignored Plant Spacing Rules: Here’s What Happened

Plant spacing is mentioned on almost every seed packet you’ll buy. But what happens if you ignore it? Epic Gardening founder Kevin Espiritu did just that. Let’s see what happened when he ignored plant spacing.

Written by Matt Dursum Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: April 8, 2025 | 4 min read

A large bed of young red cabbage plants planted ignoring plant spacing.

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Imagine being crammed in a room with dozens of other people, with only a few glasses of water and some snacks to share. Plants, like people, need their space. Without it, your crops will feel pressured in their environment.

All crops need access to water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil. When they’re growing too close together, they’ll start competing for all of them.

On top of that, close spacing gives pests such as aphids and whiteflies more room to hide. And diseases? They’ll thrive in the moist, dark spaces between your cramped garden veggies and herbs.

Epic Gardening founder Kevin Espiritu did an experiment where he planted ‘Red Acre’ cabbage while ignoring plant spacing suggestions. Let’s dive into his experiment and see exactly what happened when he ignored plant spacing.

Why is Plant Spacing Important?

The old hands of a gardener plant a young cabbage seedling with round green leaves growing on thin pale stems in loose soil. — Well-placed crops grow stronger with better air circulation.

Plant spacing is the space you should leave between each plant. Whether you’re transplanting seedlings or sowing directly in the ground, it’s important to follow this guideline. Each species has its ideal space requirements. As gardeners, we’re trying to maximize the amount of each plant we get in the limited spaces that we have in our garden.

Each plant needs a certain amount of light, nutrients, and moisture to survive. It also appreciates a life free from diseases and pests. In a perfect world, your plant will have enough space to access all the nutrients and water it needs.

Unfortunately, we’re limited on space in our gardens. Even in nature, plants grow uncomfortably close to each other. When this happens, each plant competes with its neighbors for resources.

Giving your crops enough space to grow has several important benefits we’ll explore below.

Better Access to Water

Close-up of a gardener watering young cabbage plants with broad, bright green leaves with slightly wavy edges forming heads from a green watering can in a sunny garden. — When crops compete for water, growth slows down fast.

Your plants’ roots infiltrate deep into the soil to hunt for water. The easier it is to access, the better.

When too many roots are competing for the same water source, it can cause major issues. The most common are stunted growth and decreased yields.

Easier Access to Nutrients

In a garden bed, young red cabbage plants with broad green leaves and red stems and veins grow in a row in soil mulched with straw. — Nutrients are useless if crops can’t reach them.

Soil contains all the macro and micronutrients your plants need to survive. When crops have enough space, they can access these nutrients easily. Without them, they’ll have trouble growing and producing healthy plant tissue.

More Sun Exposure

A field of large red cabbage plants with blue-green, broad, waxy leaves and purple contrasting veins forming dense heads. — Uneven sunlight makes them grow tall but flimsy.

When your plants are too close together, they can end up blocking each other’s access to sunlight. This can cause leggy and uneven growth as they grow toward whatever light source they can find.

Better Aeration

Different varieties of white, curly and red cabbage grow in a bed mulched with straw at a distance. — Crops breathe easier when air moves freely between them.

More space means more room for air to pass through. This may not sound like a big deal, but for plant health, it’s important.

More aeration means less moisture buildup, which can lead to infections like botrytis and root rot. Having more breathing space also leaves room for predatory insects like wasps to take out unwanted pests like aphids and scale insects.

Kevin’s Experiment

Rows of compact red cabbage plants with broad, overlapping blue-purple leaves form a dense, vibrant garden bed. — Overcrowding makes cabbage heads smaller and less uniform.

For his plant spacing experiment, Kevin threw the spacing requirements for ‘Red Acre’ cabbage out the window. The seed packet recommended planting a group of 3 seeds every 1 to 2 feet and spacing rows 2 to 3 feet apart.

Cabbages need a lot of space to grow their large heads. Without enough space, their accessory leaves will bunch up with their neighbors.

Kevin’s goal is to see if he gets bigger, smaller, or less healthy cabbages while ignoring the plant spacing recommendations. Let’s dive into the steps of Kevin’s experiment below and learn how it all went. Like Kevin, you may be surprised!

Set Up the Test Garden’s Soil

A gardener with large red broad forks loosens the soil in the garden bed. — Preparing the soil with a broad fork made it perfect.

To start, Kevin established a 4-foot by 4-foot test garden. He broadforked it and watered it to make the soil nice, moist, and loose.

Created 3 Different Spacings

A garden bed filled with small cabbage seedlings with rounded, blue-green leaves and purple stems, planted in three rows at different distances from each other. — Each row received a unique spacing experiment.

Next, Kevin assigned 3 different spacings, each 2 feet away from each other. One spacing had 4 cabbages, spaced 12 inches apart. The next one had 3 cabbages spaces 18 inches apart. And the last row had 2 cabbages spaced 2 feet apart.

Time for Planting!

A young red cabbage seedling with delicate purple-tinged leaves and a slender stem emerges from the dark soil. — Amended soil and water helped the seedlings start strong.

Kevin amended each planting spot with organic granular fertilizer. He then planted his starters in their rows and gave the plants plenty of water.

Protected the Plants

A gardener wearing black gloves covers a young cabbage seedling with a critter cover. — Critter covers shield them from unwanted pests and animals.

To protect his plants from pests, Kevin placed critter covers over them. These mesh baskets keep predatory insects and animals away.

A Few Weeks Later

A garden bed with thriving red cabbage plants featuring purple stems and large, blue-green leaves with insect damage, shielded by a protective hoop cover. — Cabbage moths were kept at bay with hoop covers.

A few weeks after planting, Kevin added a few hoop covers to protect his plants against cabbage moths. He opened the covers to check on the progress of his plants.

Immediately, he noticed some pest damage from cabbage loopers on some of his plants. The plants with 2 feet of spacing were the ones with the most damage. To keep the cabbages off, he sprayed his garden with a little organic insecticide and covered them back up.

Unveiling the Results

A neatly arranged garden bed where red cabbage heads, wrapped in broad, bluish-purple leaves, are growing close to each other. — Those with more room showed the most impressive growth.

After a few months, Kevin’s cabbages were ready. The middle cabbage in the 18-inch row and the 2 middle cabbages in the 12-inch row are smaller. Those growing on the exterior are much larger.

The middle cabbages have the least space for their roots to run. Their roots have less space to take in nutrients and water.

Even though they were attacked by cabbage worms, the 2 front cabbages spaced 2 feet apart had the most growth.

The Results

A gardener in a black T-shirt places a head of purple-leafed cabbage into a weighing bowl. — Those with more space grew heavier and fuller.

To conclude his experiment, Kevin harvested all the cabbages to take the average weight of each experimental row. He removed the fan leaves and only kept the cabbage heads to weigh.

Next, Kevin weighed the cabbages spaced correctly at 2 feet. These cabbages weighed 6.88 pounds. The average weight of the cabbages spaced 18 inches was 6.68 pounds, just a hair under the 2-foot-spaced heads.

Finally, the average weight of the four 12-inch spaced cabbages was 6 pounds. This was significantly lighter than the cabbages spaced further apart.

The Surprise!

Although the average weight pointed to the cabbages spaced out according to the directions as the winners, there was a surprise. When Kevin looked at the total weight, he found that the four cabbages spaced close together weighed significantly more than the others.

What This Means

A gardener carefully holds a freshly cut cabbage with a knife, its compact head displaying glossy, neatly layered leaves. — Every plant has its own space needs for success.

What this experiment showed is that there are several sides to the story. Sometimes, ignoring plant spacing rules or breaking them altogether can be a good thing. However, this depends on what you’re looking for in your garden.

On one hand, if you want to get a higher yield on a per-plant basis, Kevin recommends following the packet’s spacing suggestions. If Kevin was going for plant production, he would space them tighter.

Some species can handle cramming a little more than others. Carrots, on one hand, probably won’t grow as well crammed together. Cabbage plants can handle tighter spaces, as long as pests and diseases are taken care of.

Key Takeaways

Doing these experiments in your garden is a fun way to learn about horticulture and your plants. If you have time, draw up your own garden experiment and share your results with your gardening community.

He Ignored Plant Spacing Rules: Here’s What Happened