Do the research
Compare varieties and growing guidance so the gardener doesn’t have to search across dozens of sources.
Where this came from
A gardener's problem, approached with a data scientist's curiosity.
Garden Planner began with a simple frustration: plenty of tools can store garden information, but they still leave the gardener to figure out what to grow and where everything should go.
My motivation
I needed more than another garden record.
I've been a gardener for about a decade. Every year, I spend hours researching: what went wrong, what to improve, what to try next. To keep track of all of this information, I've created dozens of spreadsheets and handwritten lists scattered around my house. I tried traditional garden planners, but they only recorded my decisions; they didn't help me make those decisions or remember what I had learned the previous year.
Most garden planners let you draw your garden and place plants. Some even warn you about companion planting. But I couldn't find one that considered how much sun my garden receives, where I have trellises, or which varieties will mature in my short growing season. I still had to search across websites and piece the research together myself.
My work as a data scientist taught me how to organize complicated information and use it to answer practical questions. I brought that approach to Garden Planner: compare the varieties, account for the limits of the actual garden, and show the gardener why each recommendation was made. The result is a starting point you can understand and adjust to your preferences.
The tool I wanted didn't exist. So I created it. I hope it makes planning your garden a little easier.
Guiding Principles
Plan for the actual garden
Use the garden the person actually has—including its dimensions, sunlight, containers, beds, and trellises.
Explain the reasoning
Show why each recommendation fits.
Keep gardeners in control
Gardeners should be able to edit a recommendation, move it, replace it, or leave it out entirely.
See what Garden Planner can do today.
Garden Planner is currently available to friends and family. The feature list shows what is ready to use in this beta.