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What is Planter?
Planter is a garden planning app from Planter that helps you lay out beds, time planting, and learn how to grow vegetables. It runs on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, and the web, and its core pitch is “gardening made easy”: drag and drop your plants into a plan instead of sketching beds on paper.
What it does
- Visual garden layout: Drag and drop plants onto your garden plan, so you can see spacing and arrangement before you plant.
- Companion planting guidance: The app flags which plants complement each other and which do not, useful if you would otherwise cross-check several websites.
- Growing calendar: Shows when to start seeds, transplant, and harvest.
- Plant library: 80+ plants and over 1,000 varieties, with custom plants and varieties you can add yourself.
- Seed box and notes: Track what you have and record events or observations (notes and events are listed as Premium features).
Who it suits
- New gardeners who want structure and reminders. One Google Play reviewer, James, called it a great way for new gardeners to get started; Laura said it helped plan her first garden.
- Raised-bed and small-space growers who want to avoid overplanting. Reviewer Andre described moving from paper sketches and scattered companion-planting research to doing it in one place.
- Experienced gardeners who want a repeatable record year to year. Todd noted using the free version for one season, then the full version for a second.
Free vs. paid
| Free | Premium | Lifetime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gardens | Up to 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Growing calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom plants and varieties | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Seed box | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Notes and events | No | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | No | No |
| Web app | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | $0 forever | $24.99/year | $99.99 once |
Prices are shown in US dollars and purchases are made within the app, so check your local currency there.
Next step
If you are deciding, start with the free tier for one season: plan a single bed and see whether the drag-and-drop layout and calendar match how you actually garden. If you outgrow one garden, want notes and events, or want to plan on a laptop, Premium is the natural upgrade; choose Lifetime only if you expect to keep using it for several years.
How do I plan my garden layout with Planter's drag and drop tool?
Planter's drag-and-drop layout tool is a visual bed designer: you place plant icons on a grid representing your garden beds, and the app flags spacing and companion-planting conflicts as you go. The goal is to skip graph paper and get a workable layout in one sitting.
How the workflow fits together
Start by drawing your beds to scale, then drag plants from the built-in library (the site advertises 80+ plants and over 1,000 varieties, plus custom entries for anything unusual you grow). Because the growing calendar is tied to the same plants, a placement can also tell you when to start seeds, transplant and harvest. Companion planting is built in, so the layout doubles as a compatibility check rather than a separate research step.
A concrete scenario
Say you have two 4x8 raised beds and want tomatoes, basil, carrots and lettuce. Sketch both beds, drag tomatoes along the back edge at their mature spacing, tuck basil nearby, and fill the front with carrots and lettuce. If you try to put a plant next to a poor companion, the app warns you — the same job Andre on Google Play described doing manually across several websites before finding the app.
Deciding whether the free tier is enough
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Gardens | 1 | Unlimited |
| Growing calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Custom plants | Yes | Yes |
| Notes, events, custom backgrounds | No | Yes |
| Ads | Present | Removed |
If you are planning a single bed or trying the app for the first time, the free tier covers the core drag-and-drop experience. Multiple beds, succession planting across seasons, or wanting notes attached to specific plantings are the usual reasons to move up.
Next step
Recreate one existing bed from memory first — it is the fastest way to see whether the spacing and companion warnings match how you actually garden. If you prefer a broader reference while you plan, The Old Farmer's Almanac publishes planting calendars and spacing charts that pair well with the app's visual layout.
Which vegetables grow well together according to Planter's companion planting feature?
Planter's companion planting feature works as a drag-and-drop compatibility check rather than a fixed list of "good neighbors." The site describes it as showing "what plants complement each other and which ones don't," drawing on a library of 80+ plants and over 1,000 varieties. So the reliable answer for any specific pairing is to place the two plants in your plan and read the app's own indicator — the exact pairings live in the plant database, not in the marketing page.
What the page does tell you
- Companion planting is one of four headline features, alongside the growing calendar, the plant library, and custom plants.
- It covers both directions: compatible and incompatible combinations.
- It sits inside the same planner as spacing and layout, so you see conflicts where they'd actually occur in your beds.
A concrete way to use it
Say you're filling a raised bed and want bush beans, carrots and onions. Drag all three into the bed. If the app flags the bean–onion pairing as a conflict, move the onions to a separate bed and keep beans with carrots. That's the practical loop: plan, read the flag, rearrange. One reviewer, Andre on Google Play, described exactly this — drawing beds on paper and "fumbling through different sites" to sort out companion planting before switching to the app.
Trade-offs to weigh
- It's a planner, not a textbook. You get a yes/no signal per pairing, not an explanation of why. If you want the reasoning, you'll still want a reference book or extension guide.
- Custom plants are only as good as your input. You can add your own plants and varieties, but compatibility data for those depends on what you enter.
- The free tier limits you to one garden, which is enough to test whether the companion indicators match how you actually garden.
Next step
Pick your three most important crops for next season, lay them out in a single bed, and note every conflict the app raises. If the flags match problems you've seen in past seasons, the feature is earning its place in your routine. If you'd rather start from a curated plant list, a university extension service such as University of Minnesota Extension publishes companion planting guidance you can cross-check against the app's signals.
When should I start seeds or transplant vegetables in my area using Planter's growing calendar?
Planter's growing calendar answers this by working from your location rather than from a fixed national schedule. Once your area is set, it tells you when to start seeds indoors, when to transplant, and when to expect harvest for each crop you've placed — so the dates shift with your climate instead of you having to look up a hardiness zone separately and adjust by hand.
How to use it for your own beds
- Set your location in the app so the calendar reflects your local frost timing.
- Add the vegetables you actually intend to grow — the app covers 80+ plants and over 1000 varieties, and you can enter your own custom plants if yours isn't listed.
- Read the calendar per crop, not as one master date. A tomato started indoors and a carrot sown directly have different trigger points, and the app separates those steps.
- Cross-check companion planting while you're placing things, so a plant that's ready to transplant doesn't end up next to a poor neighbor.
What it's good at, and where it stops
The strength is turning a pile of tabs and paper sketches into one visual plan — one reviewer, Andre on Google Play, described exactly that: drawing raised beds on paper and fumbling across different sites for companion planting before the app did it in one place. Another, Todd, noted he used the limited free version for a first season before moving to the full version. Those are user observations from the app's store listings, not independent trials.
The honest trade-off: a calendar is a planning aid, not a sensor. It won't know that your particular bed is in a cold pocket, that you have a microclimate against a south wall, or that this spring ran three weeks late. Treat the dates as a strong default and adjust from what you see in your own ground. It's also most useful to people planning a home vegetable garden visually; if you're managing a large market plot with succession sowing across many blocks, you may outgrow the drag-and-drop approach.
Practical next step
Pick your three highest-stakes crops — usually the ones you'd be sad to lose, like tomatoes, peppers and squash — and check their start and transplant windows first. If those line up with your local frost dates, trust the rest of the calendar. If one looks off by more than a week or two, that's your signal to shift everything manually rather than following it literally.
For growing guidance beyond planning, university extension services publish free, region-specific sowing charts; Planter is the planner, not a substitute for your local extension's frost data.
Is Planter's free version enough or should I pay for Premium?
For a single garden, the free version is usually enough; pay for Premium when you want more than one plan, a web browser workflow, or note-keeping inside the app.
What the free tier covers
Planter's free tier is a genuine trial rather than a locked demo. It includes one garden, the growing calendar, custom plants and varieties, and the seed box. The growing calendar is the part most beginners actually need: it tells you when to start seeds, transplant, and harvest. Custom plants matter if you grow something the built-in library misses. One reviewer on Google Play (Todd) said he used the limited free version for a full season before upgrading, which is a reasonable test of whether the free tier fits your habits.
What Premium adds
Premium is a yearly subscription that removes the one-garden limit and ads, adds notes and events, custom backgrounds, and access to the web app. A lifetime option exists for a one-time payment. The practical differences:
| Need | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| One garden plan | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple gardens or plots | No | Yes |
| Notes, events, custom backgrounds | No | Yes |
| Web browser access | No | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | No |
How to decide
- Stay free if you tend one bed, one balcony, or one plot, and you're comfortable checking your plan on a phone.
- Upgrade if you keep a vegetable patch plus a separate herb or flower bed, or if you want to log what you sowed and when. Notes and events are the feature that turns a layout tool into a season-by-season record, which is where the real value shows up in year two.
- Consider the web app specifically if you plan at a desk. Dragging plants around a phone screen is workable but slower than a laptop for a large layout.
A concrete next step: run the free tier for one full season with your actual garden. Note how often you hit the one-garden limit or wish you could jot down a sowing date. If either happens more than a couple of times, the subscription is doing real work for you; if not, you've saved the money.
For broader planting timing and spacing reference material alongside the app, university extension services such as UMN Extension publish free, region-specific vegetable guides.
Can I use Planter on my phone and computer with the same garden plans?
Yes. Planter is available on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, and the web, and the same account carries your garden plans across devices. A plan you sketch on your phone during a commute can be opened and edited later on a laptop, and the growing calendar, seed box, and custom plants move with it.
The one catch is the web app. It is listed as a Premium feature, so free users are effectively limited to the mobile apps. If cross-device planning is the reason you are considering Planter, treat the web app as part of the paid tier rather than a free extra.
How this plays out in practice
- Phone-first, computer for the big picture. Most people do quick checks on the phone — what to start this week, whether two plants are companions — and use the larger screen when laying out beds. The drag-and-drop planner is far easier to judge at desktop size.
- Shared household planning. If two people garden the same beds, check whether one account on multiple devices suits you, or whether you each want your own. The page does not spell out multi-user sharing, so confirm that before relying on it.
- Offline use. Mobile apps generally handle a garden bed better than a browser, but nothing on the page confirms offline editing. Do not assume it.
A concrete test before paying
Start with the free tier, build one garden on your phone, then try opening it in a browser. If the plan appears and edits sync both ways, Premium is doing what you need. If the web app is the main draw, you are buying Premium for it — and the yearly option is the lower-commitment way to confirm it fits your habits before considering the one-time purchase.
For a second opinion on general cross-device garden planning, the advice at Gardener's Supply and RHS is written for planning on paper as much as on screen, which is a useful sanity check on whether an app is genuinely saving you time.
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