This weekend will see the Met Office linking up with sites across the world for the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

Challenges from Met Office employees have been accepted, including Growers Nation submitted by Selena Georgiou a Radar Products Scientist.

Grower’s Nation is an app to determine what produce to grow and when given the soil type and current seasonal conditions

This app aims to get more people around the world involved and enthusiastic about growing produce sustainably. This would be done by using the available space in their gardens, school or university grounds or work places that are not currently being used to their potential. This would be displayed on a map that enables people to see quickly and easily when the optimal time for planting seeds is in their local area, and what can be planted, dependent on local soil type.

The eventual aim is to make it an interactive app, with local produce growing enthusiasts contributing to a database of easily accessible and categorised tips and advice resulting from their gardening experiences.

The development of this app will make use of a range of data including climatology, short and longer term weather forecasts, soil type, soil moisture measurements and satellite derived evapotranspiration.