Garden Planning: There’s an App for That

Planning a garden can be an overwhelming task. If you’re anything like me, the excitement and possibilities of seed packets can get the better of you, and you want to grow all the things! But, not every plant has the same light requirements. Some veggies like cabbage, don’t play nice with say, tomatoes. Sometimes, your ambitions don’t exactly line up with the grow space allotted. Trust me, I do that one almost every year. (Need tips on gardening with a toddler? Check out my previous blog post about doing just that!)

Then I discovered my all time favorite app, Planter! Planter has revolutionized my garden planning game. Yup,  Garden Planning: There’s an App for That!

This page contains affiliate links for your convenience. In particular this post contains Links to the Planter App on the App Store and some Amazon associate affiliate links as I participate in that program and reached out to Planter about this post. Please read my full disclosure here. All thoughts and opinions are my own and do not take them as any sort of medical or legal advice.

So how do you start planning with Planter? Simply punch in the dimensions of the bed, and start adding fruits, herbs, vegetables, and flowers from the extensive catalog of plants. The  app offers the spacing each plant needs to thrive in a square foot garden. This great visualization of what space various crops require. For example a tomato plant needs one square foot, while a squash needs two, and beets can accommodate nine plants within a square foot. 

Your gardens will show you if the plants near each other work with or against one another. 

But there’s more at your fingertips than just mapping out the garden, each plant has an info tab that provides information about which crops are the best and worst companions to your chosen crop, with reasons why! You will learn that marigolds are great companions to most vegetables because they deter pests, beets are great to plant near a lot of other plants because they add nutrients to the soil. There’s also information about how eggplants can deplete nutrients and share diseases with cabbage. 

Planter offers a growing calendar for your specific area, with considerations of whether you’re starting the seeds indoors, transplanting, or direct sowing outside. It also offers information on how long a plant takes to grow from sprout to harvest, germination rates, watering requirements, sowing depth, sunlight needs all in one place! It even offers info on specific beneficial insects, diseases and pests that may affect your garden. 

There’s a new feature I discovered when going through the app in depth to do this write up that I definitely need to utilize. The seed box. My seed cataloging and storage system leaves a lot to be desired at the moment. I’m looking into getting a baseball card binder to be a bit more physically organized for next season. However the seed box allows you to record what seeds you have, when you purchased them, where they came from and add any notes you want about your seeds all in one place! 

This app just keeps getting better and better. And for $11.99 a year it is worth every penny. I cannot wait to see what new features come as more users find how wonderful it is for garden planning, information and management! Go to the App Store and give it a download today. If you’re anything like me, the free trial will lead to a subscription that will benefit you and your garden for years to come!