Dig in with these seven apps for iPhone and Android.

Gardening apps help your garden grow

5/10/13

Do you plan on giving your green thumb a workout during this growing season? There's no need to drag out all those gardening books. Now, you can have all the information you need in the palm of your hand. These seven smartphone apps cover soil preparation, plant identification, plotting out your garden, planting tips, plant care and information on the best times to harvest your crops. You'll also find an app that helps you donate your produce if it turns out you've grown more than you can use.

Garden Compass: Learn about plants, and identify the ones you don't know with Garden Compass. Have you ever walked by someone's garden and wondered what a plant was? Snap a photo, upload it to the app and find out what it is. You'll also get information about how and when to care for it. The app has more than 1,000 full color images of different plants. If you're having problems with your garden, you can also snap pictures of plant diseases and insects for identification. The app features database that can be searched by photo, color or category. A customer review by sethestate on iTunes aptly describes the app as, "the shazam of gardening apps." Get it FREE in on iTunes.

Garden Squared: Get help arranging your garden with the Garden Squared app. You can plan a garden with beds ranging from 1'x1' to 4'x8.' Track square footage and save plot information. This feature is helpful so you don't repeat any mistakes next year if a particular plant didn't work out in one of your garden beds. The app is good for planning if you know what you want, but doesn't have a database of plants to search. This app is FREE on Google Play for Android devices.

Garden Time Planner: Are you confused about when you should plant certain herbs and vegetables? Garden Time Planner can help you figure it out. The app offers tips from the preparation of soil all the way through harvest time. You'll get weather tips for your local area and an extensive database of plants and how-to videos. The app also syncs with Facebook. It's FREE for iOS devices.

Garden Plants Growing Guide: Want an app that doesn't require Internet access? This is the app for you. All the information is stored natively on your device, meaning you can look at plant information at your local greenhouse, your garden or wherever you are. The app contains a database of 75 of the most popular flowers, vegetables and herbs. Each plant listed has a beautiful photograph as well as information on when to plant and how to care for it. It's FREE for Android devices.

Gardens: This app by Into All Things is for people who are "into" gardens. You're able to take photos, label them and save them to the app's scrapbook or share via email or social media. The app has lots of how-to videos and tutorials with new "Magic Parcels" introduced each month providing new content. If you find a plant you just can't live without, you can buy it directly from the app. Gardens is FREE in iTunes.

Harvest Landscape Calculator: It does just what it says, and then some. It's a calculator to help you figure out how many bags (or truckloads) of soil you need for your garden plot. The app also has composting tips and information on topsoil maintenance. Need a little green-thumb inspiration? There are more than 150 garden-related quotes to get you in the mood to garden. The app is FREE in iTunes.

AmpleHarvest: Have more corn that you know what to do with? AmpleHarvest can help you find local food banks where you can donate all kinds of fresh produce. You can search by zip code or GPS to find nearby food banks or food pantries. The app will display the contact information so you can let them know you'd like to bring in some produce. Even if you don't grow a garden, this is still a useful app for finding places to donate food items. The app will show which items are most needed at the food banks in your area. This app is FREE for iOS devices.