Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Just plant them normally.
I walk forward looking down at about a 45 angle in front. Plant with a regular pace.

As long as I walk straight lines it all works out fine... I hardly pay attention to each individual plant.

That's basically what I started doing. I haven't had one "need more room" yet, although I did get one too close to a chest so I had to kick it down.

Thankfully, even though the Plains I'm currently in is rather tiny, I got lucky with a Yagluth stone, 4/5 Totems to summon Yagluth, two villages, and like 5 tar pits (3 of which are connected to one another.. haven't tried to get too close to that yet though).

I got lucky enough with Barley and Flax that I no longer need Flax (I think?), and now I'm just farming Barley for taming a Lox and cooking food.