Gardening Apps Every Gardener Should Download Immediately

Intro to Garden Apps

Gardening is such a physical, “get your hands dirty” kind of job that the idea of using an app on your phone as a gardening tool seems almost backward. But in a world brimming with smartphone applications for all kinds of purposes, many gardening apps provide terrific resources and tools for anyone trying to up their growing game. Here’s a look at the garden-related apps out there, with a few standouts from each category.

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Types of Garden Apps

Gardening Apps for Plant Identification

For anyone lacking an encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture, knowing the difference between plants you want in your garden and the ones you should pull ASAP can be a struggle. Plant identification apps help you determine exactly what’s sprouting up from your soil.

Garden Answers makes identifying plant types a breeze through image recognition technology that analyzes any photo you take with your phone’s camera and compares it to a database of expert knowledge. It’s as simple as pointing your camera at a plant and clicking, and the answers are instantaneous. Garden Answers also features a search engine with access to more than 200,000 commonly asked questions about plant health and related information.

Gardening Apps for Planning and Scheduling

Getting the most out of every gardening season requires careful planning and understanding what plants grow best at different times of the year in your area. The good news is that you don’t have to keep all of that information in your head — there’s an app for that.

From Seed to Spoon was started by a couple who turned their backyard into an urban farm. The app is loaded with helpful information, with plant-specific planting guides based on your GPS location. It lets you know when seeds should go in the ground and when to expect your produce to ripen, eliminating guesswork as you plan your ideal garden.

Gardening Apps for Design

Most people lack massive chunks of land devoted entirely to gardening. Apps made to help with gardening and landscaping design permit a clearer picture of the best ways to use your property, maximizing the plants they can grow while still looking picturesque.

iScape is a comprehensive landscaping and garden design tool made for pros and DIYers. The app uses “augmented reality” (or AR) so users can snap photos of their property and instantly see how various plants and hardscape would look in different areas. Just take a picture and overlay an assortment of landscaping features on top of it, including flower beds and your favorite plants.

Educational Gardening Apps

Whether you’re a gardening expert or a newbie trying to find a green thumb, there’s always more to learn. Educational gardening apps exist to spread knowledge that may have been regional or little known before. By connecting gardeners from all corners and creating shared databases, gardening apps have become a great resource for anyone looking to more deeply explore the world of horticulture.

GardenTags gives you access to the collected knowledge of an entire community of gardeners. You can share photos of your plants and draw inspiration from the creations of other gardeners. And if you’re looking for more specific answers, GardenTags has an encyclopedia with in-depth information on more than 20,000 plants