About
About
As a plant lover, I have accumulated (too many) plants, making it challenging to keep track of their individual needs. To manage them more efficiently, I built Plant-it, an app designed to streamline plant care by tracking watering schedules, fertilization, and other essential tasks.
Plant-it allows users to organize their plant collection, log care activities, and set reminders to ensure plants receive proper attention. With the ability to capture growth progress through photos, it becomes easier to appreciate how each plant thrives over time.
At its core, Beauty Boss is designed to simplify business management for beauticians, ensuring they can focus on delivering great services rather than getting caught up in administrative tasks. Whether managing client details, tracking appointments, or analyzing business performance, the app provides an all-in-one solution to streamline operations.
Plant-it simplifies plant care by offering a structured way to track your collection and automate reminders. Whether you are an experienced gardener or just starting out, the app helps ensure that plants receive the right care at the right time. With Plant-it, you can effortlessly organize your garden, document growth progress, and explore new species to expand your collection.
Home Dashboard: View your plant collection at a glance, track recent care actions, and get an overview of ongoing plant maintenance.
Search & Add Plants: Look up existing species in the database or create a custom entry for unique plants that are not listed.
Plant Details: Access all essential information about each plant in your collection, including its care history and notes.
Reminders & Scheduling: Set and manage reminders for plant care tasks, ensuring timely watering, fertilization, and maintenance.
When I first started working on Plant-it, I began by sketching out rough mockups on paper to visualize how I wanted the app to look and function. This helped me clarify the user experience and core features before writing any code.
The initial version of Plant-it was built using ReactJS, as I was already familiar with JavaScript. React provided a great structure for the frontend, allowing smooth interactions and a modular approach. Since the app needed to store plant data, I built a backend service using Java with Spring Boot, which handled all database operations and API requests. Both the frontend and backend were then containerized using Docker, making deployment easier. The images were made available on DockerHub and GitHub Packages, ensuring accessibility for anyone who wanted to self-host the project.
As the project evolved and feedback from users started coming in, I realized that shifting to a different technology could improve the app's flexibility and future scalability. After some research, I decided to rewrite the app in Flutter—a new framework for me at the time. Learning Flutter was a challenge, but it turned out to be a great decision. It allowed me to refine the user experience and develop a more cohesive app while also expanding my skill set.
Plant-it's community has grown significantly, with over 750 stars on GitHub and a steadily increasing number of contributors and users. This engagement has been incredibly motivating, and I'm excited about the next steps in the project.
One of the main goals moving forward is to simplify the deployment process. Right now, Plant-it relies on a backend service for data storage, but I plan to transition it into a fully standalone app, removing the need for a separate backend. This will make it easier to set up and use, especially for users who prefer an offline-first experience.
Another improvement on the roadmap is a UI refactoring, taking the opportunity to enhance the design while making navigation even more intuitive.
Additionally, I want to include a built-in plant species database directly within the app. Right now, species information is fetched from external APIs, but these services are often unstable or get shut down due to cost limitations. By embedding a curated species database inside the app, users will always have access to plant information without relying on an external source.
In the meantime, feel free to star and use the app!
