Helping home gardeners grow with confidence — one personalized planting plan at a time.
At YardWise, we believe every garden deserves a plan. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, knowing exactly what to plant, when to plant it, and how to care for it makes all the difference between a thriving garden and a disappointing one.
We combine official USDA climate data, 30-year weather records, and horticultural science to create personalized planting guides tailored to your exact location, soil, and garden conditions. No guesswork. No generic advice. Just a clear, actionable plan for your garden.
Every plan starts with your specific climate, USDA zone, and local growing conditions.
Our recommendations are based on official data sources and proven horticultural methods.
We consider your soil type, sunlight, physical comfort, and crop preferences.
Our planting guide generator takes you through a simple 7-step process:
Our AI-powered engine generates a comprehensive report covering planting dates, growing degree days, frost dates, crop recommendations, and a month-by-month care calendar.
Most gardening advice online is generic — suitable for a "typical" garden that doesn't exist. YardWise is different. We analyze your specific conditions and provide recommendations that are truly tailored to you.
Our platform is designed with home gardeners in mind. We use clear language, large fonts, and an intuitive interface that's easy to navigate. No technical jargon, no confusing charts — just practical, actionable advice you can use right away.
And because we know that gardening is a journey, we're here to support you. If you have questions about your plan, just reach out — we'd love to hear from you.
YardWise is built on verifiable, authoritative data sources and established horticultural science. We believe in transparency — here's exactly where our data comes from and how our recommendations are calculated.
Our hardiness zone lookup uses the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, developed by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University. This map divides North America into 13 zones based on 30-year average annual extreme minimum temperatures. It is the standard reference for determining which perennial plants are likely to survive winter in a given location.
Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service — Plant Hardiness Zone Map
We retrieve historical weather data from the Open-Meteo Historical Weather API, which uses the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis dataset. ERA5 combines vast amounts of historical weather observations with advanced modeling to produce a consistent, global record of weather conditions dating back to 1940. We use the most recent 30-year period to calculate climate normals for your specific location.
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API Documentation | ECMWF ERA5 Reanalysis
Growing Degree Days are calculated using the base temperature method, a standard agronomic formula: GDD = (Tmax + Tmin) / 2 − Tbase. We use a base temperature of 10°C (50°F), which is the standard for most warm-season crops. GDD accumulation helps predict plant development stages — from emergence to flowering to harvest — more accurately than calendar days alone.
Reference: This method is widely used by agricultural extension services worldwide, including University of Minnesota Extension and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Last spring frost and first fall frost dates are estimated from the ERA5 temperature record using a threshold of 0°C (32°F). We analyze the 30-year historical daily minimum temperatures to determine the 10th percentile frost-free window — a conservative estimate that provides a 90% probability of frost-free conditions.
Our crop database includes 60+ vegetables, herbs, and flowers with parameters sourced from peer-reviewed horticultural references, including optimal germination temperatures, days to maturity, spacing requirements, and GDD thresholds. Crop recommendations are matched to your location based on:
Your personalized planting report is generated by a combination of rule-based calculations (frost dates, GDD, crop matching) and AI-powered natural language generation. The AI model (DeepSeek) is provided with your specific data and instructed to produce clear, actionable advice based on established horticultural principles. All numerical data — dates, temperatures, GDD values — are computed deterministically from the source data, not generated by AI.
Have questions, feedback, or suggestions? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.