I’m a sucker for any technology that makes something a little bit easier. I love calculators, for instance. But, I’m a bigger fan of gardening than I am math, so I looked around for an app that makes planning a garden easier.
Garden Planner does just that, it makes planning a garden a pleasurable and, dare I say it, fun experience. I played around with the online demo version of the app. The app is also available for iPad. The full version is $24.
Planning a garden is fun
Garden Planner is an app that makes planning a garden as easy as drag and drop. Not only is it easy on the mind, it’s easy on the eyes too. The app comes equipped with hundreds of stock graphics, allowing users to arrange plants, trees, walkways, furniture, fences, walls and garden beds on a grid that keeps a measurement of every foot.
Users can then print out the design and use it as reference material when redoing that backyard or front yard garden. At the end of the day, the app essentially replaces graph paper and cut outs.
Here’s what I came up with in about 15 minutes:
I placed an herb garden, a fruit tree, some lettuce and two raised bed planters. My favorite is the picnic table in the middle of it all. There’s also a gravel path, stonework patio and a hedge. I estimated that, if my garden was real, I would’ve spent around $450 in 15 minutes. If you didn’t know, one of my favorite hobbies is spending money I don’t have. It’s great!
Anyways, as you can see, the interface is rather simple and straightforward. It’s easy to find the tools you need to accomplish almost any design you want. Some of the tools didn’t work how I expected, however. It’s possible the paid version works better in this respect.
But wait, there’s more!
Garden Planner also allows for custom plants. Don’t see a pepper plant in the app’s library? No problem, in the paid version of the app, you can upload your own graphics. It’s not clear if uploading your own graphics is simple, or not.
The app then catalogues and lists every plant, bench and feature in your garden.
It gives you a list like this:
I had a little fun with the “resize’ tool, but I think you get the picture. Listing all of the features in your garden is super convenient for when you take that initial trip to the greenhouse, garden center or big-box store.
Final verdict
Garden Planner is a neat little app that is powerful enough for commercial purposes, but simple enough for hobbyists. If nothing else, it’s a nice little distraction that allows daydreamers the ability to bring to life their dream garden.
Note: Garden Planner may be free for community organizations, non-profits and schools. If you believe your organization qualifies, you must contact the app’s creators.
More useful apps:
The Top 10 Cell Phone Apps for Farmers
The Ultimate Garden Planting Calendar
