Whether you need an informative “how-to,” a journal to keep your progress or a timer to help you keep track of your planting needs there is now an app available to assist you.

When planning your garden this winter, you may want to take some time to familiarize yourself with these new technological assistants. They are designed to reduce your workload while improving garden results.

1. Garden Manager: Plant Alarm

This app helps you keep track of watering, spraying and fertilizing times by giving you an alarm on your mobile device. It also allows you to create a photographic diary of your planting experiences while sharing information about your plants with friends and colleagues. If you are in need of finding a nearby florist for your gardening needs, Garden Manager has that too. With this app, you can track the progress of your garden from germination times through harvesting fruits and vegetables. You can download the app here.

2. Garden Squared

This app allows you to plan out your vegetable garden using dimensions from one by one square foot plots to four by eight foot beds. Using graphic and detailed information of your crops, Garden Squared allows you to track and monitor your plants while providing you with a journal and task tracking. You’re able to save plots according to your own design for future plans or expansions. You can download the app here.

3. Landscape & Garden Calculators

This collection of calculators can help you design everything from the plot of land you are using for your garden to the dimensions of the fences you wish to build. There is a great deal of information available to help you build nearly any aspect of your outdoor garden and landscape needs. The app uses both US measurements in feet and metric calculations in order to provide you with the most accurate information regardless of your location. You can download the app here.

4. Garden Design Ideas

Garden Design Ideas provides you with a large database of garden images to inspire your own creations. From simple gardens to more elaborate depictions of grand landscaping ideas, this app can inspire you to develop your own masterpiece. Whether you are looking for ideas pertaining to the actual flower bed or would like to consider the possibility of adding a fountain, this app can help you determine what you should incorporate into your own design. You can download the app here.

5. Gardenate

Gardenate is a detailed app that provides a great deal of information for a variety of vegetables and herbs in your garden. You are able to add your own notes to each individual plant in order to develop the best methods that have worked for yourself for future use. As well as the database of plants, you are able to add your own and detail the information for customization. The “My Garden” area provides a “predicted” harvest schedule for plants that you have submitted for tracking. You can download the app here.

6. Garden Time Planner

The Garden Planner by Burpee provides you with the best times to sow a variety of food producing plants. The app contains a great database of a wide range of plants including local weather reports. Users receive updates of when to plant or transplant young growth to larger vessels. Although the app itself hasn’t received stellar reviews, it is free and many have had a degree of success using the application. You can download the app here.

These are just a handful of apps that you can install on your smartphone or tablet devices to help you develop a garden that you could be proud of. Although some of these apps are free to use, some of the more elaborate ones could cost a couple of dollars to download. However, they can all find a place in your collection of gardening apps in order to increase your knowledge and versatility.