Whether you are a newbie gardener or an experienced green thumb, having some backup help is essential. That is because there will always be a new plant you need to learn about or an irritating bug you will need to identify. Gardening apps help with all this.
Many of the apps I have discussed below are free, while others ask for a minimal cost, ranging from a one-time payment to a recurring subscription fee. Some of the apps are web-based, meaning you won’t download anything—all you need is to open an account.
These Apps are rich with expert knowledge, from planning your garden layout to harvesting and everything in between. Some gardening apps connect you to a community of plant lovers or horticultural experts to get solutions to your gardening problems or share gardening tips and ideas.
Here are my top 10 gardening apps, downloadable and web-based, to help you do gardening better.
Moon & Garden
Moon and Garden is a perfect companion for every organic gardener. One of the exciting features of this app is a built-in planting calendar that tells users what to transplant, sow and harvest based on the lunar phases.
Days are divided into “root/seed,” “flower,” “leaf,” or “root,” with expert advice on what to do depending on moon phases.
The App also provides exact humidity or weather conditions for your location, and you can use the app’s simple grid feature to map out your Garden.
Plus, there are helpful articles and tips about biodynamic gardening and a community forum where you can interact with a social network of upcoming lunar gardeners.
Flower Checker
A few applications on this list provide a plant identification service. However, the Flower Checker may be the most accurate plant identifier app, using the skills of real botanists who identifies more than 90% of all plant species. The other great feature of this application is that it doesn’t have adverts.
Iscape
Iscape Pro Designer is a paid-for app from Apple and is perfect for anyone designing a garden from scratch.
This app allows you to visualize how your Garden will look with different features by taking photos of your favorite plants and overlaying different layers. What results from this is a 3D garden for your exploration.
Garden Compass
This app uses a skillful team to identify plants and plant diseases. You can place plant photos on the “digital care calendar” for the app to give you care advice and recommendations.
In addition, garden Compass provides useful reminders on the needed garden tasks. It allows two free image submission credits and a free monthly credit.
Also, the Garden Compass app has a free version with limited options; however, if you choose the premium version, you can access additional features.
Last but not least, this app is well-rated on App Store for speed and accuracy.
Smart Plant Home
Smart Plant Home is a gardening app with multiple features. One of the helpful features you will truly love in this extensive library is the care calendar.
When you add a plant, the app immediately creates a care calendar that reminds you to do watering or other tasks helpful to the plant; this will be especially helpful if you can kill garden plants.
This app also features a problem-solver capability; the Smart Plant Home app identifies garden pests, plant pests, and diseases and helps solve these issues. If that doesn’t help, you can send photos of plants and plant diseases to expert horticulturists around the globe using the app.
Sun Seeker
Soil, sun, and water are some of the most important ingredients for the life of plants. Most plants you grow need varying amounts of sunlight.
Some plants require more than six hours of direct sunlight, others four to five hours, while others prefer full shade. Sun Seeker app will help answer all these concerns.
Sun seeker is a free garden app and an intensive sun-tracking app. This application can help you track the sun in your backyard to help you to choose optimal planting locations for your different plant types depending on how much sunlight each need.
Garden Answers
Don’t know the tree in your backyard? Want to identify that flower you love at your neighbor’s place? The Garden Answers app has you in mind.
Also, if you are looking for the best free gardening app, the Garden Answers app is what you need.
So, download this free app, and take pictures of plants using your smartphone. The app will then take the photos and use its image recognition technology to compare them with those in its database; this helps identify unknown plants and provide basic plant care tips.
In addition, you can ask horticulturists specific plant questions on plant pests and diseases at a small fee.
Garden Manager
Garden Manager is a brand-new app that helps users manage their gardening activities and get the most out of their edible gardens. This virtual gardening trainer takes you from planting to harvesting by guiding you through a series of questions.
The Garden Manager app has three levels of subscription services that guide you through seasons and send you reminders on what you should do and when to do it.
Additionally, this app is connected to weather forecast stations, meaning it has a plant alarm to alert you when to cover your tender plants if frost is on its way.
Garden Tags
Garden Tags is a comprehensive app rich in information, and it’s a plant encyclopedia covering over 20,000 plants. Also, this app allows you to connect with a community of gardeners.
You can take plant photos, share them on this app, and keep a record of your gorgeous photos for future use.
What makes this app helpful:
- Garden Tags App is a free garden planning app.
- Garden Tags App tells you what plants are by identifying unknown plants with the help of a community of gardeners;
- Keeping images of your Garden and plants in the same place
- Forgot when you are supposed to prune your shrub? Create a plant care to-do list based on your garden’s plants to ensure you are always above your gardening tasks.
Garden Planner
This is a garden planning tool from Farmer’s Almanac. Garden Planner is not an app but is web-based, although the site says it will soon be coming to tablets.
This program is a gem for helping you design an outstanding layout for your gardening space.
You need the Garden Planner app if you are looking for the best free vegetable garden design app or a garden designer app for other plant types. However, the free version is only available for your first seven days of using the app, after which you can subscribe to the affordable annual subscription.
You can customize the app to your flower beds, garden beds, and gardening style, and it will notify you how much to plant, planting dates, and when to harvest.
What makes this gardening tool helpful:
- Adapts to your specific climate by using weather stations
- It’s a huge searchable database of plant information, enabling you to find whatever information you need in gardening
- Journal space where you can plan your important tasks and record your gardening progress
- Crop rotation warnings
- It’s a forum for gardeners
Before You Go
Garden-related and mystery plant identification apps are helpful tools for experienced or beginner gardeners. While there are so many apps, whichever you pick will depend on your preference.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself when choosing a gardening app: a team of experts or artificial intelligence technology? Can’t stand adverts? Willing to subscribe at a fee or not? Landscaping activities, serious farming, companion plants, indoor plants, ornamental plants, or outdoor space casual gardening?
So, browse the comprehensive list of the top 10 gardening apps I have picked for you, and choose your favorite one. Happy gardening!
