I've never seen Monty using an app - he also dislikes the term "garden design". Gardens evolve with the owner's changing tastes, preferences, and knowledge - real gardens anyway!
@Butterfly66 he used something in Big dreams,small spaces , this one I watched more recently and the imagery of it reminded me of sth I had seen in GW. It probably was a layout of Longmeadow, as others have suggested.
It may be that he was using professional software for within the field, so to speak. GW presenters would make a total fortune if they launched some good, easy to use programme for garden design and management. It's a real gap in the market. There are some packages out there but often people find it too cumbersome. I quite like the Gardiner app.
I do recommend the free graphics website Pixlr (like Photoshop). It takes some time to explore its capacities, but I use it all the time for drawing out schemes and plans - if you want something basic to play around with. I haven't tried drawing to scale with it, there are no doubt ways to add more grids, rules, scales etc. The free version has ads, but I don't find they get in the way too much.
Thank you @Fire ! I had not even thought of Pixlr! I am not very skilled with it but will now investigate it in depth from this new point of view. Yes, it'd be definitely a lucrative endeavor if someone offered a comprehensive yet user friendly garden design app/program/extension.
I have taken screenshots from one episode of Big Dreams, Small Spaces as I have this one downloaded, to share what nice features the app or program Monty uses has. I'll be grateful if you share your thoughts if you recognize which app/program this might be. In all episodes it seems to offer various plants, trees, path materials, lawn materials, fence materials, even the wooden structure he added in the second picture.
Gardena (free) - I just took screenshots as I went along, for future reference. Obviously this will only really work on a computer - not a phone.
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SmartDraw. They currently give a "no strings" free trial for seven days - only an email address is needed to register. You could do quite a lot with this and screenshots. Good, unless you wanted to keep and update the plans over the years.
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Small Blue Printer, example
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Having a look at Google Map satellite shots can be useful too, to see the landscape in scale and the true angle re north, in relation to neighbours. In Plxler, it's easy to draw on top.
I have taken screenshots from one episode of Big Dreams, Small Spaces
I remember him using them. I really enjoyed the series. His shots look like CAD.
You could have a look at DreamPlan (only for Windows) - again consider taking screenshots on Free Trials. If you sign up for freebies, make sure to immediately cancel your account after if you don't want to keep it. Don't give anyone your bank details until you are very sure.
Thank you, will try this one too. I just found SmartDraw, too. Does not unfortunately offer 3D as far as I can see, it looks more like a sketch but am adding it to the list. I really like the Small Blue Printer, thank you for the suggestion! I've tried to google which program/app Monty uses and have been through a lot of Google pages with no success. I presume it's a truly professional one.
I haven't closely investigated Sketch Up or Vector, so I can't advise. You'd think that games developer would have seen the link with landscape design programmes - virtual worlds, garden gaming, mine crafting flowers.... Maybe they have. I'm not in that world.
SketchUp is similar to SmartDraw at first glance, I did find it useful but it's very far from the beauty Monty used in BGSS and I couldn't find many plants. My drawing ended up pretty basic. Yes, the water feature was there but the plants around it looked nothing like what's supposed to be in real life which defies the purpose. It was definitely useful for drawing the paths and bridge, deck too. But in terms of materials, on the limited side.
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Yes, it'd be definitely a lucrative endeavor if someone offered a comprehensive yet user friendly garden design app/program/extension.
I really like the Small Blue Printer, thank you for the suggestion!
I've tried to google which program/app Monty uses and have been through a lot of Google pages with no success. I presume it's a truly professional one.