The Green Hand | The drip-drip of know-how in the vegetable garden

The green hand presents herself as the personal assistant of Quebec vegetable gardens. Dynamic and interactive, this new online application stands out from existing tools by its step-by-step and personalized support for gardeners.

“If we were an irrigation system, we would surely be a drip irrigation system,” underlines coder Alexandre Toulemonde, referring to his young shoot, an online application designed to make life easier for gardeners, from starting their sowing until harvest and more, if his ambitions come to fruition.

Passionate about computers, Alexandre Toulemonde converted to ecological gardening after migrating to the countryside in the small village of Saint-Adrien, in Estrie. It is from there that he carries out his technological project founded with the agriculture teacher Pierre-Antoine Gilbert, another concern for food autonomy.

“I noticed that there was a form of mental load associated with the vegetable garden and that the body of knowledge required was often beyond ordinary people,” he says. As an enthusiastic neo-rural, he therefore chose to put his technological knowledge at the service of gardening with an online application which, unlike a book, takes the challenge of supporting the user on a day-to-day basis in his tasks with advice adapted to his situation.

Starting the season with your assistant

While the planting season is underway, The green hand welcomes us with a seed calendar. From the outset, she is interested in our location and our preferences in terms of vegetable plants. From this data, it is able to provide an evolving schedule over four weeks, adapted to our location. Those who have already been bogged down with Excel tables and handmade calendars will find this a great way not only to save time, but also to simplify monitoring of their seedlings.

Over the weeks, The green hand will notify us of the appropriate time to divide our seedlings and plant them, to make our amendments, to evaluate the quantities of fertilizer or to take advantage of the harvest time.

Better yet, it will provide these reminders in real time, based on our hardiness zone, our soil type and our choice of plants.

Ten Quebec seed companies have already joined the project and are displaying their catalog of local seeds. The offer lists more than 1,500 vegetable species and includes honey plants and edible flowers which come with their technical sheet. It is therefore possible, in the same place, to shop for your seeds, learn about their particularities and see them listed on your calendar.

A soil analysis is also available to order, and a crop rotation tool is being prepared to better identify the varieties best suited to the soil based on past years’ crops.

Artificial intelligence at the service of the gardener

Because many questions always arise along the way, the application uses artificial intelligence (AI) and the parameters provided to it to reference the information best suited to our situation. If the AI ​​is unable to offer an adequate answer, the question is then transferred to a specialist who will be able to offer one.

The green hand is in its infancy, but it has the potential to go much further, believes its designer who plans to add other features to his product, including a vegetable garden layout plan and advice directly linked to the weather.

So, if the mercury should drop below zero next night in your area, you will be informed that you must bring in your seedlings before nightfall. During the year, a seed calculator, configured according to users’ eating habits, will also see the light of day.

If his name, The green hand, refers to having a turn with the plants, it is definitely a great help to get there! The tool is expected to evolve, but it already offers interesting services to gardening enthusiasts. They will find what they are looking for, whether they are beginners or more advanced in their experiments.

The online application can be used from a mobile, computer or tablet. Two packages are offered, an annual subscription at $34.90 or a monthly subscription at $3.99.

Visit the website of The green hand