Techy Gardening Sites

I love technology. It’s amazing what you can learn!  I thought I’d give you a review of a couple of websites I’ve been perusing during the “indoor” months. I’m sure there are hundreds out there but it’s easy to get caught up playing with the tools on one site and hardly ever move on to another, but there is just SO much out there.  I tried to include a couple “big” companies and a couple smaller local ones.  It should be noted though, just because I review it doesn’t mean the UC Master Gardeners endorse or support the business in anyway.

Many seed companies have sites.  Burpee (http://www.burpee.com) is one I enjoy because of the sheer variety of plants available and the information. You can see the most up-to-date hybrids and beautiful photos of ripe, mouth-watering veggies. You can type in your zip code for your planting zone and a planting calendar. You can also view their entire catalog online.

Annie’s Annuals (http://www.anniesannuals.com) is always a favorite with her unusual plant varieties and great descriptions given in a fun and familiar way. You can even make a wish list for those you want to purchase or just put in your imaginary perfect garden. She has an email sign up, as do all the rest, and she’ll keep you informed of new varieties and any specials she might have.  The artwork itself is enough reason to visit her site.

Home Depot actually has a pretty nice Garden Club. Whether or not you choose to support the “big orange box” or not, they do have a couple nifty features and will send you coupons to your email (as will all the others).  They have the plant identifier, while I found it a bit limited, it is great for the home gardener or when one of us “master’s” just can’t remember. They also have a feature where you can save your “plant tags”, like the ones that come in your six-packs of annuals, in your own file. Even if you have some plants in your yard that are growing from previous years, you can still look up the plant and enter it your file.  They also have a nifty place where you can store your own photo album, or publish a picture for all in the “garden club” to see, or ask a question such as “what in the world is this plant?”.

Territorial Seed Company (http://www.territorialseed.com/), has their full catalog available online in pdf version. That is short for Portable Document Format, although I think it to mean Pretty Darn Fast when you compare it to regular mail. So it does give you something to peruse while your waiting for your hard copy (that’s computer speak for the old paper and print version;)

They also have a few videos about planting. They also have an Garden Planner, you’re supposed to be able to plot your garden and track it and arrange it and so on, but at $25, even thought they promise a 30-day free trial,  my pocketbook found a buck-fifty and a good ol’ piece of paper the best way to plan for now.

Screen shot of Annie's Annuals site. (photo by Patricia Brantley)

Read more