The narration here is read aloud by a speech synthesizer, not by a person.
Self-paced course · Adults
Plan a Garden with GardenCAD
GardenCAD
Take a patch of ground from an empty grid to a planted, printable plan using every part of the GardenCAD editor.
AboutWhat this class covers
A self-paced tour of GardenCAD, EdQuest's free browser garden planner. You will set a real site with a real orientation, draw beds and structures, trace an existing garden from a photo, choose species and queue what you mean to grow, fill the beds by hand, hand the rest of your planting list to the guided planter, read the light your site actually gets across a season, and finish with a plan you can print, share, or carry to the nursery. Every tool in the editor appears here in the order you would reach for it. No design experience and no account are assumed, and nothing you learn depends on having a garden already.
Prerequisites
None. A web browser and a patch of ground you would like to plan.
What to bring
Optional: a photo or survey plan of your garden to trace, and one real measurement of something IN it (a fence panel, a path width, the long side of the house) to set the scale.
Outline8 lessons
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Lesson 1:Set Your Site
Where the garden is and which way it faces, because both drive every sun answer the editor gives you.
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Lesson 2:Draw the Ground
One drawing gesture, three geometries, and the single decision that separates a bed from a wall.
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Lesson 3:Trace What Is Already There
Drop a photo behind the canvas, set it to true scale by measuring something in it, trace on top, and constrain the trace to exact lengths and square corners.
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Lesson 4:Choose What to Grow
The plant library, what a species actually carries, and the queue that turns a wish list into a planting list.
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Lesson 5:Plant the Beds
Four ways to fill ground: one plant at a time, an area at spacing, a shaped patch, and the guided planter that Lesson 06 takes apart.
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Lesson 6:Plant the Queue Automatically
The library holds what a species is, the queue holds how many you want, and the guided planter puts the list in the ground one reasoned suggestion at a time.
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Lesson 7:Read the Light
Three overlays, a date range, and the moment the plan tells you something you did not already know.
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Lesson 8:Refine, Save, and Share
Editing without redrawing, where your gardens actually live, and getting the plan onto paper or into someone else's hands.