Whether you are a seasoned veteran at gardening or are looking to sow your first set of seeds this spring, these spring planting apps for iOS will come in handy for knowing when to plant, how often to water, when to harvest, and more. Each of these apps has their pros and cons, so check them out to see which will be the best fit for you.
A few personal favorites are the Garden Compass app because it is so helpful to be able to snap a picture of the plant I am having trouble with, share my issue and get an answer from an expert. No need to waste gas running to the gardening store! Another one I love and always turn to is Gardenate, as a basic guide for any plant I am considering planting.
Without further ado, here is the list:
Skippy’s Vegetable Planning Calendar ($1.99)
This app features a simple, color-coded calendar for seed planting. It can be used by gardeners all over the globe that experience the four season, as long as there is a cool winter with frost. The app will give advice and planning year-around with optional reminders for when to plant. It’s also a plus that the app is ad-free with no in-app purchases. The calendar can be viewed either by the week or by the season and it is familiar with over 50 varieties of plants.
Homegrown with Bonnie Plants (Free)
Homegrown with Bonnie Plants contains info on more than 250 different herbs and vegetables. Beginner and experienced gardeners alike can track progress including planting, watering, feeding, and harvesting. You can get information on current and predicted weather patterns and it also allows you to take photos and make notes on your own garden. The app itself is easy to navigate and appealing to the eye.
Gardenate ($.99)
Gardenate is available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, The UK and the USA. It features over 90 veggies and herbs, provides you with the best times to plant, and reminds you when it’s time to harvest. It also allows you to take photos and make notes on anything you’ve planted, as well as allowing you to save notes with photos on plants you’ve planted. While this app is rich with information, it can be a bit confusing to use at first.
Vegetable Tree Gardening Guide ($5.99)
This app is easy to use, gives great planting tips and includes info on pest control. It has an extended catalog of vegetables and herbs which you can filter by season. You can also track progress using notes with photos and share everything on Facebook or Twitter.
iScape (Free/$9.99)
iScape focuses more on landscape designs. Use photos of your lawn or landscaping and change them in app to see what they would look like. You can access many types of vegetation as well as water elements and hardscapes. While having cool features, some of the elements are difficult to manipulate within the app and it does require in-app purchases to access certain features.
Gardens (Free)
Gardens is the companion app for intoGardens, a magazine app. It is more geared toward information sharing. You can take photos and create your own scrapbook which you can share on social media. You can also sign up for “Magic Parcels” which are packages that come with videos, pictures and info from experts. These are added as in-app purchases and released monthly.
Sprout it (Free)
Like a lot of other gardening apps, you can select plants for your garden, create a planting schedule and get detailed instructions and reminders with Sprout it. Weather information is available based on location and the app can give instructions for protecting and recovering from severe weather. With this app, you have the option to grow from seeds, starter plants, or Miracle-Gro® Gro-ables® Seed Pods™. This is only available in the US, however, and does have a reputation for crashing on occasion.
Garden Compass (Free)
Garden Compass focuses on providing you with the best advice possible by giving you the opportunity to submit photos and questions to the app’s team of experts. You automatically get 3 submission credits when you sign up, with an additional credit each month. More credits can be purchased as well a monthly or yearly membership.
As you can see, there are many great iOS apps to choose from when you want some help growing a plentiful garden this year. You just need to decide which one to start with. You can also check out the planting guide for each season by clicking here.
Happy growing! Be sure to let us know how your experience went with these apps and if you have any others you recommend.