Creating Your First Garden
When you register for TilthIQ, a personal garden is automatically created for you so you can start adding plantings right away. This article walks you through setting up your garden properly.
Your Auto-Created Garden
After signing up, TilthIQ creates a default garden named "My Garden." You can rename it and add a description by navigating to Gardens > My Gardens and clicking the edit icon next to your garden name.
Good garden names are specific and descriptive: "Backyard Raised Beds," "Front Yard Veggie Patch," or "Balcony Container Garden" all immediately tell you what is in scope.
Adding Garden Locations
Garden locations are the physical growing spaces inside your garden — raised bed spots, containers, rows, or any defined area. TilthIQ supports a flexible naming convention:
- Raised bed spots — e.g.,
B1-A-1(Block 1, Row A, Spot 1) - Containers — e.g.,
5-Gal Bag 1,25-Gal Bag 3,Circle Pot 2 - In-ground rows — name them however fits your layout
To add locations, navigate to Gardens > Locations and use the + Add Location button. You can add locations individually or use the bulk-add tool for raised bed grids.
Tip: Add all your locations before creating plantings. It is much faster to assign each planting to the correct spot when the dropdown is already populated.
Setting Your Zip Code
Your zip code powers two important features:
- Weather Widget — the Dashboard weather widget shows current conditions and a 7-day forecast for your local area
- Growing Zone — TilthIQ uses your zip code to determine your USDA hardiness zone, last frost date, and first frost date
To set your zip code, go to Account > Profile and enter it in the Zip Code field. Save your profile and the weather widget will appear on your Dashboard within seconds.
Free Plan Garden Limits
The Free plan allows 1 garden with up to 20 plantings — enough to track a modest home garden through a full season.
When you are ready for more, upgrading to Garden Pro unlocks:
- Unlimited gardens and plantings
- The Garden AI assistant
- Growing zone and frost date features
- PDF export and advanced planning tools
Next Steps
Once your garden is configured:
- Add your garden bed and container locations
- Browse the Plant Database under Planning to see available plants
- Add your first planting using + New Planting
- Check the Crop Plan Timeline to see your season laid out visually
Tip: If you are migrating from a spreadsheet or paper notebook, add all your locations first, then quickly create plantings by working through each location row by row.