GARDENING APPS

MAKE THIS YOUR BEST GROWING SEASON YET!

- LEANNE HAYS

Gardening is one of my favorite pastimes that has both physical and emotional rewards. In fact, planning for gardening season has even helped me survive 16 Midwestern winters (no small feat)!

Cuddling up by the wood stove and sifting through stacks of seed catalogs and gardening apps on my iPhone has been one of my prime escapes during the winter months.

After much testing and exploring year-round, I bring you some of my favorite garden design and maintenance apps and websites, and even a few I use to help preserve the harvest and minimize waste. You’re sure to find a few resources to start your first garden or improve the one you already have.

Sun Seeker – Tracker, Surveyor ($9.99)

Let’s start with planning. I’ve been using this app for years to visualize the sun’s location throughout the gardening season, and I haven’t found a better one! SunSeeker can help you decide on sites for new gardens, tree planting, or even where to place plants in existing garden beds. It also maps out solar trajectories and gives sunrise and sunset times, so you know how much sun will reach your plants at all hours of the day.

I’m currently using this app to plan my latest, greatest project, a passive solar greenhouse on the south side of my house (more on that in a future issue).

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Planner ($35/year)