About GardenMathLab
A garden lab, not a garden magazine. We turn the most-asked garden questions into numbers you can trust — in about 30 seconds.
Why this site exists
Every spring, millions of gardeners ask the same handful of questions: How much soil does this bed need? When do I start these seeds? How much mulch is enough? The answers are math — simple, checkable math — but most gardening sites bury them under ten paragraphs of preamble.
GardenMathLab does the opposite. Each page starts with the answer, then shows the working, like a lab worksheet: the question, the numbers, the formula, the result. If a number looks odd, you can see exactly where it came from.
The lab method
The question
Every tool and guide starts with one real gardener’s question.
The number
The answer first — big, clear, in an amber box you can’t miss.
The working
Formula, assumptions and sources, printed underneath. Check us.
The answer
What to buy, what to do next — the practical bit, no fluff.
Where the numbers come from
Our mix ratios, spacing guidance and planting logic are cross-checked against US cooperative extension services (the university-backed gardening authorities) and NOAA climate data. We state our assumptions on every tool page, and we round up where it matters — bags of soil, settling, and the like.
What we are not
- We are not a 300-tool directory. Five excellent calculators beat three hundred thin ones.
- We have no accounts, no sign-ups and no tracking of your garden plans — calculations happen in your browser.
- We are not a substitute for local advice. Your county extension office knows your soil better than any website.
What’s next
We are building five tools and thirty guides, published in batches. First up: the Raised Bed Soil Calculator, the Seed Starting Calendar, the Mulch Calculator, the Compost Mix Balancer and the Garden Watering Scheduler — each paired with in-depth guides.