1. Best Free Software

Gardena’s My Garden Studio

My Garden Studio can be used on your mobile device or PC, which is a great feature. It’s quite simple, allowing you to drag and drop features, plants and even sprinkler systems into your digital plan. The result is a casual rendering that looks like it was drawn by hand. Easily create your garden from scratch or find inspiration from the library of existing gardens Gardena’s experts have created as examples. You can use these gardens as a starting point to plan your own dream garden. Simply select one and begin customising it.

2. Best for Raised & Container Style Gardens 

Grow Veg Garden Planner

This one is lovely, lending itself to raised and container gardens, square foot gardens and plotted row formats. You can try it free for the first seven days with an annual subscription just $35. This product is an online garden planner, which focuses on data and optimising the timing and placement of your plants. Very user-friendly, you can quickly create a plan, with specifics like how many plants you’ll need, when to sow, transplant and harvest, even suggested companion plants. You can even set up email notifications to keep you on-track with your plan.

Like most planners, you can add any number of plants, furniture, gates, structures but this planner takes into account the impact they might have on the garden and adjusts light and water recommendations accordingly.  My favourite.

3. Best for Customised Garden Measurements 

Veg Plotter

Veg Plotter is an easy-to-use online vegetable garden planner that allows you to build a plan for your garden customized to your measurements. Like most, you can add design elements like walkways, beds, paths, and structures. You’re able to plan your entire planting year based on growing seasons. The month-by-month plans, knowing when to sow, harvest and companion planting suggestions are great. What stands out with this one is what a great job it does with unique, customised garden measurements. The journaling feature is top-notch, too. I love that it allows you to track progress. The basic version of this is free, with an advanced version (which allows you to enter custom plants among other things) is just $30 annually.

Do yourself a favour and click the links to these fun sites. You can poke around and see what each offers and how they can help you achieve your dream garden.