A Green Thumb on the Touch Screen (Published 2014) (2024)

I’M no expert gardener, but I do like to care for the lovely flowers and fruit trees in my garden. And when I gather my tools, I also include my smartphone. This is a trick that has worked wonders, thanks to some helpful apps.

IntoGardens, free on iPad and Android (simply called Gardens on Android), is one of my favorites. It’s like an interactive magazine for digital devices. The main part is a selection of well-produced text and video episodes that teach you about different aspects of gardening, from seasonal tips to caring for particular flowers.

In addition to hints, tips, guides and advice, the app allows you to make and review notes on your garden. You can include photos in a kind of digital scrapbook, and share your notes with friends over social media.

IntoGardens is beautifully designed and works smoothly on iOS and Android. It includes plenty of free content, but if you want more you have to buy extra episodes. For example, there is a free guide to summer planting, but you have to pay a couple of dollars for the episode that teaches you how to grow daffodils. The app is British in style and content, but it should interest gardeners elsewhere.

When you’re planning a new garden, or considering a change to an established one, it can be difficult to visualize the results. This is where iScape, free on iOS and Android, comes in handy.

IScape is essentially like a Photoshop for landscape gardens. You snap a photo of your garden and then use the app to add new features to the image, like trees and other plants, water features and gravel paths. Some of these features, like trees, are added as clip-art-like images that you resize and drag around your landscape with typical gesture controls. Alternatively, you can draw freehand on your garden image — like the outline of a meandering path — and then add an appropriate texture to make the area match your plans.