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New to SoilStack? Start here. Covers what the app does, how your zone shapes everything, and the choices you make during setup.
SoilStack is a weather-smart garden planning app that builds a personalized planting calendar based on your location, your plants, and real local weather. It tells you what to do, when to do it, and why — backed by university extension research and NOAA climate data, not guesswork.
Every date on your calendar is calculated from your specific USDA hardiness zone, local frost averages, and the variety of plant you're growing. When the weather changes, your calendar adjusts automatically.
Your USDA zone is a number and letter like 7a or 6b that describes the average minimum winter temperature in your area. It is the standard used by every university extension program and seed company in the country to determine what plants can survive and thrive where you live.
SoilStack uses your zone to calculate frost dates, planting windows, and which plants are a good fit. Zones range from 5a (coldest supported) to 9b (warmest supported).
Effort mode controls how many tasks SoilStack generates and how much detail it includes.
Easy GoingThe essentials: watering reminders, key planting dates, and harvest windows in plain language.
BalancedAdds feeding schedules, monitoring tasks, and more timing detail.
All InEvery task type, detailed feeding schedules with product amounts, and precise input levels for full control.
Starter Plans are pre-built garden templates — a Salsa Garden, Herb Planter, Summer Raised Bed, and more. Use one as a starting point or build your garden from scratch. Everything is adjustable after you choose one.
When creating an area, you choose the physical setup: Raised Bed, In-Ground, Container, or Fabric Pot. This affects spacing recommendations, watering frequency, and soil volume calculations. Containers and fabric pots get adjusted watering guidance since they dry out faster than in-ground beds.
Today's weather, upcoming tasks, garden area cards, season insights, and active alerts — all in one view.
A red banner appears when you have tasks past their due date. It shows the count and a "View" link. Tasks stay until you complete or dismiss them.
Email VerificationAfter signing up, a soft prompt asks you to verify your email. Not required to use the app — your calendar and tasks work immediately.
Special Weather StatementWhen the National Weather Service issues any official alert for your area, an amber badge appears in the weather strip. Tap it to read the full alert text directly from the NWS.
Weather Alert CardsWhen SoilStack detects a weather pattern affecting your garden, alert cards appear below the map with actionable gardening guidance. A "Got It" button dismisses each card.
The map shows a live weather view centered on your ZIP code area. The location pin marks the general area — not your exact address. Below the map, the weather strip shows current temperature, today's high and low, wind speed, and next precipitation event. When there are no active concerns it reads "All clear." If the NWS has issued an alert, an amber badge appears instead. This data updates every hour.
Each day card shows the high and low temperature, precipitation probability, and wind speed. The forecast comes from the NWS and refreshes automatically. SoilStack uses this data along with your historical weather to detect patterns — heat streaks, dry stretches, and cool springs — that affect your garden.
Your tasks are listed as an accordion. If nothing is due today, SoilStack looks ahead up to 30 days so you are never looking at an empty screen. Each task row shows a checkbox, a colored icon, the task name, the area it belongs to, the due date, and an expand arrow.
Expand any task to see step-by-step instructions and a "Why this date" section that explains the reasoning in plain language.
When SoilStack adjusts a task's timing due to weather, the original date appears struck through, the new date shows in amber, and a note explains what triggered the change. On the original date in your calendar, a ghost entry appears with two options.
Once you act on either button, the decision is permanent.
Some tasks have a small colored bar next to them — the consequence score. It is a 0 to 10 rating of how much impact skipping this task has on your plant's health and yield. A high score in red means the task is time-critical. A low score means it is good practice but not urgent.
Season Insights cards appear after a few weeks of active use. Each shows a cross-season observation for a specific plant — missed task windows, watering completion rates, and patterns that affected performance.
The Succession Planner on the My Garden tab shows projected harvest dates for every plant grouped by area, so you can see when space is opening up and plan what goes in next.
If you missed a planting window entirely and the frost-free window is now too short to reach harvest, SoilStack shows a Missed Window block with options for what to do next — a replacement suggestion or a recommendation to start fresh next year.
Month, week, and agenda views with color-coded tasks, custom events, moved-task ghost entries, and printable PDFs.
The month grid shows colored dots on days that have tasks. Today is highlighted. Tap any day to open the day detail panel below the calendar. Check any task to mark it complete — it gets a strikethrough and is logged to your journal automatically. A legend at the bottom shows green for Planting, blue for Watering, amber for Feeding, red for Harvest, and grey for My Events.
When a task has been weather-adjusted, the original date shows it in a "Moved Tasks" section below the regular task list. The title appears with a strikethrough and an amber note explains where it moved and why. A Dismiss button removes the ghost once you have read it.
Tap any day to open the day detail panel, then tap "Add Event." A form appears with a title field, event type pills, an area selector, and optional notes. Tap "Save Event." The event appears on the calendar in grey.
Week view shows a 7-day grid with tasks as labeled items inside each day column. Agenda view shows all tasks in a chronological list grouped by date, spanning multiple months — useful for planning ahead without scrolling a grid.
Tap the "Print Calendar" button at the bottom left of the calendar. A dropdown appears with four options: This Month, Next 3 Months, Full Grow Season, and Full Year. Choose one to generate a printable PDF that includes all tasks and custom events.
Area cards, the four-step creation wizard, plant cards, the customize panel, the struggling flow, and your area journal.
The My Garden tab shows your area cards at the top, the Succession Planner below, and the full Journal at the bottom. Each card shows the area name, type, zone, sun exposure, plant count, and recipe count. Tap any card to open the full detail page. The detail page header shows the area name, type, environment, zone, and a stats bar showing Total Tasks, Completed, and Overdue at a glance.
Tap "New Area" or "Add Another Area" from anywhere in the app.
Each plant card shows the name, type badge, subtype, water needs, days to maturity, and status badges. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner of a plant card to open the Customize Schedule panel. Set a Transplant or Sow Date, override Days to Maturity, and toggle watering and feeding tasks on or off. Tap "Save & Regenerate" to apply. Tap "Reset Defaults" to remove all overrides.
Tap "Something look wrong?" at the bottom of any plant card. A symptom selector opens inline on the page — you do not leave the area. Select everything that applies and tap Next. SoilStack works through a decision tree covering 10 crop groups, 30 symptoms, and 90 potential causes, then guides you to the most likely cause with treatment recommendations. No photos needed.
Tap the X on a plant card. Two options appear.
The Quick Reference section has four cards: Watering (needs and amounts), Key Timing (days to harvest per plant), Spacing & Support, and Harvest Signs.
The Assigned Recipes section shows all feeding schedules active for this area. "Add Recipe" opens a panel with From Library and Create Custom tabs.
The area journal at the bottom logs every task completion, struggling event, plant change, and weather decision automatically. Tap "Add note" anytime to write your own entry.
My Plants, the Plant Library, compatibility and difficulty badges, the harvest log, and everything about tracking seeds.
The Plants tab shows every plant you are currently growing across all areas in one place. Each card shows the name, type badge, area it belongs to, start method, days to maturity, and a Live est. badge if active. A search bar and quick filter pills let you narrow the list fast. Tap any plant card to expand it. The Harvest Log at the bottom lets you record date, count, and quality.
Tap "Explore Plants" to browse all 249 varieties. Each card shows compatibility badge, type badge, difficulty badge, days to maturity, sun needs, start method, and container suitability. Tap any card to open the detail panel with photo, At a Glance facts, full description, and research sources. Tap "Add to Area" to add it to any of your areas.
Computed from your zone and the plant's research data. Great fit means conditions are well-matched. Marginal means possible with adjustments. Not ideal means outside the recommended zone range.
Difficulty comes from the plant's research profile — zone range width, temperature forgiveness, container viability, harvest window, and days-to-maturity variance. It is a pattern from the data, not an opinion.
My Seeds lives below My Plants on the Plants tab. Each row shows the plant name, type badge, packet count, seeds per packet, and purchase year. A "Plant now" badge appears when the planting window is open with enough frost-free time remaining. A "Check viability" badge appears if the packet is 3 or more years old.
Tap "What can I plant?" to reveal a Plantable from your inventory panel. It shows each seed matched against every area it can go into right now. Tap "Add" on any row to plant it and generate its full task calendar instantly.
Every ingredient amount, application note, and warning is visible. Your rates apply globally across all recipes.
The Recipes tab shows all feeding schedules active across all your areas. Each row shows the recipe name, frequency, application method, and the area it belongs to. The trash icon removes it from that area. The chevron expands the full detail.
Each product with amount per gallon or per application. "My rate" means you set a custom amount. "Label rate" uses the manufacturer's recommended amount.
ApplicationStep-by-step instructions — timing, method, and what to watch for.
Warning notesUniversity extension programs and research references behind the recipe.
Tap "Create Recipe" in the top right of the Recipes tab. Give it a name, choose a type and frequency, optionally set an application method, and add instructions or notes. Custom recipes work the same as library recipes and can be assigned to any area.
Tap the gear icon in the top right header, scroll to the My Products section, update the amount next to any product, and tap Save. Every recipe using that product updates automatically across all your areas.
SoilStack monitors your local weather continuously. When it detects a pattern that affects your garden, it adjusts task dates and surfaces alerts — automatically, with a full explanation, and always overrideable.
7 or more consecutive days at or above 90°F. Watering tasks for non-drought-tolerant plants are pulled forward. Source: Nebraska Extension heat stress guidelines.
Dry Stretch7 or more consecutive days with less than 0.1 inches of precipitation. Also triggers a watering adjustment. Source: SDSU Extension drought guidelines.
Cool Spring10 of the last 14 days below 55°F during March through June. Warm-season transplant dates are pushed back up to 7 days. Source: OSU and CSU soil temperature proxy research.
Beyond task adjustments, SoilStack surfaces alert cards when forecast conditions require attention. Each card includes specific gardening guidance — not just what is happening but what to do about it.
Yes, always. Tap the Restore button on the ghost entry in your calendar or in the task accordion on the Overview tab. Once you restore or confirm a task, SoilStack will not re-adjust it — your decision is permanent.
Current conditions and the 7-day forecast update every hour. Weather pattern detection runs every 6 hours. NWS alerts also refresh every 6 hours.
Settings is a single scrolling page accessed via the gear icon in the top right header.
Shows your current ZIP code and your auto-detected USDA Zone. To update your ZIP, type a new one in the field and tap Update. Your zone updates automatically and your calendar regenerates.
Three pill buttons — Easy Going, Balanced, and All In — with a description of each below. The currently active mode is highlighted. Tap any pill to switch modes. Your calendar regenerates immediately.
Shows every product used across your recipes with your current rate for each. Products with a custom rate show a "Custom rate" badge. Changing a rate and tapping Save updates every recipe using that product across all your areas automatically.
The Account section shows your name and email address. Update either field and tap "Save Account" to apply. To delete your account permanently, tap "Delete Account."
The Soil Calculator in Settings is a standalone calculator. Add a row for each bed or container, enter length, width, and depth, and the cubic footage updates as you type.
Every date on your calendar is explainable. Here is what goes into it.
Every date comes from a calculation built on real research. It starts with your USDA hardiness zone from NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals. From that, your last spring frost and first fall frost averages are determined. Those combine with the plant's research profile — days to maturity, start method, optimal soil temperature, and timing windows from university extension programs and seed catalog trial data. Finally, real-time NWS weather data is layered in. A Sun Gold Tomato in Zone 7a gets different dates than the same plant in Zone 5b because the science for those locations is different.
Penn State Extension, Nebraska Extension, Ohio State University Extension, Colorado State University Extension, South Dakota State University Extension, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, NOAA National Weather Service, the University of Missouri Extension, and seed catalogs with documented trial data including Johnny's Selected Seeds, True Leaf Market, and Baker Creek. Every plant has its sources listed in the detail panel in the Plant Library.
Growing Degree Days are a measure of heat accumulation that plants use to develop. SoilStack tracks heat accumulation in your area every day throughout the season. Once you have at least 6 to 8 weeks of active use, harvest date estimates shift from calendar averages to live estimates based on your actual season's temperatures. The "Live est." label on a plant card means this is active.
No. SoilStack uses logic and data — not machine learning or AI. Every recommendation is explainable. When SoilStack says transplant on May 3rd, it is because your last frost average is April 12th, Sun Gold tomatoes need soil temperatures above 60°F, and a 2-week buffer accounts for cold snap risk in your zone. That is agronomic math, not a model.
Generic advice for "tomatoes" is not useful when a Cherry tomato matures in 65 days and a Brandywine takes 90. Spacing, water needs, heat tolerance, and zone viability all vary by variety. SoilStack covers 249 named varieties, not 18 generic categories. This is what makes the calendar actually accurate.
Quick answers to things SoilStack users ask most.
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