Please go into some detail on what the picture represents, what is the grid pattern, what does the number next to the pictures of the vegetables represent (4x, 1/4), etc..

Looks like it is for sq foot gardening only? I hope by "combative" you aren't referring to "companion planting"? You mention a need for an app. I assume you know that there are already any number of android gardening apps available?

Dave

My guess but since the programmer made the post I figured best to confirm with the "man" himself. One thing of concern is that one of the app permissions is to "Prevent device from sleeping" I don't see the need for that since this is to simply plan your garden beds.

It seems like it's for sq foot gardening only. I played around with it but it seems limiting. To have more than one bed you need to unlock the pro version ( I guess buy it? I didn't bother ). I managed to create two beds somehow , though I'm not exactly sure how.

I don't like that I couldn't add more than one item in each cell. What if I don't want 16 radishes in one square foot?

I also would prefer to specify different types of a certain vegetable. Rather than just one kind of Tomato, I want to grow two or three different types?

The grow information is debatable I think. Many people here do not believe in companion planting for example. I think grow information should be left off or give the option to write your own notes and add your own pictures.

Hi all. Thanks for your comments! Regarding the ability to put more than one plant in each cell, I thought about that and really wanted to do that but couldn't because of technical reasons. Hopefully I can overcome that in a future version. The numbers (4x, 1/4) refer to how many plants can fit in a square foot.

Lisa, you can specify different varieties of tomatoes! I made it possible, in the Plant list, to long-press and "Add Variety" so you can add Best Boy, Cherry, etc. When I find some time I hope to add a bunch of common varieties so they're already in there.

In that same section of the app, you can edit plants to change the grow information to what you think is right. I'm no gardening expert (and everyone's environment is different), so I made sure everything was customizable as much as possible.

As per the "Prevent device from sleeping", that is because all the data is backed-up to the internet in-case you switch devices, like from a phone to a tablet. It just keeps the device from sleeping for a second while it finishes backing up. That back-up code is direct from Google so it's efficient and shouldn't drain your battery ;-).

I second that Lucille lol.

What's an app and how do you cook it?

Haha, yeah, I know lots of people won't need an app. But from the market research I did, it seems that gardening is most popular amongst Baby Boomers and Millennials, with Gen X having lower interest. So about a third of gardeners would probably be young and techy. There's a lot more interesting stats in this report from NGA: https://garden.org/special/pdf/2014-NGA-Garden-to-Table.pdf

Their is a ton of millennials, late Gen-Xer's and boomers on here. I'm a late Gen-xer born 79, my brother 77.

get out old fashioned pen and paper! much more customizeable and easier to plan with! get out of here with your hard to use, not very customizeable "gardening app"! IMHO I think that most of the new high tech gardening systems/ways are really not worth it and just a waste of time.

Dawson

turnage … tastes like chicken ….

Peter, you haven't responded to Dave's comment about what you mean by 'combative'. If you do mean it is something to do with 'companion planting' be aware that much of what is said and written about that is complete and utter rubbish.

I can't see the app itself but personally I don't use any aids for garden planning. The time spent looking at a screen could be better used actually gardening. I just move the crops along one bed each year. And have you taken into account that gardens aren't planted just once a year? In some climates you'll be sowing or planting two or three crops in any given space over time. For that you have to follow the progress of the crop in reality, not virtually.

I actually have always wanted an efficient gardening app. And yes I am technically on the edge of millennial and x. The main thing I want is to be able to lay out my grid for each of my boxes, and then keep notes on events like Planting date, emerging date, fertilizing schedule, harvest reminders (for root and such that you cant see), and planting reminders, all on a calendar type interface that lets me post pictures of my plants at that point in the year. This way I can compare to prior years and make adjustments on planting times/fertilizing if need be. Ill check this out.

I've heard that if you hold the phone right next to the soy beans, the edamame will be done in 3 mins. Corn - 6 mins., but you gotta drop the phone in the water to bring it to a boil.

ETA... please don't drop your phone into the water.

@floral_uk and @dave. Yeah, by combative I mean companion planting. I had no idea it was such a debated subject. Luckily users can turn it on or off in the app, depending on which side of the argument they fall.

@PlanterJeff, those are all good reasons to have an app! I still need to implement note-taking functionality in my app. That should be an easy feature add, so be on the lookout soon. Right now I'm working on adding the metric system for those outside the US. So much extra effort just for us Americans to be different and unique, haha.

@floral_uk By "I just move the crops along one bed each year.", do you mean that your rotate your beds once a year, to keep the soil fresh? I agree with you though. After starting this app, it's become abundantly clear how unique and fluctuating each gardener's needs are. Even my gardening habits sometimes can't fit within the code I wrote (ie, circular beds). But before this I was using an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my plants so this is a step up from that ;)

@Peter Keefe, what would be useful to me is being able to tell the app, the dimensions of my bed, what plant spacing I would like between them so that the app can then do the calculation for me and tell me how many plants will fit in those dimensions at that desired spacing. After that it could generate a graphical representation of what it would look like when planted. Now if the app could also show me historical weather data such as temperature like this site can do http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/riverhead/new-york/united-states/usny1231/2016/5 it would greatly enhance it for me.

Yes, I move each crop down one bed so it's a few of years before the same plant is in the same soil. At least in theory. What happens in practice, of course, is that I see a space and stick something in or have some plants left over and put them in the 'wrong' bed. I let things self sow and they don't always put themselves in the 'correct' bed and I also put salads into any spare spot regardless of which bed it is. In my climate one bed can have 3 different crops in it from November to November. And often there are two things in a bed at once. Favas for example with baby winter Brassicas in amongst them waiting for when the Favas are cut down and the nitrogen in their root nodules returns the the earth. Then as the Brassicas start to go over the next spring I might pop in some lettuces and then have runner beans or zucchini ready to go in amongst them. Successional, inter- and catch cropping. A garden plan needs to work in the dimension of time as well as space.

As a software engineer, I for one, commend you in learning coding as a *hobby*. It is not easy! This is your first release of your first app & you already have 1k downloads & a 4.1 rating. For that you should take a bow. Apps are hard cuz you're dealing with EVERYONE'S high expectations & people on Google Play are BRUTAL!

I downloaded your app, I'll give you some input & am excited to see future updates

@uaskigyrl, I think his app is an open source project. https://github.com/percula/Planter

Ok, so I just played with your app for like 10 seconds & it's great! The UI, so far, is seamless. I'm really going to put it to the test today as I'm transplanting all my plants into my garden today.

One suggestion: I like to grow crazy varieties of peppers that are rare & not very common. Would you be open to the suggestion of allowing users to add their own plants? The Bonnie Plants app allows this & I really like it. It doesn't sync to the main Bonnie Plants list, it's just there for that specific user.

@Uaskigyrl, I believe he currently has that function built in for Tomatoes so it shouldn't be difficult to add the code. From above

"Lisa, you can specify different varieties of tomatoes! I made it possible, in the Plant list, to long-press and "Add Variety" so you can add Best Boy, Cherry, etc. When I find some time I hope to add a bunch of common varieties so they're already in there."

Hi! Thank you @uaskigyrl for your sympathy! The bar is high and people often take for granted the work that goes into apps. To add new varieties of plants, simply long-press the plant you want to base it on (peppers in your case) and click "add variety". I guess this isn't very intuitive so maybe I need to add an on-boarding tutorial, considering multiple people have asked about this so far.

And thanks to Steve to for mentioning that. And yes, it is open source! I have kept it open-source as I search for and apply for software jobs (I loved learning Android so much I decided to change careers into programming!).

Hi Peter! Just an FYI, the app keeps crashing when I try to add varieties of peppers. It doesn't seem to like doing that more than once or twice in a row...

Thanks uasklgryl, I'll look into that bug