Gardening Planning Tools

Excerpted from: 11 Garden Planners and Programs

It doesn't seem like it, but spring is just few months away. Now is the time to begin planning either the update of existing landscaping or the development of totally new landscaping.

Using a garden planner to plan the layout and contents of your garden is a great way to stay organized and get everything you want out of a garden.

Features of Garden Planners

Garden plan graphic Each garden planner has various tools that will make it easy for you to come up with a plan of action. You'll be able to specify size, shape, and terrain, add boundaries such as fences or walls, plan a sprinkler system, place plants, trees, or bushes, and much more.

Many of these programs let you zoom and move around to get all the features placed exactly where you want them. You can also start out with a garden design template or create your own plan from scratch.

After you've planned your garden, many of the planners let you print out or save your garden layout, including a list of supplies you'll need to buy to implement your design.

  Here is a list of garden planners that are free only for a limited time. You might want to consider those if you need more out a planner but only for a short time, or maybe you want a trial version before committing to a professional edition.

Garden Planning Tools Catalog

Plan-A-Garden by Better Homes and Gardens

  • Supports drag and drop so that you can add objects like fences, arbors and garages to your plan.
  • Allows you to brush a surface onto your gardens, such as a lawn, brick path, stones, tiles, or gravel.
  • You're able to include all sorts of plants in the garden — here are tons of trees, vines, shrubs, bulbs, and more.
  • Filters are available so that you can select plants by type, size, and light.
  • Your garden can be saved online.
  • When completely finished, you're able to save the image of the garden you've made as well as export a list of the plants you've included in your garden.

Online Kitchen Garden Planner by Gardeners.com

  • Allows you to scroll through the different plants and drag and drop the ones you want onto a grid.
  • Plant choices include cucumbers, eggplants, carrots, garlic, cilantro, lavender, leaf lettuce, hot peppers, okra, celery, melons, and chives.
  • You can print off the image of the garden only or include the planting information as well.
  • The garden planner also has pre-made garden plans that you can use as inspiration.

Vegetable Planner by Vegetable Gardening Online

  • Just click the arrows to scroll through the different plants.
  • Plant choices include garlic, lettuce, onions, peppers, spinach, pumpkins, potatoes, rosemary, tomatoes, turnips, and more.
  • You don't get to draw out the plan yourself — this may be limiting
  • Printing your garden plan off doesn't include anything but the image of the garden you've built.

Garden Visualizer by Marshalls

  • The planner lets you visualize your garden in 3D space, much like a video game.
  • While building your garden, you can move around in it as if you were actually there, which really helps you understand how it will look in real life.
  • Lets you specify exactly how large you want your garden to be, and you can even customize the shape of the ground to make it exactly how you plan on building it.
  • Allows you to add a boundary to the garden, such as fences, walls, or hedges.
  • Your garden can be saved in your online account as you're working.

Garden Planner Online by SmallBluePrinter.com

  • Lets you add many different objects to the scene along with your plants.
  • Allows editing of the color, width, and length of every object you add to your plan.
  • When printing your plan, you can choose to include the object list along with the design. This will print you off a list of every single item in your garden, complete with sizes, quantity, and a small image of the object.
  • Filters are available so that you can select plants by type, size, and light.
  • Your garden can be saved online.
  • When completely finished, you're able to save the image of the garden you've made as well as export a list of the plants you've included in your garden.

Garden Puzzle by GardenPuzzle.com

  • With the database of 800+ plants from different climate zones, arbors, fences, benches and other decorative elements every idea could be quickly visualized.
  • With the texture tools you can easily add lawns, paths, terraces or water bodies to your garden.
  • Lets you filter plants suitable for your needs, based on climate zone, soil and lighting conditions.
  • Filters are available so that you can select plants by type, size, and light.
  • Allows you to visualize how the plants you want to grow in your garden will look like through all four seasons of the year.

Further Information:

 The Life Cycle of Plants: Fertilization
 The Spruce: How to Make Your Own Fertilizer
 Pollination and Fertilization
 Use Eggshells For Your Plants
 How to Use Banana Peels in Your Garden

Beneficial Species
Composting
Fertilize & Mulch
Garden Plans
Garden Pests
Lawn Management
Pollination
Quick Tips
Soil Management
Specialty Gardens
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