Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner

We just finished our 2019 garden plans for our potager garden.  I can't rave enough about The Farmer's Almanac's Garden Planner.  I originally tried the one through BHG.com that is free.  It's great if you are doing a small backyard garden.  But it is really limited on what plants you can use or what buildings/planters are available.  I don't believe you can design an area over 100 sq ft.  The farmer's Almac Garden Planner is completely worth the $29 a year, if you need a more comprehensive planner..  It's another $6 for the app, if you want to connect them altogether.  I was able to get 10% off the program the day after Thanksgiving though.

The Farmer's Almanac lets you design up to a 10,000 sq ft at a time.  Which I thought at first I would map out most of the farm's growing beds with that.  But I found it too overwhelming.  I personally like doing a section at a time.  Maybe one general full farm plan without a ton of detail, but not all at once.

So what sets this program above other programs?  First off I can connect devices.  I can use the program with my account on my computer, tablet and phone.  It saves a ton of time when referencing or making changes.  As much as I have went kicking and screaming into the paperless age, I like not having to use a giant grafting tablet to draw out my 50 x 50 ft. potager garden.  I wouldn't have liked drawing our acres of lavender either, yikes!  I can also publish it and share my plans with whomever I like, even if they don't subscribe to the program.  There's a link to our potager garden below:

2 Bees Farm's Potager Garden

It is great for those who aren't tech savvy.  I was worried when I first started this.  I don't consider myself computer illiterate.  But I didn't want to spend the next 3 months figuring out this program.  They make it easy with all of their step by step tutorial videos linked to the program.  They also make it great for those that may be new to growing or trying a new plant in their garden.  They included lots of troubleshooting videos to help you succeed in making your plan or plans a reality.

They let you add plants that aren't in their database.  Probably 1/5 of my herbs are on the rare side they lets you create plants or create varieties not listed in their database.  For example I created the plant Angelica and it let me choose the planting schedule and plant spacing.  Another example it obliviously had corn listed in it's plants list.  But it let me add Yellow Dent to the list of varieties of corn.  They also have detailed descriptions of plants, with companion planting details.

Lastly it lets you alter the plans.  My original plan was for a 40 x 40 ft. garden plan.  I ended up changing the plan to a 59' 11" x 59' 11" ft. plan so I could plan my deer fencing and show some of the plants on the outside of the potager garden.

So overall I give this program 5 stars out of five stars.  I thought about deducting half of a star for not including the labor for the garden.  But I suppose I can figure that out on my own.

A visitor to a garden sees the successes, usually.  The gardener remembers the mistakes and losses, some for a long time, and imagines the garden in a year, and in an unimaginable future.

- W.S. Merwin