RHS - 2011 Gardening App for iPhone

The 2011 iPhone application from the Royal Horticultural Society - Grow Your Own – is designed to help you choose and grow fruit and vegetables - however much space or time you have. The base application is free and covers the 20 most popular varieties of fruit and veg. Within the application itself you can buy additional content bundles (for £1.79 each) to extend the content of the app.

We have listened to feedback on the 2010 version, and are now making all functionality available for free on the 20 basic fruit and veg profiles.

For Users who purchased Version 2.0 last year with an in-app upgrade, you will be able to upgrade to the new version for free, and the RHS will give you Vegetables 1 and Fruit as a thank you for your loyalty and feedback.


This app is for less experienced or less confident gardeners but will be a valuable resource for all, providing you the ability to access in-depth horticultural advice from the UK’s leading gardening organisation, as well as timely reminders to manage your crops, whilst you are out and about in your garden with your iPhone.

This app is optimised for iPhone 4 users; iPhone 3 users may experience slightly slower performance.

The basic FREE app includes:

• tools to help you choose vegetables and fruit for your garden based on your level of expertise, and your available space and time access to expert RHS advice about your chosen fruit/veg with detailed growing, sowing and harvesting instructions as well as varieties that we recommend
• calendar function with alerts to remind you what to do and when based on your chosen fruit/veg in ‘My Garden’
• common problems you might encounter, with photos to help identify them, including pests and diseases and what to do about them
•  location-aware frost warnings to help you protect your plants
• location-aware watering reminders and drought alerts
• links to the RHS plants site to buy quality RHS plants 
• access to the RHS Grow Your Own forum, to ask questions, advice and chat to fellow gardeners
• content covering 20 popular fruit and veg - apple, blackcurrant, blueberry, cabbage, carrot, courgette, french bean, garlic, leek, lettuce, onion, pear, pepper, potato, radish, raspberry, runner bean, salad leaves, strawberry and tomato

The £1.79 content bundles available include all the above functionality for the following plants:

Vegetables 1: asparagus, beetroot, broad bean, brussel sprouts, calabrese, cauliflour, chinese cabbage, cucumber, endive, kohlrabi, komatsuna, Lablab beans, mizuna, okra, parsnip, pea, pumpkin, salsify, spinach, sweetcorn

Vegetables 2: aubergine, broccoli, celeriac, celery, chard, chicory, chilli pepper, Chinese broccoli, dried beans, fennel, fennel, globe artichoke, jerusalem artichoke, pak choi, rocket, shallot, soya beans, swede, sweet potato, turnip

Fruit: apricot, blackberry, cherry, citrus, cranberry, fig, gooseberry, grape, kiwi, medlar, melon, mulberry, olive, peach, plum, quince, redcurrant, rhubarb, walnut, whitecurrant

Herbs: basil, bayleaf, chamomile, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, horseradish, lemongrass, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, sorrel, tarragon, thyme

If you have any feedback or suggestions for what you’d like to see in future, do get in touch at iphone@rhs.org.uk

The RHS is the UK’s leading horticultural charity, and this app is part of a wide ranging campaign or activities, publications and advice about Grow Your Own. For more information, see www.rhs.org.uk/growyourown and http://www.rhs.org.uk/iphone.

iPhone screenshots: