The best garden planning app depends on what you are planning: VegPlotter and GrowVeg suit whole UK plots and allotments drawn to scale, Sowstory lays out raised beds for you, and tools such as Gardenate give a UK sowing calendar without a layout. Below we compare 12 planners and garden apps by what each one actually does, using only facts from the products' own pages, checked on 4 November 2026.

Illustration of several rounded phone and tablet shapes, each showing a different simple garden plan, arranged around a raised bed
IllustrationGarden planning apps do different jobs: layouts, garden design, journals and sowing calendars.

A note on fairness: we make Sowstory, so it is in the list, labelled as ours. We do not give star ratings, quote other companies' prices or repeat reviews, because we cannot check them. Product features change, so confirm on each site before you subscribe.

Three kinds of garden planning app

Before comparing, it helps to know that these apps do different jobs:

  1. Vegetable layout planners. You draw beds or a plot to scale, place crops and get a sowing and harvest calendar. VegPlotter, GrowVeg, Fryd, Seedtime, Planter, Leaftide and myPatch are in this group, and so is Sowstory, which draws the layout for you.
  2. General garden design tools. These draw a whole garden (lawns, paths, irrigation) with no crop calendar, for example GARDENA myGarden.
  3. Journals and sowing calendars. These track plants and jobs or list what to sow each month, without a scaled layout: Gardenize, Gardenate and RHS Grow.
Illustration of three objects in a row: a plot map with beds, a garden design sketch with a lawn and path, and a notebook beside a blank calendar
IllustrationVegetable layout planners, general garden design tools, and journals or sowing calendars.

Comparison table

AppPlatformsLayoutCalendar adjusted to your location?Free option
Sowstory (ours)iPhone, coming soonAutomatic, to scale, one raised bed per planNo: England-wide months for nowFirst bed plan free, complete
VegPlotterWeb, iOS, AndroidDrag and drop on a scaled plot; rows, blocks, square-footYes: nearest town, frost dataFree plan with a yearly planting cap
GrowVeg Garden PlannerWeb on any deviceDrag and drop; rows, blocks, square-foot modeYes: nearest weather station or frost dates, UK supported7-day free trial
FrydiOS, Android, webDrag-and-drop digital bedsPartly: web calendar estimates frost dates from your townFree basic app; bed planning paid, 7-day trial
SeedtimeWeb (layouts), iOS, AndroidScaled beds on a snap-to gridFrost-date based; outside the US you enter dates yourselfFree plan (1 layout, up to 8 beds)
PlanteriPhone, iPad, Mac, AndroidSquare-foot grid, with newer row plantingYes: device location sets frost datesFree tier (1 garden, ads)
myPatchiPhone, iPadBeds with crops assignedThe company says yes: UK postcode weather and soil temperatureFree (2 beds, 5 plantings)
LeaftideWeb, iOS, AndroidDrag-and-drop beds and potsThe company says yesFree plan with caps
GardenateWeb, iOS, AndroidNot a layout plannerBy chosen climate zone (two UK zones)Free monthly email calendar
RHS GrowiOS, Android (UK English)Not a layout plannerNo sowing calendarFree tier; Premium with trial
GardenizeiOS, Android, webNot a layout planner (journal)No sowing calendarFree version with limits
GARDENA myGardenWeb (tablet, laptop, PC)General garden design drawingNo calendarFree

The planners in more detail

Sowstory (ours): best for a raised bed laid out for you

You enter one bed's inside size, its sun, your postcode (to place it in England; the full postcode is not stored) and the crops you like or want to avoid. Sowstory places every row and plant to scale, puts tall crops on the north edge, works out how many fit, explains each choice and gives a month-by-month timeline, with an optional private journal. It plans 35 crops as 45 growing profiles. Limits: iPhone only and not released yet; timing is England-wide; no rotation, companion scores or reminders yet. First bed free; then £4.99 per bed or a £14.99 season pass.

VegPlotter: best for a whole UK allotment

A web, iOS and Android planner from VegPlotter Ltd. You drag beds, paths and structures onto a scaled base map and plants become single plants, rows or blocks. The calendar uses the town you choose, with frost data from FrostDates.com, and the planner warns when similar plants go back in the same spot and shows good companions. It measures in metres, feet and even poles and perches. Read Sowstory vs VegPlotter for a closer comparison.

GrowVeg Garden Planner: best for detailed planning in a browser

From Growing Interactive, a UK company founded in 2007. It runs in the browser on any device. You draw the garden, including greenhouses and cold frames, and it calculates how many plants fit. Its calendar starts from your nearest weather station, rotation looks back over up to five earlier plans, and email reminders list what to sow next. The same planner appears under other brands, such as the Almanac Garden Planner. See Sowstory vs GrowVeg.

Fryd: best if you want a phone app with a library and community

A German-made planner for iOS, Android and the web with a visual bed planner, plan templates and good and bad neighbour hints. The free version covers the variety library, magazine and community; bed planning, the journal and task reminders are part of the paid Super Fryd tier, with a 7-day trial. Crop rotation planning was marked "coming soon" when we checked.

Seedtime: best for frost-date scheduling (US-focused)

A US planner with a scaled, snap-to-grid layout on the web and iOS and Android apps for the calendar, tasks and journal (the iOS listing says mobile layouts are coming). It supports metric, but its help centre tells growers outside the US to enter their frost dates by hand. There is a free plan with one layout of up to eight rectangular beds.

Planter: best for square-foot gardeners

A square-foot-grid planner for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. Frost dates are set from your device's location, and planting dates are counted from them. Switching to metric changes the labels, but the grid stays in roughly 30 cm squares. The free tier gives one garden with ads.

myPatch and Leaftide: newer UK-made planners

myPatch is a new iPhone and iPad app aimed at UK growers. The company says its sowing windows are UK-specific, based on postcode weather forecasts and soil temperature, and it tracks bed history and plant families. The free account allows two beds and five active plantings. Leaftide, built by one developer in the UK, offers a drag-and-drop designer for beds and pots, a companion checker and email digests on web, iOS and Android, with a free plan.

Gardenate, RHS Grow, Gardenize and GARDENA myGarden: not layout planners

  • Gardenate is a sowing calendar with two UK climate zones (cool and warm temperate) and a free monthly email.
  • RHS Grow is the RHS's app for plant identification, a large plant database, a journal and care reminders (some features are Premium). Its "Garden Planner" is a questionnaire that recommends plants.
  • Gardenize is a garden journal for logging plants, areas and jobs with photos and reminders.
  • GARDENA myGarden is a free garden design tool with a sprinkler planner.

How to choose

  • One or two raised beds, little time: an automatic layout such as Sowstory saves the arithmetic. Start with our raised bed planner guide.
  • A whole allotment or large plot: a drawing planner with rotation, such as VegPlotter or GrowVeg. Our vegetable garden planner guide covers planning beyond a single bed.
  • You only need dates: a sowing calendar is enough; our UK vegetable sowing calendar is free and month by month.
  • Budget matters: check what the free option really includes; our guide to a free garden planner app explains free tiers, trials and free first plans.

If your garden is a raised bed, Sowstory will lay it out to scale, tell you how many plants fit and give you England timing, with your first bed free when it arrives on the App Store.

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