easyDacha vs The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner
The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner is a trusted, desktop-first layout tool (it runs on the same planning engine as GrowVeg). It is strong for designing beds and getting spacing and rotation right. easyDacha is an iPhone app that builds a stage-by-stage care plan for each plant from your local frost dates and sends daily tasks.
One helps you design the garden.
One helps you design the garden.
The other tells you what to do in it every week.
Quick comparison
| easyDacha | Almanac Garden Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | iPhone (iOS) | Web browser, desktop-first |
| Best at | Daily, stage-based care plan | Bed layout, spacing, rotation |
| Planting dates | Built from your ZIP code's frost dates | Frost dates from weather stations |
| Flexible start | Start any time; see if your harvest beats first frost; the plan re-times to your date | Calendar dates |
| Spacing | Adapts to bed type: square-foot in raised beds, rows in-ground and greenhouse | Spacing calculator |
| Care tasks | 14 task types (prep, sowing, watering, feeding, protection, monitoring, and more), timed to each stage. Preventive, not reactive | Garden journal, planting reminders |
| Care style | Organic or mineral approach | Not offered |
| Feeding | Homemade DIY fertilizer recipes in tasks | Not offered |
| Seed & seedling tracking | Yes | Not the focus |
| Plant database | Large, plus add your own plants | 250+ plants |
| Crop rotation | Yes, learns from your season for next year | Yes, manual |
| Design | Modern, clean, mobile-first | Older desktop interface (same engine as GrowVeg) |
| Brand | New, focused app | 200+ years of trust and content |
| Price | About $35/year, 14-day trial | $29/year, 7-day trial |
Feature comparison reflects publicly available information as of 2025. Pricing and plans may change.
Where the Almanac Planner fits better
Its real edge is trust and content depth. The Old Farmer's Almanac has been a gardening authority for over two centuries, so its guides, companion-planting data, and reputation carry weight a new app cannot match yet.
If you specifically want to design an in-ground plan on a desktop from a long-trusted name, that history is the reason to pick it. Worth knowing: the planner runs on the older GrowVeg engine, so the interface feels dated next to a modern mobile app.
If you specifically want to design an in-ground plan on a desktop from a long-trusted name, that history is the reason to pick it. Worth knowing: the planner runs on the older GrowVeg engine, so the interface feels dated next to a modern mobile app.
Where easyDacha wins
The Almanac Planner is built around the plan. easyDacha is built around the weeks after it, which is exactly where a beginner who has failed before tends to get lost. It works ahead of problems instead of waiting for them: a detailed plan across 14 kinds of tasks, from prep and sowing to feeding, protection, and monitoring, so you get each step right early rather than scrambling once something goes wrong.
It rides in your pocket, reads your ZIP code's frost dates, maps each plant's stages, and sends the task when it is due: sow, transplant, water, feed, scout for pests, pick. Spacing follows how you grow, square-foot in raised beds, rows in-ground or greenhouse. Choose organic or mineral feeding, with the homemade recipes built into the tasks. And your seeds and seedlings stay tracked, so nothing slips between planning and planting. You can also start whenever suits you, not on one fixed date: easyDacha shows whether the harvest still beats first frost and re-times the care plan around your choice.
It rides in your pocket, reads your ZIP code's frost dates, maps each plant's stages, and sends the task when it is due: sow, transplant, water, feed, scout for pests, pick. Spacing follows how you grow, square-foot in raised beds, rows in-ground or greenhouse. Choose organic or mineral feeding, with the homemade recipes built into the tasks. And your seeds and seedlings stay tracked, so nothing slips between planning and planting. You can also start whenever suits you, not on one fixed date: easyDacha shows whether the harvest still beats first frost and re-times the care plan around your choice.
Who should pick which
You want a trusted desktop tool to design an in-ground plan: Almanac Garden Planner.
You want daily, in-pocket guidance through the season: easyDacha.
You like organic or homemade feeding: easyDacha.
You want your seeds and seedlings tracked: easyDacha.
You want daily, in-pocket guidance through the season: easyDacha.
You like organic or homemade feeding: easyDacha.
You want your seeds and seedlings tracked: easyDacha.
FAQ
Yes. The Almanac planner is desktop-first and focused on layout. easyDacha is an iPhone app focused on a daily, stage-based care plan.
They run on the same underlying planning software. The main difference is the Almanac brand, content, and support.
Yes. It uses your local last and first frost dates to map each plant's stages and time your care tasks.
