Awesome Gardening Apps

I’ve always had trouble keeping my little patch of garden going. I love the way fresh fruits and vegetables taste right from the garden. There something about them that makes them taste so much better. Maybe all the work you put into getting that squash to grow is what makes it taste so good.

This year I had the most success I’ve ever had in my garden because of specific gardening tool—my smartphone. There are millions of smartphone apps out there that can help you with just about anything; gardening is no exception. I know it’s fall and winter is fast approaching, but I still have collards, English peas, spinach, and carrots growing. I wanted to try the apps before giving you the run down. Here are three gardening apps that I found the most useful.

Garden Time Planner – Free – Available on iOS and Android

The Garden Time Planner helped me figure out when I should start. One of my biggest problems is knowing exactly when to plant certain vegetables and when to pick them. This app took care of that. This app will let you pick an herb, vegetable, fruit, and flower and create a garden. It will tell you if you should start the plant indoors or out and what time of year. This is something I never thought of I just started all outdoors. For example, I never knew to start cucumbers, tomatoes, and broccoli indoors. This app also provides videos with planting instructions. It gives you a checklist of things you should do throughout the growing season, like when to sow between, transplant, or pick. It also provides local weather reports. I love this app! It allowed me to add new things to my garden I had never grown before.

Garden Compass – Free – Available on iOS

The Garden Compass is a must have app for solving problems my second problem. This app provides useful information like how much light a plant needs. The coolest thing about this app is the two functions called “Plant ID” and “Plant Problem.” I always run into problems when a plant turns a weird color, or strange insects start eating things up. This app will help you identify any plant or any problem you’re having.

All you do is snap a photo of the plant in question and an expert not a computer gets back to you in identifying the plant or the problem, and even providing possible solutions. I had an unknown bug eating my spinach. I took a photo of the insect on Garden Compass and submitted it; within 24 hours I got a personalized message back explaining it was a beetle. They also included several suggestions on how to get rid of them. I followed their advice, and my spinach is doing great. They also help me identify a specific weed giving me problems. This app is great. Without it, I would have had no spinach this year.

Garden Manager – Free – Available on Android

The Garden Manager app help me with my third problem: remembering. This is specifically an alarm app. It allows you to set various alarms for watering, fertilizing and so on. I’m always forgetting to water my plants, and some needed it twice a day. The Garden Manager is great for reminding you of things you need to get done in your garden. This app will also allow you to create a log storing pictures and notes about the plants in your garden. If you keep track of the heights of your plants, it will show you there growth in a graph form. The app also gives you the ability to share your logs on social media so you can brag about your plant growth.

With the gardening season winding down, you might not use these apps until next year, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. It does not matter if you’re an experienced gardener or just starting out these apps can help. YouTube is a great place to find how-to videos; these are also great tools. Future blog posts will look at some other cool technologies that are helping people grow better gardens—like Plant Link, which uses sensors to measure moisture in your garden. Have you used a smartphone app in the garden before? Let us know!