I purchased a home last fall, and the previous owners had a nice vegetable garden going, which I’d like to continue. I have no prior experience, so I’m looking for an application or web site to help plan and manage the project.
I’d like to be able to map out the garden visually, create a planting/harvest schedule, search for crops that will grow well in my area, etc. A lot of sites offer a subscription-based web app, almost all of which seem to be based on growveg.com. The feature set seems to be what I’m looking for, but the software itself is a clunky old Flash app which I’d rather avoid.
I’m looking for either a native OS X application, or a well-designed web app. I’m not really interested in iOS/Android solutions; I can’t stand trying to get real work done on a tiny touch UI when I have a perfectly good laptop available.
I’m actually quite surprised by the seeming dearth of options here. Does anyone have one they like?
I’ve never used software for this purpose but have advice.
If the previous owners had an elaborate/sizable vegetable garden, don’t try to keep it going on that scale if you lack experience. There’s nothing more discouraging to beginning gardeners than getting in over one’s head and having a bad outcome. Start small and you probably won’t need software to make a plan. You can cover the part of the gardening area you don’t use, either with mulch or black plastic, to keep weeds from taking over.
I never tried it, we get too much wind. I read once a decade or so back that doing this will fry the top few inches of soil killing the weed seeds.
I appreciate the advice, but getting in over my head is a large part of the enjoyment I get from projects like this. I like to start with a goal that’s beyond my current abilities, figuring out the details and learning new skills as I go.
I know going in that some parts won’t always work out, but that’s part of the challenge and part of my learning process. I avoid hobbies like surgery, piloting, and pyrotechnic demolition, where failures due to inexperience could have far more dire consequences. 
I am just getting started with a FarmBot device, and it uses a web-based app for this. I’m not sure if it is exactly what you’re looking for, and is obviously designed for use with the farmbot machines, but it might be worth checking out. It has a demo mode that excludes the machine-specific functions.
Link: FarmBot Software Documentation | Learn how to set up, use, and modify FarmBot software
Ooo, nice! I actually came across this yesterday. I’m a nerd, gadget fiend, and into home automation and robotics, so it’s super interesting. I want to try my hand at it the old fashioned way first, but I’m definitely interested in hearing your thoughts on the FarmBot.
ETA: I tried the demo of their webapp. The UX is more like what I’m looking for, but it doesn’t seem to offer the information I’d find in something like GrowVeg. Still interested in hearing how it goes with the bot itself!