This free garden sun mapping tool gives you a sun map of your garden, built from your own observations. Enter a few simple details about your garden, and the tool works out a clear plan you can follow straight away, without any sign-up or special knowledge.
To use the tool, start with the size of your garden or the number of beds you have. Real numbers give real plans: a plan for a tiny balcony bed is very different from a plan for a large backyard plot, even when both gardens grow the same crops.
Next, answer the questions about your garden conditions, such as sun, distance from the house, or shade hours. These details are what turn a generic list into a plan for your garden. Two gardens in the same town can need different plans, because one sits behind a warm wall and the other sits in a windy, shady corner.
Read the results slowly and write down the first three jobs. A plan only helps if it leaves the screen and reaches the garden. A short list on the fridge or by the back door beats a long printout filed away and forgotten.
Work through the plan one job at a time, in the order given. Garden plans work best when jobs happen in sequence: prepare the soil before you sow, sow before you feed, and harvest before crops go over. Skipping ahead usually creates extra work later.
Repeat the plan on a regular rhythm. Gardens change every week as plants grow, seasons shift, and weather turns. Re-running the tool with fresh numbers each month, or each season, keeps the plan honest and matched to what is actually happening outside.
Sun moves across a garden far more than most people expect. A bed that basks in June sun can sit in deep shade by September, once trees leaf out and the sun drops lower, so a map made in one season can mislead you in the next.
Map the garden three times if you can: once in spring, once in midsummer, and once in autumn. Note the sunny and shady hours for each corner at mid-morning, midday, and late afternoon. Three maps through the year show you which beds are reliably sunny and which only look sunny in June.
Put sun-hungry crops like tomatoes and squash in the spots that score highest across all three maps, and save the lower-scoring corners for lettuce, spinach, and herbs. Matching crops to measured sun beats guessing, and it costs nothing but a few minutes with a notebook.
A common mistake is planning only for spring. Spring is exciting, but summer watering, autumn clearing, and winter protection matter just as much. A year-round plan, even a simple one, keeps the garden productive in every season instead of only in the first warm weeks.
Keep your basic tools ready so the plan is easy to follow: a trowel, a fork, a watering can, gloves, and a bucket cover most garden jobs. Sharp, clean tools make work faster and kinder to plants, because clean cuts heal well and dirty cuts can spread disease from one plant to the next.
Keep notes as you go. Write down what you planted, when it went in, and how it did. Next year, those notes turn a good plan into a great one, because you will know which crops loved your soil and which ones struggled in your shade or wind.
Share the plan with anyone who helps in the garden, so everyone works from the same list. A shared plan stops double watering, missed harvests, and one person pruning a tree that another person meant to leave alone for a season.
Remember that this tool gives general garden guidance, not advice for a farm or a commercial crop. Your local soil, weather, and varieties all shift real results. Use the plan as a strong starting point, watch your plants, and adjust over a few weeks until the routine fits your garden.