As we enter a brand-new growing season, it’s the perfect time to plan your outdoor space. If you’re hoping to redesign your garden, vegetable bed or outdoor living area, it’s worth trying out one or two of the best garden planning tools on the internet.
In fact, I’ve brainstormed a fair few of my favourite garden layout ideas on the websites and apps in this guide. They each have their own strengths, from planning a small vegetable garden to designing a patio or decking area – and some of them are even free.
Article continues below
1. Fryd
When I visited the Garden Press Event last year, I was wowed by Fryd, a new garden companion app for smartphones and desktops.
What immediately caught my attention was the design of the interface. It’s simple, easy to use, and colourful, making garden planning fun as well as informative.
And when I say informative, I mean really helpful – Fryd provides a huge library encompassing a range of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Each page contains an invaluable life cycle section which tells you how you should be caring for them each month, from sowing to harvesting. There’s even information on keeping garden plant pests at bay.
‘Fryd is a personalised garden companion, helping gardeners of all skill levels grow their own food,’ says Anne Beuttenmüller, head of marketing at Fryd. ‘It makes it easy to create planting plans, figure out spacing, companion plant and practice crop rotation.
‘The app guides them towards an abundant harvest and provides a helpful and vibrant community to answer every gardening-related question in an instant.’
The basic version of Fryd allows you to access most of the features, and it’s completely free. You can pay for Super Fryd (after a 7-day free trial) if you want to try out the ‘magic wand’ (a magical bed-filling algorithm), import sample planting plans and work up a succession planting plan, too.
Try it now: fryd.app
2. gardenplanner.net
If you’re looking for a fuss-free garden planning tool that lets you get to work straight away, this is one of my favourites.
You don’t need to pay, sign up or download any software – it’s simply a case of entering the website. It’s so easy to use, with a simple drag-and-drop function that allows you to easily resize patches of grass, paths, vegetation, structures and garden furniture. You can check the measurements of each piece by hovering over it with your mouse.
The only downside is that the vegetation options are very generic – ‘tree’, ‘bush’, ‘flower bush’ and ‘potted tree’ – so customisation is pretty surface-level, unlike the detail that other garden planning tools offer. That said, it’s a brilliant starting point if you’re hoping to map or zone areas of your garden and get a feel for what different layouts could look like.
Try it now: gardenplanner.net
3. VegPlotter
This one is perfect if you’re hoping to start a vegetable garden or plan an allotment for the first time.
You can add rectangular, circular and even irregular beds, and then select the vegetables, fruits, trees and flowers you want to grow in them. The rows are adjustable by toggling or inserting the number of plants you want in each row, and there’s a schedule that tells you what to plant and when.
The interface is easy to use, and there’s even a companion planting ideas feature that tells you which plants grow well together.
Once you’ve got the measurements of your vegetable garden, you can get started for free – but if you’ve got a larger garden or farm, or want to create custom planting schedules, pricing starts from £18 per year.
Try it now: vegplotter.com
4. Gardena myGarden
Gardena is primarily a garden care and irrigation company, but its myGarden planner tool is a nifty one that can be used exclusively for garden design and planning your garden layout.
You start by choosing your plot type (soil, grass, gravel, etc.) and using the cursor to plot it to scale (so you’ll need to have your garden dimensions to hand). Once you’ve double-clicked to lock this in, you’re free to add shrubs, decked areas, and even trampolines to the map. Once you’re done, you can share your garden design via a link.
If you need more inspiration, there’s the option to choose a ready-made design that you can edit easily. It’s all from a bird’s eye view, in vivid colours and an animation style, and as the accessories include things like a kids’ football goal, a clothes dryer and a playhouse, this is a particularly good planning tool for designing family garden ideas.
Try it now: www.gardena.com/uk/garden-life/garden-planner/
5. Smartdraw.com
Smartdraw.com is an online planning tool which allows you to select a blank or pre-designed template. There are templates for patio ideas and decked areas, as well as front gardens.
If you’ve gone for a pre-designed template, you can drag items around really easily, as well as cut and paste to produce duplicates. This is handy if, for example, you wanted a whole row of trees in your design rather than just one. Each decision you make is automatically saved, but can be undone if you change your mind – you’ll just need to set up an account before you start designing. We logged out and back in again and were pleased to see that our design had been saved.
The SmartPanel on the left allows you to choose from hundreds of symbols, from palm trees to bird baths. They’re displayed in black and white, but once you drag them onto your design, they transform into colour and are a cinch to re-size and position.
There’s also a tutorial that you can watch before or during designing, and a live chat feature is available in case you get stuck, too.
The only caveat is that you’ll need to pay if you want to print, export or share your design (plans start from £10.95 per month, billed annually).
Try it now: www.smartdraw.com
6. Garden Planner from smallblueprinter.com
This garden planner is drag-and-drop, so it’s really easy to use, and there’s a library of over 1700 customisable plant and object symbols to choose from. There’s even a 3D mode to help you visualise how your garden will look and ‘walk through’ your future garden.
The drawing tools are also easy to use, enabling you to draw a range of landscaping features, from decking ideas to paving, fences and ponds.
The only downside is that although the service is free, it’s only for 15 days. After that, you’ll need to pay a one-off payment of £48. While you can print your design, it won’t save it, so you’re best to set aside a decent chunk of time to get it designed in one go. You’ll also need to install the software to begin with, which is downloadable on Windows as well as Mac.
Try it now: www.smallblueprinter.com/garden/
Which garden planning tools will you be trying out this year?
Read the full article here