Kickstart Your Home Garden With These Apps, Videos, and Websites

Homegrown fruits and vegetables are some of the most delicious (and healthy) foods around, but the prospect of starting your own garden can be intimidating. Thankfully, the internet is here to help.

Here, we’ll provide you with some of the best resources to grow your own fruits and vegetables. Whether you’re looking to build a herb garden in the kitchen window or start pulling in some serious harvests, these apps, YouTube channels, and websites can guide you.

Best YouTube Channels to Get Started With Gardening

Plenty of YouTube personalities are here to help set up your vegetable garden for success. Watch a few videos and gain the confidence to start rowing and going in no time.

1. Planting Your First Vegetable Garden

With over 1,500 garden videos on his channel alone, Gary Pilarchik of The Rusted Garden covers just about everything you need to know regarding dirt, plants, seeds, and anything else garden-related.

Pilarchik discusses everything from bed turning to fertilizer tips in the video above. By following this explainer, you can have a crop of tomatoes and plenty of herbs underway in no time.

2. Fast-Growing Veggies

Need some instant gratification? Enjoy your first harvest in just a few weeks, thanks to this helpful video from Epic Gardening that discusses five fast-growing veggies you can harvest in a month.

Plant microgreens, baby lettuce, etc., and then make your own salad from the harvest. It’s an easy victory for most new gardeners. Even better: check out some new vegetarian and vegan apps to find recipes for all those greens.

3. Grow an Indoor Herb Garden

If you don’t have access to an outdoor growing area, cultivate an herb garden right in your kitchen. The above video from The Ripe Tomato Farms teaches you how to keep your cilantro, dill, and other herbs happy.

Packed with flavor, fresh herbs are cheaper (and often much tastier) than their store-bought counterparts. This video will help you set up the suitable soil, get a proper watering schedule underway, and choose the best container for your new garden.

Best Apps for Help Setting Up Your Garden

Plenty of apps can help your vegetables, fruits, and herbs thrive. Here’s a quick selection of some popular downloads.

1. Farm Your Yard: Gardening App

The Farm Your Yard app challenges you to grow 10{73375d9cc0eb62eadf703eace8c5332f876cb0fdecf5a1aaee3be06b81bdcf82} of your nutrition in your own yard, then provides the tools to do just that.

First, the app helps you determine which edible plants grow best in your area, and it provides info about your particular growing zone. Next, it displays a planting calendar filled with the fruits, vegetables, and herbs you can plant right now (or in the near future).

Select your desired plants from the Plant Now list to learn more about their particular needs and culinary options. It also gives you a sense of how long the plants take to reach the harvest stage. Chives, for instance, are ready to harvest after 60 days, while asparagus takes a whopping 730 days.

The Garden Guides section offers plenty of ready-made designs you can use as a template for your own garden, featuring mixes of plants that work well together. Then the Garden Calendar section tells you exactly when to plant, thin, and harvest your goods.

Overall, this free app is packed with great information and tools for any aspiring vegetable gardener.

Download: Farm Your Yard: Gardening App for iOS | Android (Free)

2. Veggie Garden Planner

Set up your garden patch ahead of time with this planner app. This helps ensure all your plants work well together.

Review the lengthy Veggie List to select your plant. Each listing provides helpful info on the plant’s general care as well as what other fruits and vegetables do well with it. The blueberry, for instance, can coexist well with basil or raspberries, while tomatoes might not make great neighbors.

Add your fruits, vegetables, and herbs to the list, and a customized calendar will tell you when to plant and harvest each one.

A Neighbors chart helps ensure all your plants play well together. Ones that make good neighbors—such as blueberries and basil—appear with a heart. Bad neighbors feature a downward-facing arrow symbol.

If you really get into this planning process, there are plenty more online landscape and garden design tools you may want to check out. You can plot out the perfect garden for your area before planting a single seed.

Overall, the Veggie Garden Planner app is a handy reference for anyone planning a new garden. Some content is free, but you will need a yearly subscription to access all the plants.

Download: Veggie Garden Planner for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. From Seed to Spoon Gardening

This growing guide for over 100 fruits, vegetables, and herbs will have you harvesting food in no time. The app even offers customized planting dates based on your location, making you more likely to create a successful garden.

Scroll through the generous list of plants to select the one that interests you, then click on one to learn the details. You can access information about its preferred growing season, frost hardiness, water needs, etc. There’s even a link to recipes for your selected veggie.

Despite providing links to gardening products you can buy, this robust and informative app is entirely free with no in-app purchases.

Download: From Seed to Spoon Gardening for iOS | Android (Free)

Best Gardening Websites to Dig in Deeper

If you’re ready to learn more about home gardening, these sites offer hours and hours of helpful content. So, check them out to learn how to boost your vegetable garden game from some of the best experts around.

1. The Old Farmer’s Almanac

A staple since 1792, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is still a fantastic resource for anyone looking to learn more about plants. The site has a Vegetable Gardening for Beginners section that gives you advice on just about everything, from planting seasons to garden plotting.

2. Dave’s Garden

Review plant files and join the hundreds of discussion forums just for gardeners, including regional forums for gardeners around the world. The sheer amount of cumulative information available is impressive, with thousands of entries from thousands of gardeners.

If you have any questions about growing vegetables, fruits, or herbs in your area, you’ll probably find the answers on this site.

Produce More Fruits and Veggies With These Apps, Videos, and Websites

Whether you’re a veteran gardener or a total newcomer, there’s always more to learn about caring for your plants. With the help of some great apps, websites, and videos, you’ll grow the vegetable garden of your dreams in no time.

But remember that these resources can only do so much, and you’ll need to put in the time and effort for your new home garden to blossom into something special.

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