Gardening by the month by Marie Gardner

From Screen to Soil Garden Planning the High-Tech Way

Garden planning software has been around for well over a decade. However, the initial packages were not terribly user-friendly and didn’t give you views over time.
Fortunately, as with other software, garden planning software has improved over the years. This month’s column will highlight various options available. Because I have not been able to try each of these firsthand, I am basing this list on claimed features and others’ reviews.
What do you want to do? Before choosing your software, think about what you actually want to achieve. Make a list of the most desirable features and compare the available software based on those features. Do you want a tool for garden record keeping, something for planting plans, garden design, a plant encyclopedia or something else? Garden design software needs elements for drawing. This usually means a basic drawing package that has been customized to suit gardening tasks. With a little patience, the same can usually be achieved with standard graphics programs. Garden software, on the other hand, can be something like a garden maintenance program, a record-keeping program, a journal or diary, or an encyclopedia. It may or may not have a garden design component. Consider also whether the software can be customized to create your own records or even include your own photos. Some programs only allow you to look up records but not customize or edit, whereas other programs might allow you to edit, but allow only one new photo.
How easy is it to use?
Think about usability, functionality, training and product support. You might expect expensive software to come with good resources. This is not necessarily the case. Some entry-level software comes with lots of tutorials and other software can have very little user support. Is email support available, do you pay extra for it, and what are the response times? If there is a trial version, definitely try it. Once you have an idea of what you want, make sure your computer system meets the system requirements. Prices for garden software range from free to over $1000. I will presume that most readers are looking in the lower end of that range. Therefore, without further ado, here are the six best picks under $50.

3D Garden Composer
Description: Garden design software and plant encyclopedia of 15,000 plants and 22,500 images. Look at your garden in different seasons and see it changing over the years. Learn how to prevent and treat 370 pests and 650 diseases. Research the best plants for your yard. You can also design and build virtual houses, edifices, bridges, patios, arbors and fences to develop your landscaping ideas, then take a 3D walkthrough of your plans.
Price: $39.95
Web: www.gardencomposer.com
 
Compleat Botanica Description: Organize your collection of plant pictures and plant-related data. Publish your collection to the Web using the built-in templates and style sheets. Print proof sheets, trailside markers, tags and nursery placards. Research taxonomic groupings, plant uses, botanical and common names. Collaborate with other plant enthusiasts using the import/export facilities to share data with other popular software. Includes a plant dictionary with 110,951 botanical name entries and 38,065 vernacular name entries.
Price: $49.95
Web: www.crescentbloom.com

FLOWERScape
Description: With this home garden software that stores pictures and horticultural information about your plants, you can keep gardening notes and detailed growing information about each plant, then display and print your plant inventory in a variety of formats.
Price: $34.26
Web: www.fscape.com

Garden Manager Description: This package is advertised as the only software specifically for square foot gardening. It is designed for layouts as small as 1 foot by 1 foot and as large as 5 feet by 15 feet. It also has a plant information database to keep track of individual plant characteristics and your own personal notes, plus a shopping list, calendar and seed sorter. There is a 10-day trial option.
Price: $15/download or $30/CD
Web: www.mindspring.com/~jmaier/garden/

Garden with Insight
Description: This garden simulator uses weather, soil and plant growth models to simulate a simple garden for learning about nutrient cycling, soil porosity, photosynthesis and plant competition for nutrients and water.
Price: Free (General Public License)
Web: www.gardenwithinsight.com

Plangarden
Description: This dynamic garden planning and management program runs on the Web. It has a drag-and-drop graphic interface that shows vegetables as individual plants or rows. Its menus can have pre-selected or user-defined labels. It accommodates any number of odd-shaped garden plots, raised beds and containers with dimensions to scale and color scheme to differentiate. You can keep a journal of gardening activities and view prior years’ garden data and layouts. There is a free 45-day trial option.
Price: $20 for a one-year
subscription, $36 for a three-year subscription.
Web: www.plangarden.com

In addition to Marie Gardner’s recommendations above, she says these three garden software systems are also noteworthy.
 
Flower Master
Description: This garden planning software includes plant name (common and genus), description, information on how to grow, detailed varieties, related species, ease of care, propagation, USDA growing zone, uses, soil type, sun height, bloom date and color coordination.
Price: $12.95
Web: http://www.acrllc.com/flowermaster.php
 
Garden Management System
Description: Home garden software that stores pictures and horticultural information about your plants. You can keep gardening notes and detailed growing information about each plant; record basic plant care information; and display and print your personal garden resource and plant inventory in a variety of different formats. You can look up horticultural information once, save it, modify it, and add to it forever in this garden management software.
Price: ~$25
Web: http://www.wildchicken.com/software/soft_001_02.htm
 
Grow It Gold
Description: A landscape planning tool with diary. Use your own house photos to start with. 100,000 plant records with 4000 photos. A demo slideshow is available for download.
Price: $110.00
Web: http://www.itsoft.com.au/

Remember, whatever your choice, software does not make the gardener. It is a tool to facilitate some tasks, to help you do what you really enjoy doing: working in the garden and enjoying the fruits of your labors. Happy gardening!

Marie Gardner has an M.S. in biology and a Ph.D. in education and is a Virginia Master Gardener. Email suggestions for future columns to MGardner@vcu.edu. Please include "garden column suggestion" in the subject line.

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