Even though it’s February, it’s not too early to be planning what to plant when the weather improves. One of my favorite things about living in Jacksonville and Southern Oregon is the ideal conditions we have for growing a fantastic summer vegetable garden.
There are several steps to planning, planting and harvesting a successful garden. Even though there’s always been and always will be hard work involved, new tech tools offer a cool new tool to track and plan your garden!

Before covering the tech side, without a doubt, the best local resource for successful gardening in the Rogue Valley is the Jackson County Master Gardener Association, affiliated with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Their great resource book published in 2007 is the Garden Guide for the Rogue Valley Year ‘Round & Month by Month. The month-by-month garden planner offers practical advice on planning gardens and includes invaluable weather and climate information, too. For example, for the month of February, it names specific vegetables to sow for transplanting and what to add to your garden by direct seed. No matter the month, it’s a great all-around resource for any local gardener. The current version is available at Jacksonville’s own Blue Door Garden Store on 155 N Third Street, 541.899.3242.

For those of you who enjoy using technology, there are many new tools available to enhance your gardening experience. Tablets, iPads & smart phones all have apps (applications) for the beginner and expert gardener. Although I have not tried them all, I looked at several to prepare this article and discovered some really cool ones.

Specific apps are aimed at helping you plan, while others contain terrific reference guides and information on plant names, growth patterns, fertilization methods, watering schedules, soil, pest control and other garden-specific topics.

A few apps that grabbed my attention and seemed really useful in day-to-day home gardening included: toolkit, essential garden guide, gardening tips, vegetable gardening guide, organic gardening and green house gardening. As I noted, these are just a few that are available. I downloaded a few to my iPad and look forward to putting them to good use. Hopefully, for some of you, these cool new apps will enhance your gardening experience – so please email me and share your experiences with them and new ones you discover!

Remember, it’s never too early to start planning for a great summer garden, so here’s to a great year of gardening!!

Adam Haynes is the owner of Artisan Landscapes and may be reached at 541-292-3285 and www.artisanlandscapes.com