This spring, your most trusty gardening tool won’t be your ergonomic, back-saving shovel, or even your self-watering plant pot – it’s your mobile phone! So, with our favourite season finally on its way, its time for a spring clean on your smartphone!

Top 5 must-have mobile apps for green fingers

We have compiled a list of most popular apps for avid gardeners, all with a review for your consideration. Missed any of your favourites? Tell us below. 

1. Garden Compass Personal Gardening Tool (Garden Compass, LLC)

This app is an indispensable tool for naming those stubborn garden pests to help you choose the most appropriate weed treatment. It also identifies the flora and produce you do want in your garden.

Features:

The camera function allows you to identify plants with the click of your camera. Digital Compass lets you store a list of the plants in your patch, giving you a ‘digital garden’ you can take everywhere.

Pros:

The optimised format makes Digital Compass really straight-forward to use. The identification process is almost instant.

Cons:

You have to sign up to have full access to the features of the app. Also, in order to have an unlimited list of plants in your ‘digital garden’, you need to purchase a premium membership.

Our Rating:

2. 2. intoGardens (into all things)

F

A cross between an interactive gardening magazine and TV show, this is the ideal app to browse through after a long day in the soil. Brought you by British garden designer, James Alexander-Sinclair.

Features:

The camera function lets you take, caption and share snaps of your garden in all its full blooming glory. With in-app purchases, you can access articles, videos and other content from both garden novices and professional landscape designers.

Pros:

The sleek, modern format is easy to navigate. The content is really varied, with something for everyone: there’s content on bird-watching to pond maintenance.

Cons:

The app is free to download, but you’re limited to what you can access without making in-app purchases, which is a little deceptive.

Our Rating: (if you pay for the additional content).

3. Sprout It (Växa Design Group)

This clever app knows that every garden is different, so uses your location to give you customised information and reminders throughout the gardening season.

Features:

A wide range of species is contained in the in-app Plant Library for you to browse through. You use the Grow Plan function to set a separate plan for each of your crops, and the digital garden keeps up with growth and harvest in your actual garden, so you can watch your produce grow wherever you are.

Pros:

The app is full of inspiration like themed gardens, to garden projects and recipes for your produce. It’s also free to download.

Cons:

You have to sign up to use the app.

Our rating:

 

 

4. Vegetable Planting Calendar (Primolicious LLC)

The vegetable gardener’s handbook in an app – this guide to more than 90 different species is a great tool for beginners and ‘seasoned’ gardeners alike! It covers including planting, growing, harvest and the ideal storage of your produce.

Features:

The app allows you to favourite your most-viewed plant types for quicker, easier access to the information relevant to your garden. Each vegetable’s section includes advice on when and how to plant the species, so there’s no leave the garden to refer to your dusty gardening encyclopedia or get online.

Pros:

Vegetable Planting Calendar includes detailed guides on both vegetables and herbs, and it is compatible for both Apple and Android, so this is one for the iPad and your mobile!

Cons:

Some species are listed under their American name, so be aware if you don’t know your zucchini from your courgette. It also costs £1.49.

Our rating:

5. Grow Your Own (The Royal Horticultural Society)

This gardening app is brought to you by the UK’s leading gardening charity. Grow Your Own lets you keep a record of the species in your own garden and the green plant-themed format feels like you really do have your garden in your pocket.

Features:

An alphabetical compilation of our most popular fruits and vegetables, with the option to add your own personal notes. The instructions make it easy to get the hang of using the app if you’re not too tech-savvy, and the to-do list function is useful for keeping track of your pruning.

Pros:

The plant profiles are very detailed, with guidance on plot size, planting/harvest periods and common problems.

Cons:

All our favourites are there, but the database is a little limited. You can purchase additional bundles to add more obscure fruits, vegetables and herbs to the list for £1.99 each.

Our rating:

 

Now you have your garden and vegetable patches in tip-top condition, why not give the rest of your patch the attention its craving? ColourFence will give your garden the border worthy of Eden, that will stand up to even the worst British weather, so your garden will still look lush even out of season!