There’s no denying that gardening is an occupation that throws up a lot of questions, and increasingly, garden design apps are stepping in to help answer them. Whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned green fingered pro, large projects like landscaping or planning a garden from scratch require a huge amount of information along the way. A garden designer can, of course, help if you have one, but digital tools are becoming more sophisticated by the day, something that is set to take centre stage at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Award-winning designer Matt Keightley is unveiling Spacelift, an AI-powered garden planning app that can generate outdoor layouts and planting schemes from scratch. The platform is debuting with three full-sized show gardens at Chelsea, and has already sparked debate among landscape designers about whether artificial intelligence could ever rival the work of human creatives.
Still, gardening and technology have been quietly intertwining for years. From plant identification and soil analysis to visual planning tools and smart watering systems, there are now apps for almost every imaginable gardening dilemma, whether you are wondering where to position a rose, how much sunlight a border receives or which vegetables should be planted side by side. Luckily, these days there really is an app for everything, and the world of gardening is no exception.
Whether you have a city garden, cottage garden or small garden, these tools make it infinitely easier to tackle the thorny world of garden design and maintenance alike. And with new platforms constantly appearing, including AI-powered tools like Spacelift, there has never been more choice when it comes to planning your perfect outdoor space.
Garden design apps you need to know
RHS Grow
Who better to turn to for advice than the RHS? The experts there have created an app to help users plant, cultivate and harvest fruit, vegetables and herbs, with down-to-earth advice and useful tools to help you stay on top of garden tasks.
Spacelift
The newest app to enter the garden design space, Spacelift uses AI to generate outdoor layouts and planting schemes tailored to a user’s space and preferences. The platform is making headlines after unveiling three AI-designed gardens at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, including a compact balcony garden, a reclaimed-material rural scheme, and a woodland-inspired wellness space complete with sauna and cold shower.
My Soil
This app analyses your soil to work out its conditions and then give advice as to which plants will do best in your garden, ensuring perfect planting and full blooms every time. It’s an essential for novices, or anyone looking to plant a particular species but unsure how it will fare.
Planter
This is a handy tool for anyone looking to plant a vegetable patch or herb garden. The app creates a grid to help you visualise your beds, and then provides a drag-and-drop tool that you can use to add different fruits, vegetables and herbs. It will automatically suggest how much space is needed to surround each vegetable that you choose, and will guide you towards the others that will thrive in its vicinity. Similarly, it will notify you if any pairing you have chosen is incompatible. What's more, based on the plants that you have chosen, the app will generate a planting schedule of when to start the seeds, when to move them to the vegetable patch and when to harvest.
Garden Plan Pro
Anyone looking to grow their own vegetables, plant a herb garden or harvest some fruits should look to Garden Plan Pro; simply plot your garden into it and then you can start planning out the planting areas. The app gives top tips for crop rotation and analyses weather local to you for optimum planting and harvesting dates.
Willow
No more sad houseplants. What if your plant could literally tell you they're too hot, overwatered or need repotting? Well, that's where Willow comes in, sort of. The app can be paired with smart plant sensors which monitor your house plant's soil moisture, light, temperature and humidity. If something's off - or watering is due - you'll receive a notification about it complete with care tips.
Smartplant
So you've planted your garden full of glorious flora and fauna – now what do you do? Enter Smartplant, a garden design app that can help identify plants but more importantly, you can use it to create a care calendar for what’s in your garden, giving personalised advice on how to help everything flourish. Users can also chat with experts for further tips.
iScape
Channel your inner landscape gardener by using AR or uploading an image of your outdoor space and then visualising the end result by adding all the design elements from flowerbeds to paving and plants. A brilliant app for anyone wanting to DIY the garden renovation, or collaborating with a team as all the plans are shareable.
Home Outside
Better suited to those with a little more experience, Home Outside is an app which lets you mock up a design in the same way a professional would, using hand-drawn elements rather than augmented reality. It’s a brilliant tool and extremely useful when planning the colour you want to spread throughout your garden.
Home Design 3D Outdoor & Garden
Another good app for design planning, the clue to Home Design 3D is in the name – it lets you plot out the dimensions of your space and build from there, adding everything from sheds to plants and furniture. Be aware that the free version does not let you save designs, so it’s worth the in app purchases if you plan on creating your final design in it.
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Garden Tags
Garden Tags is the app to use once your garden is planted. As well as plant identification, it has growing advice and plant care instructions so you can log every plant and be sure you’re caring for it properly. Think of it as a sort of planner and tracker for everything living in your garden – it’s as useful as it sounds.
Smartdraw
If you're planning a garden from scratch, Smartdraw is the app to use. It has an intuitive, easy to use tool for drawing and mapping out your design. Choose from a blank garden or pre-designed and away you go, adding plants, paths and features to make your garden come to life. What's more, the live chat is really helpful for anything that stumps you in your planning journey.
Gardena
Another handy garden planner app is Gardena, which allows you to choose your plot type and surface (soil, gravel, grass and so on) before adding in shrubs and plants galore to build it up. You'll need to measure your garden plot first though as it works best to scale.
Sun Seeker
This sun-tracking app is handy for working out where to position your plants. By tracing the movement of the sun, and how it will cast shade into your garden, you can ensure you are planting your sun-loving plants in all the right spots, and your shade loving plants in more sheltered areas.
