Best Gardening Apps (vegetable, planting, perennials, cover)

[Ellen Pitts]

Can anyone recommend their favorite gardening app? I'm looking for something that can be my brain. Ideally it would have the following capabilities, primarily for vegetable gardening, but would also use for herbs, annuals, perennials, etc.

1-sync with my local area (weather reports, temps/precipitation, etc) and send reminders when things need watering, when to cover, protect from ice, etc.
2- help with planning and companion planting, crop rotation,
3- reminders for feeding, based on individual plant needs
4- physical space planner based on square foot gardening
5- pest and disease -- ability to snap pics and share for advice (this is the least important as I don't mind using books and online groups for this sort of thing.


There are a ton of apps out there. I've tried a few and none seem very robust or comprehensive...I have an iPhone. I don't mind paying , but I've already bought one and been disappointed because it seems useless and the other one I have seen that costs money doesn't do any of the things I need. TIA!

[Zoisite]

I've never heard of anything quite like that although I guess it's possible such apps exist. I have a hard time imagining a general app doing a person's thinking for them when it comes to something like gardening. Hopefully someone knows exactly what might be most suitable for you.

If you are a newbie just starting out in gardening and feel you really need garden apps to help you then I think you should start small and simple, exercise your intuition and instincts and get some personal experiences under your belt before you venture into any elaborate gardening schemes.

I believe that gardening is sort of an intuitive thing that you need to have some kind of instincts for and be prepared to act on your instincts every day, and be prepared to learn from your own decisions, trials, successes and errors. Gardening either clicks with you or it doesn't and if it doesn't then I don't think apps are going to be much help to you. You need to get personally involved and invest yourself into it.

You can't be depending on a garden app to remind you when you need to water, feed or cover your plants. Just as with the care of all other types of living things, those are decisions you must be able to determine for yourself by personal observation and paying attention to what the individual plants and the weather in your exact location is telling you every day, not based on what some generalized app tells you.

I hope you find what you're looking for but in the meantime you could take a look at this for lots of good information and help - https://www.almanac.com/ - if you look in the gardening section it does make mention of some garden planner apps but I don't know if they'll be the kind of things you're looking for: https://gardenplanner.almanac.com/

Good luck.


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[turf3]

Shovel, spading fork, trowel, watering can.

Pretty much does it for me.

Look up! The garden's there in the dirt, not on your cell phone.

[Diggywh]

"Garden Answers Plant Identifier" is a great free app I use since three months. Garden Answers - Plant Identification

You take a photo of your plant, you have your solution, what you have to do and everything. If the technique is not working, you still have a Q&A section that is really active.