Have you ever used apps to plan out your garden? There are TONS out there, so it’s kind of hard to know which give you the most bang for your buck. I get questions all of the time about which app I prefer.
The truth is, I still like to plan it all out with a pencil and paper {and on days when I’m feeling really ambitious, I throw in a ruler}.
Still, I have friends who love their gardening apps. They can pull it up and browse/plan while they are waiting at the doctor’s office or grab it right in the garden if they have questions. I totally get the appeal of having a massive reference book all smooshed down into a handheld device, so I decided to do some surveys and research on which apps are worth looking into.
First, the Garden Plan Pro seems to get the best overall reviews. It is a bit pricier at $7.99, but from what I can tell, it’s like the Holy Grail of gardening apps. You can get it for iPhone, iPads, PC, or Mac. You can set it up to give you planting reminders {which are tailored to your specific location}, design your garden, and choose your method {i.e. container, raised beds, etc.}. It looks pretty darn cool, and it is the only one I found that the reviews seem overall really, really good.
Mother Earth News has a gardening app that is FREE and seems to get pretty good reviews. It is called Gardening Guide. It is iPhone, iPad, and Android compatible. It offers resources on crops like how and when to plant, how to prevent and/or treat pests and disease, etc. Since you can’t beat the price, it seems like a pretty good bet, plus, it’s from a reputable resource.
The Landscaper’s Companion is another app that seems to show up over and over. It is available on both iPhone and Android. I like this one because it includes all types of gardening {not just edibles}. Even if you are a vegetable gardener, incorporating flowers and other plants significantly improves the overall health of your garden. This app is kind of like an encyclopedia. You can look for plants with various search option {deer resistant, climate, water needs} and then find out everything you could possibly need to know to plant and grow them. It even includes images of the plants, in case you are making decisions for purely aesthetic reasons.
For Android, the Garden Manager: Plant Alarm gets pretty good reviews. It allows you to set alarms for planting, watering, etc. It also gets pretty good reviews on tracking houseplants. I like that with this app, you can take pictures of your plants and compare them year to year, and as the season progresses. Even after all of these years of gardening, sometimes my plants will start to brown or appear to be dying back, and I wonder, “Did this happen last year at this time?” This app would help you essentially build a personal gardening picture journal.
The Garden Tracker allows you to customize your planting/gardening to your size and location of plot. It helps you track when to water, plant, harvest, and how to do it. You can break up your garden into sections, like window boxes, patio planters, and raised beds. It allows you to grid your garden, making sure you have the appropriate planting space, etc. If only it could do the weeding too.
If you are looking for a simple app, that tells you when to plant, where to plant, and how to care for your veggie garden, go with the Vegetable Planting Calendar, it’s free for both iPad and iPhone users. It’s a very basic reference guide, but comes in handy when you need a quick overview on how to care for your garden.
Gardenate is another option in the lower price points. It allows you to schedule your planning around fully customized plant choices. It tracks when you planted and gives a very general overview of each plant.
Finally, the Vegetable Gardening Guide, is more of a handheld reference book. It is unique because it offers several reference pictures, general tips, and recipes for your harvested veggies.
How about you, do you use any must-have apps to plan your garden?
~Mavis
The Couch Potato says
It never occurred to me that there would be gardening apps, I might have to check some of these free ones out. I definitely need to keep better records in our garden.
Tessa says
If you are heading to Maine, there are several places to checkout. Kittery Trading Post is known for its shopping outlets, as is Freeport (home of LL Bean). Portland is fantastic to putter around in and spend a day. Bar Harbor is great for doing some town on the water experiences, and Acadia National Park (one of our family picks) never disappoints. If you want to get away from the water and see some wilderness, you can take a long car trip (bring your tent) and go to Baxter State Park where you can check out Mt. Katahdin, which is the northern terminus for the Appalachian Trial. Oh, and from Portland (bring your passports) you can take a ferry over to Nova Scotia. Conversely, if you wanted to head west you could come to lovely New Hampshire to check out some of our goodies (Portsmouth is fantastic). Have fun planning!
Julie says
Thanks for that list! There is so many that I couldn’t find a good one… I ended up using the website http://www.smartgardener.com/ that I really love!
Margaret says
Ooh, thanks for this list. I’ve been using the growveg.com garden planner for years but recently graduated from my old reliable nokia phone to an iphone, so I’m really enjoying discovering new gardening apps. I love that garden plan pro lets me edit and make notes on my garden plans while I’m out in the garden, so easy!