When I started out a few years ago, with zero farming experience and a winter's worth of research, I gave a lot of thought to what I could find out about bed size, and started with a very precise 5'x50 bed size, with 3-1/2' growing area, and 1-1/2' path. It was a decision to go wide (42") rather than narrow (30"). The theoretical thinking went something like:
- 50' with 1-3 rows per bed depending on crop (i.e. 50-150' row feet) was a good base unit for yield for the scale I was growing on, IOW, in general, I could harvest a bed per week of whatever
- 50' is also a convenient multiple of 100', which is the unit often used in US sources for quantity estimates (like, 1 lb of seed/100', 50 lb yield/100')
- 3-1/2' (42") growing area was a choice to go wide and harvest from both sides of the bed – I like the idea of fewer paths and concentrating irrigation, mulch, weeding in larger spaces than with a narrower bed, like, 30"
- 1-1/2' (18") path to allow easy maneuvering, and room for harvest bins, a wheelbarrow, etc
I've more or less stuck to that, and to the same scale of farming, 2-3 acres, mostly hand-tended. It works fine.
Over the while, as I got more used to things, I have varied. 5' is still my basic planning width, but in any one section, I may do 5', 4' or 3', the last for mesclun and other baby greens, where I seed several rows closely, and 4' for occasional emergencies when I want to squeeze more rows in a section where space is limited.
I have a small (18hp) estate tractor with a 60" wheelbase and 48" rototiller, and I can maneuver into a single 5' bed and till it up in no time, with active beds on either side, which is cool. I also use an 18" walking rototiller (Troy-Bilt Horse), which takes two passes on 5'.
The 18" path I've found is a bit much. It's nice not to have to watch your feet on the next bed when harvesting, but you can usually get by just fine with 12", and the extra strips of path add up: more weeding, more hose length, etc. It depends on how intensive and space-saving you want to be.
When you're starting out, if you're growing a whole lot of crops and varieties and succession plantings, it can get crazy keeping track of things, and I found the 50' multiples and uniform beds really helped keep things sane, from planning to fieldwork. Again, depends on your style, and how you handle to planning and organizing and…stress. :)
Hope that helps!
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