The program saves your last garden design, but if you need to do several designs as mentioned above, you can only keep the last one.

If your garden is bigger than that, the work-around is to plan several smaller gardens using the online tool.

The maximum dimensions you can set for your plan are 4 feet x 12 feet.

No irregularly shaped garden designs - squares and rectangles only.

However, there are a few limitations to using Kitchen Garden Planner that you should be aware of: (see below photos which show a 4 foot by 12 foot garden plan and planting information for two of the veggies selected in the plan) In addition to the garden plan, you will automatically be given planting instructions for any veggie you add to your plan. The software places your garden design on a 1 foot x 1 foot grid and notes how many of each vegetable can be planted in each square. The program is very easy to use and when your done, you can print out your design out or e-mail it to yourself. Gardener's Supply, a gardening retailer with an online web site, let's gardeners use a program called 'Kitchen Garden Planner' for free. If all you want is the basic layout feature, there's some good news.

I personally believe that most of the value in these programs is derived from the drag and drop layout and the ease at which you can make changes to your garden design. While I appreciate these extra features, they are more than many of us really need.

Detailed planting and care information on the veggies you've put into your garden design.

Automatic alerts to let you know when it's time to weed etc.

Provision of log books which allows you to record the quantity of each veggie that you've harvested.

Capability to add garden features such as a pond, bench, wall or trellis.

Ability to create irregularly sized garden plots.

Some of the more sophisticated features within theses programs include: The program automatically calculates the area needed for the vegetable you've selected. Several are traditional programs that you buy and load onto your computer and there are even a few where you pay a annual subscription fee ($20/year) and use online design tools to create your garden plan.Īll of these programs follow the same basic procedure - you create the layout of your garden by entering in it's dimensions, and then choose from a menu of vegetables which you drag and drop onto the layout. If you want to plan your garden more easily, there are a number of software applications on the market to help you create your design. Free Vegetable Garden Planning Software - Easy and You Can't Beat the Price!

Garden planner software