5 Great Gardening Apps

1. Plants vs. Zombies. This great game allows you to create your very own zombatar and potentially stop the zombie apocalypse by battling 26 types of zombies with 49 different plants.  Seriously.

Except we're not here to talk about Plants vs. Zombies.  Let's calm down and be a little more practical, folks.  In no particular order, here are some of the best gardening apps:

1. Gardening Toolkit - the easy way to garden! by Applied Objects

Cost: $3.99

Gardening Skill: novice to expert

The Gardening Toolkit takes into account where you live, what season it is and when frosts are likely.  When you add a new plant to the garden, this app will remind you when the plant will be blooming.  For gardening information at your fingertips, the Gardening Toolkit offers a plant encyclopedia with over 800 herbs, flowers, and vegetables.  Each plant includes details plant information and photographs.  You can also add your own photos to personalize the Gardening Toolkit.  

2. Vegetable Gardening Guide by Rampart Software Development

Cost: $2.99

Gardening Skill: novice to expert

This gardening app includes everything you need to grown your own vegetables.  The Vegetable Gardening Guide includes step-by-step instructions, illustrations, hyperlinked gardening information and a glossary of terms.  It includes growing season information, as well as nutritional information for vegetables and tasty recipes.  

3. Landscaper's Companion by Stevenson Sotfware, LLC

Cost: $9.99

Gardening Skill: novice to expert

This app offers a reference guide of over 1400 plants including trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials.  Ranked as the Top 10 Reference App in Canada in April 2010, the Landscaper's Companion offers a rich search feature, custom offline content and detailed plant information.  Additional plants and images are added periodically as free upgrades.  With over 5700 high-quality images, this app is sure to help you with all your gardening needs.  Since you don't need an internet connection to use it, it's extremely helpful when shopping at a garden centre to look up information on specific plants.  Although the price tag is a little pricier than other apps, the Landscaper's Companion is easy to navigate and use.  

4. Gardening for Beginners by LoL Software

Cost: $0.99

Gardening Skill: novice

Feeling overwhelmed by gardening lingo and by the myriad options available to you at your fingertips?  Unlike other gardening apps, Gardening for Beginners offers hints and tricks to create a thriving garden by using videos shared on YouTube and other video-sharing websites.  The app's creators have selected some of the highest quality and most informative videos available.  An internet connection is required, which can sometimes be frustrating if you're trying to watch a video as a tutorial in the garden where you may not have wireless access, but we thought it worth mentioning for those just starting the exciting gardening process.   

5. Garden Insects by Natural Guides, LLC

Cost: $0.99

Gardening Skills: novice to expert  

If you're looking for an app to help you identify insects in your garden, the Garden Insects app can help.  It features 18 of the most common garden insects that you're likely to find in your garden.  Illustrations of full-grown adult insects and their larvae stages are included (as well as descriptions of the damage they can cause) to help you identify the pest in your garden.  Natural remedies to discourage and eradicate insects are also included.  

These apps will surely cover your bases when you're ready to stop faux-gardening online with Plants vs. Zombies and actually get your hands dirty.  Do you have a favourite gardening app?  Let us know what it is on our Facebook page!  

Content adapted from Canadian Gardening