Three apps to make you the best gardener in the 'hood

RECOGNIZE plants, choose species that grow well together and take advantage of time-saving tips. Applications provide a wealth of advice and assistance to Sunday gardeners and can take some of the growing pains out of horticulture.

Daunted by the bother of botany? Not to worry. There are now a host of applications to make gardening easy to the point where you might actually dig it. Find out when it's time to plant and how to nurture seedlings. Grow in confidence. In no time at all, you will be outstanding in your field while making the neighbors green with envy.

1. Tomate et basilic

If you are a fan of permaculture, then this is the application for you. Not only does it offer advice on how to design a permaculture garden, grouping species and pampering tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables, it also puts you in touch with other local gardeners in some areas. In no time at all, you can grow a network of buddies, who are eager to discuss your hobby.

Available for iOS and Android

2. Groww

You can't expect your smartphone to garden in your stead, but with Groww it will tell you what needs to be done and when. Just pick out plants in your garden from the 1,500 that are available in the application's database, and add your GPS location. Thereafter the software will provide you with information on all of the watering, pruning and harvesting you need to get done exactly when you need it.

Available for iOS and Android

3. PlantSnap

Out on a stroll in the country, you come upon a superb plant that you would just love to have in your garden. The only trouble is you don't know what it is. Offering a recognition service similar to the one that Shazam provides for music, PlantSnap allows you to identify flowers, cacti, mushrooms, and much more besides with just a few clicks. Just point a smartphone camera at any growing thing, wait for the app to analyze the image, and ta-da: the right name will miraculously appear. There are quite a few other applications like Seek and Pl@ntnet that offer this kind of service, however, with more than 250,000 pictures and a database of 600,000 plants, PlantSnap has plenty of information for even the most demanding of budding gardeners.

Available for iOS and Android

As for the future

Once you get started with gardening apps, you will find that there are plenty more to help develop your hobby, including exotic options for planting by the moon, organic kitchen gardens and optimized compost.