Mutiny Ranch Item of the Day – From Seed to Spoon Gardening App

Hello Mutineers! If you’ve followed us here on the website or on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, you know that I like to share the things we actually use around Mutiny Ranch. Since our interests are diverse these items range from animal care to gardening implements but also footwear and kitchen gadgets. No matter what the item is though if we recommend it here then we personally own and use it or have researched it enough to have it on our “wishlist”.

The Mutiny Ranch Item of the Day for 4/6/2021 is the From Seed to Spoon Gardening App. This incredible app was created by Dale and Carrie Spoonemore who, in just 3 years, turned their suburban backyard into a garden capable of feeding their family of four. They have since moved to a bigger piece of property and added all kinds of animals…including pigs, chickens, and rabbits.

As a longtime follower of their blog and Facebook page, I had the privilege of being a beta tester when they first launched their app. Even from the very beginning, I knew this was going to be such a helpful tool.

The app is free and available to both Apple and Android phones. It uses your GPS location to find the nearest NOAA station to calculate your USDA plant hardiness zone. If that sounds complicated don’t worry, it does this automatically. At its very basic your USDA plant hardiness zone, represented by numbers (and maybe a letter) such as “zone 7” or “zone 8a”, is a standardized way of determining which plants will thrive in a particular area. This is based on annual temperatures as well as the first and last frost dates.

The back of most seed packets will give some sort of planting instructions that might read something like: start seeds indoors 6 weeks before your last frost or sow seeds in garden after all danger of frost has passed. That’s fine and dandy if #1- you know your first and last frost dates already and #2- you only have a few types of seeds to plant. But when you’re wanting to start several different crops…all with different planting dates it can get confusing and overwhelming fast. And that’s where the From to Seed to Spoon App shines.

As stated above, the app uses your GPS location and nearest NOAA station to populate all of your planting dates automatically. If by chance, the NOAA station is quite a distance away and you notice the first and last frost dates don’t seem right, you can customize your information. For instance, the closest NOAA station to me is in town over but it’s also 1000 feet higher in elevation. It shows the last frost date to be Jun 13. Based on my experience and with talking to other seasoned gardeners here I find Jun 1 to be more accurate. I can change the last frost date to Jun 1 and the app will update all of my planting dates for me.

Here you can see the difference in the recommended planting date for potatoes after I changed my last frost date.

When you open the app you’ll be able to scroll through dozens of crops… from acorn squash and avocado to turmeric and watermelon and everything in between. There’s a notation under each crop showing it as a cool weather or warm weather crop. Click on the crop you’re interested in growing and you’ll find pretty much everything you need to know to have success…recommended planting dates, recommended fertilization schedule, recommended harvest dates, and even recipes! And a super valuable feature I plan on taking advantage of is the recommended fall planting dates. This is an area I’ve struggled with getting right but now I have easy access to the information.

But wait, there’s more!

You’ll also find specific information on the types of pests that might like that particular crop and tips to control them. Click on the friend tab and find a list of recommended companion plants. Click on types and up will pop a list of different varieties of that crop!

The From Seed to Spoon App is really a gem. I recommend it in all my gardening groups and thought I better share it here with you too! It’s hard to believe you get access to all of this information, all in one place, for free.