You have decided to take the plunge and redesign your garden. Or even better, finally put a garden in for the benefits of raising your own food. This is great. Is there software out there that can help you that is free to use? The answer is yes, quite a bit of it.

Features to look for in free garden design software

A good garden software program will allow you to do the following:

Use the tool for free
Set up the dimensions of your gardening plots
Easily move plants, trees and seeds into the plot for you to view (*even show the colors available in certain plants)
Provide suggestions or hints on what to plant in a sunny or shady area.
The software must allow you to print out a final version of your plan.

Most of the free software will not do everything the very expensive landscaping programs will, but if all you want is a plan to place your vegetables in the right places, save you money for seeds do not invest in expensive software programs. Especially if you are new to gardening- keep it simple and start small.

Types of free software gardening design online tools

1. One kind is simply free and you can download it at will.

2. Free for a certain period of time, and the last is software you can use to plan your garden, but you can’t download the source.

3. Free garden software that you can use online but do not download an actual program to your computer. (This is my favorite type- why bog down your computer with the extra software.)

Garden Design Software that you can use for free online

Better Homes and Gardens- Plan-A-Garden
Design anyting from garden in your yard to a small patio garden. Drag and drop garden beds, garden structures, garden accents, buildings, sheds, decks and ponds, and plants. Completely free tool
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/design/nature-lovers/welcome-to-plan-a-garden/

BBC Virtual Garden Tool
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/ Design your site and put flowers and plants of all sorts into your plot. Look at the garden when it is completely grown. This program shows its results in 3D and is easy to use even if you don’t use 3D or CAD programs.

Free Garden Software That You Download
There are many types of free software you can use to plan your garden with. Most of these allow you to produce a printed copy of your plan in color. You can set up several versions of your garden with these programs. Many of these don’t include housing or garages in their plans, but they will let you plot out where you carrots and tomatoes go.

*Poster Forge 1.02.05 – will let you set up your garden and print it out like a poster
*MB Eight House Feng Shui 1.0 – will help you set up your garden (and home) using Feng Shui
*My Garden Bytes 5.2.1 – will let you set up garden and keeps a data base of your seeds
*Smart Draw Landscape Design Software – will let you use Smart Draw to set up your garden

Free Garden Software That You Can Use For a Limited Time
Some download-able software is only available for a limited time. Most of these are complete enough to finish your task, and also give you a peek at something you might want to buy to obtain more capabilities. This software will get the job done.

*Garden Planner 2.05.06 – available for use for 15 days. Can be bought for $24.
*Vegetable Garden Design – 3.06 – available for 45 days. Can be bought for $20.
*Artisans Landscape Design – available for 15 days. Can be bought for $99.

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