A few years ago, we looked at what we think are some of the best patio and garden design apps. Not much has changed since that post, and they are still some of our favourite apps. However, when it comes to our gardens, technology can help us in more ways than just design.
That is what we want to look at today. The Lazy Susan team have selected some of our favourite bits of plant software and gardening apps that can help you with everything from plant identification to ensuring your lawn gets just the right amount of water.
Why should we use gardening software and apps?
As an online garden furniture business, we are naturally big fans of technology, and we have to keep our fingers on the pulse when it comes to the latest gardening techniques. Using gardening software and apps provides numerous benefits that will enhance your gardening experience, making it more efficient, organised, and enjoyable.
many of the team have their personal favourites, and between us, we use several different apps to help us better visualise layouts and plan plant placement in our gardens at home. Many on our list use drag-and-drop features too, so they’re easy to use, great for experimenting with different designs and layouts before planting, and they are, pardon the pun, blooming great fun to use.
Many of the best apps have been developed by magazines or retailers, so they contain extensive databases with information on everything from plant care to growing conditions and pest management. In some apps like PlantSnap, you can simply take a photo on your phone and identify unknown plants (or weeds, as we have found on several occasions) using their photo recognition feature.
Other apps we have found are great for keeping a digital record of our gardening activities, including when to plant, growth progress, and when to harvest. We can set reminders for watering, fertilising, and other care tasks to ensure our plants receive timely attention.
Here in the UK, the weather is somewhat unpredictable, so by using technology, we can keep on top of the local forecast, and get alerts to help us plan accordingly if, for example, there’s going to be a sudden frost or deluge. We can’t count how often apps like Gardenize have helped us protect sensitive plants.
We hold our hands up, we are but mere keen amateur horticulturalists, however, the apps in our top 8 have helped us get better.
We can now self-diagnose plant diseases, learn about companion planting, optimise our watering schedules to conserve water while ensuring your plants get enough moisture, and get advice on soil types, pH levels, and ways in which we can amend to improve soil health and plant growth.
Lazy Susan’s top 8 plant and gardening software and apps?
These are our 8 essential gardening software and apps for 2024:
1. Plan-A-Garden by Garden Puzzle
We know we said we’d covered the design side in our previous post but Plan-A-Garden by Garden Puzzle is a little bit different in that it lets you quickly sketch out your garden for planning rather than design purposes.
You can upload a photo of your outside space or choose one from their stock library, and then drag and drop plants, refine with lawns, paths and small architecture to achieve the desired landscape/planting scheme.
There’s a lot you can do with the free download but we would recommend you add the additional in-app purchase to unlock access to the full plant and texture database, and the ability to use your camera to take the background photos and create all four-season previews of your garden is a brilliant feature.
Visit the Plan-A-Garden Website
2. GrowVeg App
If you like to grow your own, then GrowVeg is a great planner that will help you design the best layout for your veggie plot. With a large dedicated team behind it, it is an incredibly advanced tool that is refreshingly easy to use and will have you planning your vegetable garden like a pro in no time.
It is the easiest, fastest, and best we have found to plan and manage your vegetable plot all year round. No more pencil and paper and trying to decipher scribbled notes, this is a garden planner app that does all that and more.
You can create your perfect vegetable garden layout in seconds using their templates or easily design your own from scratch. The app will generate automated sowing, planting, and harvesting schedules with alerts and reminders customised to the local climate.
It also suggests excellent plant pairing recommendations (veg often grows best when paired with buddies) with video guides to help prevent pests and diseases, and there’s an option to create and print a shopping list of the seeds, plants, and equipment you need to bring your vision to life.
The GrowVeg team are fellow plant enthusiasts and super active on their blog and social media too. The video below looks at how you can plan your veg garden in 10 easy steps, and is a great example of the kind of gardening community support you’ll find via the app itself:
3. Gardenize Gardening App
In essence, the Gardenize app is a garden journal, but it is also so much more. They describe it as a “digital garden diary with a photographic memory that helps you understand and develop your garden”. Here at Lazy Susan, we have found it to be the perfect tool for keeping track of our plants.
With Gardenize you can quickly get an overview of everything you have planted in your garden and where. It helps you keep track of your progress and you can set yourself task reminders, make notes and create to-do lists, all of which are visible in your gardening calendar.
The video below gives you a nice intro to the app:
4. PlantSnap Plant Identification App
There are a number of this type of gardening app out there but we’ve found PlantSnap to be one of the most comprehensive and reliable.
It is essentially a plant expert in your pocket that helps you ID plants, flowers, cacti, succulents and mushrooms in seconds with the click of a button on your smartphone.
To ID a plant all you need to do is take a photo of the plant on your phone camera, and the app will tell you what it is in a matter of seconds.
The app can currently recognise 90% of all known species of plants and trees in the world, and they’ve have a partnership with Snapchat that is working on getting that percentage tp 100%.
5. Blossom
If you want happy plants then the Blossom app is your guide to planting, growing and caring for them with confidence. If you have any plant care and maintenance questions, it is the best way to get them answered.
You can learn more about your plants and find detailed plant care information on watering, propagating, fertilising, and much much more.
No more forgetting to water your plants on time, you can set up reminders and get notified when it's time to water, fertilise or repot.
If you’re unsure why your plant is suffering from, then Blossom can quickly help you diagnose the issue, and show you how to prevent and treat the most common diseases.
One of the features we have found most beneficial is their light meter. It enables us to find the perfect spot for our plants, based on how much light they need. Measure the light level in your space to help your plant feel at home.
6. From Seed to Spoon
Many of the team here love growing fruit and veg but it can be challenging for an inexperienced gardener. However, with an app like From Seed to Spoon, it is certainly doable as it's a garden planner that makes growing your food simple.
From Seed to Spoon is another app that can help simplify that process. It can help you decide what will grow best in terms of the climate in your area, your soil pH and nutrient content, and if you have enough space for the plants you want to grow.
If you’re new to growing your own food, this is one of the apps you need to download. It will help you choose easy-to-grow plants to get you going, such as tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, and strawberries.
The key to a successful harvest is being able to tackle pests and consistent watering. From Seed to Spoon will teach you what each plant needs and prevent you from over-watering or under-watering and they have some great tips for preventing disease organically.
The app includes a comprehensive database of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and each entry provides detailed growing information, including planting dates, sunlight requirements, spacing, watering needs, and common pests and diseases.
Visit the From Seed To Spoon Website
7. Iris by Crocus to Identify Plants
Whatever stage of your gardening journey you’re on, Iris will help you to become a better gardener. They aim to inspire you to grow, and they have packed over twenty years of Crocus experience into one handy pocket guide.
While this is another plant ID app on this list, it can offer several benefits, whether you’re a gardening enthusiast or simply interested in identifying and learning about various plants.
The app uses advanced image recognition technology to accurately identify plants from photos you take, and it can identify a wide range of plants, including flowers, trees, shrubs, and houseplants.
Each plant profile includes information on care instructions, growth habits, light and water requirements, common pest and disease issues, and you can access expert gardening tips and advice tailored to that plant.
Most of the apps on our list have some form of community feature, where you can share plant photos and experiences, however, we’ve found Iris to be one of the best for connecting with other plant enthusiasts to gain insight and support.
Plus, it is backed by Crocus, the UK's largest gardening website, offering a huge range of over 6,500 plants, and their over 20 years of experience is packed into their Iris app.
8. My Lawn by Scotts
Lawn care is a science. If you want golf green perfection, unless you’ve worked as a greenskeeper, you might need a little help to reach grass nirvana. Downloading the My Lawn app by Scotts is a great way to make a head start on improving the condition of your lawn.
It creates a customised lawn care plan based on your specific lawn type, location, and goals, taking into account local weather conditions and the type of grass you have.
There are detailed, easy-to-follow instructions that will then guide you through each step of lawn care, including when to mow, water, feed, and how to best treat weeds and pests.
The app will then recommend the right Scotts products for your lawn and tell you when and how to apply them. And while they’re based in the USA, their products are sold in the UK via the likes of Hayes, Amazon and Pitchcare.
My Lawn will allow you to schedule lawn care tasks and receive reminders so that you never miss a critical step, and the app will help keep you organised and on track throughout the growing season.
The app also encourages sustainable lawn care practices, such as proper watering and fertilisation, and that is something we’re big proponents of here at Lazy Susan. Healthy lawns contribute to better soil health, reduced erosion, and improved air quality.
Lazy Susan’s final thoughts…
We probably could have included a few more gardening apps or plant software here but we were conscious we wanted to focus on the ones the team have used regularly. There's no payment or advertising here from any of the above apps, just our humble opinion!
We wanted to focus on apps that will help you streamline your gardening tasks with organised plans and schedules, and the above have all helped many of us reduce the time spent on guesswork and prevented some costly mistakes.
You won’t need them all but when it comes to apps, sometimes it is best to download a few, have a play and cherry-pick the best ones to meet your needs.
For us, we’ve picked up some fab tips about sustainable gardening too, such as composting, organic pest control, how we can conserve water, and which native plants and pollinator-friendly species we should plant in our gardens.
By integrating gardening software and garden apps into your horticultural journey, you can build a good routine, enhance your gardening experience, make more informed decisions, and ultimately achieve better results in your garden.
If you have any photos of your Lazy Susan Garden Furniture in your garden, then we’d love to see a few for our Do Some Good charity campaign. You can tag us @LazySusanFurniture on Instagram or Facebook or Upload Here.