🌱 Beet Anything

Intelligent Garden Planning with Crop Rotation, Companion Planting & Pest Protection

A modern, self-contained Progressive Web App for planning your vegetable garden across multiple years, considering crop rotation rules, companion planting relationships, and natural pest protection strategies.

A vibe coding project

Version: 1.2 Easy Layout
Last Updated: February 2025
Status: Production Ready
Languages: English, German, Italian
File: beet-anything.html (single-file PWA)
GitHub: https://github.com/schatzl/beet-anything
License: Free for any use - Personal, commercial, educational, or otherwise.
Live Demo: Beet Anything

---

✨ Key Features

🏡 Manual Garden Planning

• Multi-year tracking: Plan unlimited years, view complete planting history
• Flexible bed management: Create unlimited beds, assign multiple vegetables per bed
• Wishlist system: Build your planting wishlist and get AI-powered suggestions
• Year rotation wizard: Automatically rotate last year's crops with optimal bed assignments
• Smart crop rotation: Warns about same family planting in consecutive years
• Companion planting: Shows beneficial and incompatible plant relationships

🧮 Easy Layout Optimizer

• Automated planning: AI-powered optimization of bed layouts
• Two modes:
  • Fresh Garden: Start from scratch with selected plants
  • Fit to Current: Respect existing beds and enforce crop rotation
• Intelligent scoring: Evaluates layouts based on:
  • Companion relationships (good/bad)
  • Natural pest protection
  • Nutrition balance (heavy/medium/light feeders)
  • Crop rotation compliance
• Preview before apply: Review optimized layout before committing

🛡️ Pest Protection System

• 35 vegetables & herbs with complete pest profiles
• Natural pest control through companion planting
• Protection relationships: Shows which plants protect others from specific pests
• Vulnerability warnings: Alerts when plants share pest susceptibilities
• Visual indicators: Pest icons and protection badges on each plant

🌍 Fully Internationalized

• 3 languages: English, German, Italian
• 245+ translation keys: Complete UI translation
• Dynamic switching: Change language instantly without reload
• Localized plant names: All vegetables translated

📱 Mobile-First Design

• Progressive Web App: Install on any device
• Touch-optimized: Designed for iPhone, Android, tablets
• Responsive layout: Adapts from phone to desktop
• Offline-capable: Works without internet after first load
• Card-style tabs: Modern, accessible navigation

💾 Data Management

• Auto-save: All changes saved instantly to browser localStorage
• Export/Import: Backup your entire garden as JSON
• Data persistence: Survives browser restarts
• Privacy-focused: All data stays on your device

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Download: Get beet-anything.html from the repository
2. Open: Double-click the file or open in any modern browser
3. Install: Click "Install as App" for native-like experience
4. Plan: Start adding vegetables and planning your garden!

See INSTALLATION.md for detailed setup instructions.

---

📊 Plant Database

35 vegetables & herbs with complete data:

• Family classification (for rotation)
• Nutrition needs (heavy/medium/light feeders)
• Companion relationships (good/bad/neutral)
• Pest vulnerabilities (15 common garden pests)
• Protection abilities (which pests they repel)

Categories:

• Leafy Greens: Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts
• Fruiting: Tomato, Pepper, Chili, Eggplant, Cucumber, Zucchini, Pumpkin
• Legumes: Peas, Beans (Bush & Pole)
• Root Vegetables: Carrot, Beet, Radish, Turnip, Parsnip, Potato
• Alliums: Onion, Garlic, Leek
• Herbs: Basil, Dill, Parsley, Rosemary, Oregano, Sage
• Brassicas: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kohlrabi
• Others: Celery, Corn, Strawberry

---

🎯 How to Use

Manual Planning Workflow

1. Select Year: Use arrows to navigate to desired year
2. Build Wishlist: Add vegetables you want to grow
3. Create Beds: Click "+ Add Garden Bed"
4. Assign Plants: Click "Plant" button next to each bed
5. View Details: Click bed cards to see full companion info
6. Rotate Years: Use "🔄 Rotate Last Year's Plan" for next season

Easy Layout Optimizer Workflow

1. Switch to Easy Layout tab
2. Select Plants: Check vegetables you want to include
3. Choose Mode:
   • Fresh Garden: Ignores existing layout, starts fresh
   • Fit to Current: Respects bed count, enforces rotation
4. Set Constraints: Plants per bed (2-6), number of beds
5. Calculate: Algorithm runs 50 attempts with local optimization
6. Review Results: See score, bed assignments, and reasoning
7. Apply or Recalculate: Accept layout or try again

Year Rotation Wizard

1. Change to next year (e.g., 2024 → 2025)
2. Click "🔄 Rotate Last Year's Plan"
3. Review suggestions: See optimized rotation respecting crop families
4. Apply: Creates beds with rotated crops
5. Adjust manually: Fine-tune as needed

---

🧠 How It Works

Companion Planting Algorithm

Plants are rated as:

• +1: Good companions (mutually beneficial)
• 0: Neutral (no significant interaction)
• -1: Bad companions (incompatible, should avoid)

The system shows:

• ✓ Good companions in green
• ⚠ Neutral companions in gray
• ✗ Bad companions in red

Crop Rotation Logic

Prevents planting same family in consecutive years:

• Brassicaceae (cabbage family)
• Solanaceae (nightshade family)
• Apiaceae (carrot family)
• Fabaceae (legume family)
• Amaranthaceae (beet family)
• Cucurbitaceae (squash family)
• Alliaceae (onion family)

Pest Protection System

Each plant has:

• Vulnerabilities: Which pests attack it
• Protections: Which pests it repels

Visual indicators:

• 🐌 Pest icons show vulnerabilities
• 🛡️ Shield badges show protection abilities

Layout Optimizer Scoring

Per bed evaluation:

• +1 per good companion pair
• -50 per bad companion pair
• +20 per pest protection relationship
• -15 per shared pest vulnerability
• +5 for nutrition balance (mix of feeders)
• -10 if all heavy feeders (soil fatigue risk)

Layout-level penalties:

• -30 per crop rotation violation (same family, consecutive years)

Score interpretation:

• 80-100: Excellent
• 70-79: Very Good
• 60-69: Good
• 50-59: Fair
• <50: Poor (consider recalculating)

Algorithm:

1. Run 50 random attempts
2. For each: Greedy placement + local optimization (up to 20 swaps)
3. Return best-scoring layout

---

🎨 Design Philosophy

Card-Style Tabs

Modern, accessible navigation:

• Active tab: Cream background with green top border (4px)
• Inactive tab: Flat dark background, no rounded corners
• Visual continuity: Active tab flows seamlessly into content panel
• Touch-friendly: Large tap targets (44px minimum)

Color Palette

• Leaf Green (#4A7C59): Primary accent, borders, active states
• Cream (#FAF7F0): Background, active tab
• Soil Dark (#3A2F28): Primary text
• Soil Medium (#8B7355): Secondary text, inactive states
• Sage (#8AA888): Subtle accents

Mobile-First Approach

Responsive breakpoints:

• Desktop (>968px): Two-column layout
• Tablet (481-968px): Single column, optimized spacing
• Phone (<480px): Compact layout, 2-column grids

---

💻 Technical Details

Architecture

Single-file PWA: Everything in one HTML file

• HTML structure
• CSS styling (inline <style>)
• JavaScript logic (inline <script>)
• No external dependencies
• No build process required

Size: ~145 KB (uncompressed)
Lines of code: ~4,300

Browser Requirements

Minimum:

• Chrome/Edge 90+
• Safari 14+
• Firefox 88+

Features used:

• CSS Grid & Flexbox
• ES6+ JavaScript
• localStorage API
• Service Worker (for PWA)

Data Storage

localStorage keys:

• beetAnything_garden: Garden state (beds, plantings)
• beetAnything_wishlist: Wishlist items
• beetAnything_currentYear: Active year
• beetAnything_language: UI language

Export format: JSON (human-readable)

---

🛠️ Development

Project Structure

beet-anything/
├── beet-anything.html          # Main PWA file
├── README.md                   # This file
├── SPECIFICATION.md            # Technical specification
├── INSTALLATION.md             # Setup & deployment guide
└── assets/                     # (optional) Screenshots, icons

Version History

v1.2 - Easy Layout (February 2025)

• Easy Layout Optimizer with AI-powered bed assignments
• Year Rotation Wizard for season-to-season planning
• Card-style tab navigation (Manual Planning | Easy Layout)
• Consolidated wishlist into Manual Planning tab
• Mobile optimizations for iPhone/Android
• 2-tab interface for simplified UX

v1.1 - Pest Protection (February 2025)

• Comprehensive pest protection system
• 35 vegetables & herbs with pest profiles
• Natural pest control through companion planting
• Visual pest indicators and protection badges
• Mobile-optimized tooltips

v1.0 - Foundation (February 2025)

• Multi-year garden planning
• 30 vegetables with companion data
• Crop rotation warnings
• Trilingual support (EN/DE/IT)
• PWA installation
• Export/import functionality

---

📄 License

Free for any use - Personal, commercial, educational, or otherwise.

No restrictions, no attribution required (though appreciated!).

---

🤝 Contributing

This is a personal vibe coding project, but suggestions and improvements are welcome:

1. Fork the repository
2. Make your changes
3. Test thoroughly (especially mobile devices)
4. Submit a pull request

Areas for contribution:

• Additional vegetables/herbs
• More companion relationships
• Additional language translations
• Bug fixes
• Mobile optimizations

---

📞 Contact

Project: github.com/schatzl/beet-anything
Live Demo: target23.de/beet-anything.html

---

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with:

• Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
• CSS Grid & Flexbox
• localStorage for persistence
• Inter font family (system fallback)

Inspired by the need for a simple, privacy-focused garden planning tool that works offline and respects user data sovereignty.

---

Happy Gardening! 🌱🥕🍅