GrowVeg Review

About 2 months ago I went in search of Garden Software, something that would help me keep data on my garden(s) and help me plan them. I stumbled across GrowVeg. Last night I decided to register for their 30 Day Free Trial. I actually really like the program. How can you not like a computer gadget that uses our basic 2 year old need for pretty pictures, I mean icons?

The Pros:

• No Software download, decrease Spyware paranoia
• Able to enter both Metric & Imperial for Garden measurements
• Text and "Feature" availability
• Print Plan & Planting Dates
• Tabs, Spreadsheet style
• SFG Friendly
• Colored coded icon for families
• Provides an approximate shadow of plant size
• Tells you how many plants per type

The Cons (as I see them):

• Companion plants? Not really
• Difficult to control
• Unable to make curves
• Flowers, only Flower category
• No Database to update information
• Does not use common Computer Shortcuts
• Scrolling does not loop

I am sure there are more Pros and Cons than I am noticing but those are the few that immediately jumped out at me.

(images "edited" with Picasa)

My First Plan Test, for Spring.


The "difficult to control" idea. As you can see, I am planning to plant Melons diagonally. The program does not release the previously selected item or pick up the new item selected very well. You can see in this screencap the shadow sizing provided by the program, I very much like this feature.



As you can see with these two different plants, Broad/Fava Bean & Beet, the Companion Planting help offered is extremely slim. This is a major point for me, I LOVE Companion Planting. These images also show their colored coded "i" that tells you the families you are planting.


I think there are a couple things that could be done to help this. 1)Have a database the program can use to update the plant information. 2)Use, perhaps, the color red to warn Gardeners that their current Garden Plan is not Companion Planted.


This is about as good as it gets with the program offering any direction as far as Companion Planting goes.



The 4 Flower options, there is no way to create your own database of flowers you want to plant with names, planting information, etc.



Click to view completely, shows the 3 size variations available but again, you can not enter imforation for the plants. You can also see in this image, the program list some less common plants such as; Lettuce Miners, Mache, and Mizuna.