Overview

Harvest tracking is where all your logging effort pays off. Every harvest event you record with a weight, quality rating, and photo contributes to a growing dataset that answers the questions every gardener asks: How much did I grow? Which varieties performed best? Was it worth the investment?

garden.gg transforms raw harvest data into actionable insights through dashboards, comparisons, heatmaps, projections, and ROI calculations.

Logging Harvests

The Basics

Every harvest event requires a weight in grams. This is the single most important data point in garden.gg’s analytics system. Grams are the base unit — the app converts to your preferred display unit (ounces, pounds, kilograms) based on your account settings.

To log a harvest:

1. Navigate to the plot or plant you are harvesting from
2. Tap Add Event and select Harvest
3. Enter the weight in grams (or your preferred unit — it converts automatically)
4. Optionally add a quality rating, photos, and notes
5. Save

Quality Ratings

Rate each harvest from 1 to 5 stars:

Quality ratings are optional but highly valuable for variety comparisons. A variety that produces more weight but lower quality may not be the best choice.

Photos

Adding a photo to a harvest event earns a 20 XP bonus and creates a visual record of your harvest. On mobile, take the photo directly from the event form. Tips for good harvest photos:

• Include something for scale (a hand, a ruler, a known object)
• Photograph the harvest on a neutral background
• For quantity, arrange items so they are all visible
• Capture any quality issues (splits, blossom end rot, pest damage) for your records

Notes

Use notes to record information that does not fit in structured fields:

• Flavor observations: “Sweetest cherry tomatoes of the season”
• Growing conditions: “Harvested after a week of rain, slight splitting”
• Usage: “Made 3 quarts of marinara from this batch”
• Comparisons: “Much larger fruit than the same variety last year”

Dashboard Totals

The harvest dashboard gives you a comprehensive view of your garden’s productivity.

By Plant Type

See total harvest weight broken down by plant type. This answers the fundamental question: “How much of each crop did I grow?”

The plant type view shows:

• Total weight harvested per plant type
• Number of harvest events
• Average weight per harvest
• Percentage of total garden output
• A bar chart comparing all plant types

By Plot

Compare productivity across your growing areas. The plot view reveals:

• Total weight harvested from each plot
• Yield per square foot (if plot dimensions are set)
• Number of active plants per plot
• Harvest events per plot

This data helps you identify your most productive growing areas and make decisions about plot expansion, soil improvement, or crop rotation.

By Month

The monthly view shows your harvest timeline across the season:

• Monthly harvest totals in a bar chart
• Cumulative harvest line showing total growth
• Comparison to previous months
• Peak harvest month highlighted

Most gardens see a classic bell curve: small harvests in early summer, peak in July-August, tapering off in fall. Your specific curve depends on your zone, crops, and climate.

Variety Comparisons

One of the most powerful features for improving your garden year over year. Variety comparisons answer: “Which variety should I plant next season?”

How It Works

When you grow multiple varieties of the same plant type (e.g., three kinds of tomatoes), garden.gg automatically generates comparison data:

• Total weight per variety: Which variety produced the most overall?
• Average weight per harvest: Which variety gives bigger individual harvests?
• Harvests per plant: Which variety is most prolific?
• Quality ratings: Which variety consistently rates highest?
• Days to first harvest: Which variety produces earliest?
• Harvest window: How long does each variety produce?

Example Comparison

Suppose you grew three tomato varieties in the same raised bed:

This comparison tells a clear story: Roma produced the most weight per plant but had lower quality ratings. Sun Gold was the earliest and highest quality but lowest volume. Cherokee Purple was a strong all-around performer.

Multi-Season Comparisons

If you have used garden.gg for more than one season, variety comparisons can span years. See how the same variety performs in different seasons, different plots, or different growing conditions.

Harvest Timeline

The harvest timeline provides daily, weekly, and monthly views of your harvesting activity.

Daily View

A calendar-style display showing harvest events per day. Each day shows:

• Number of harvest events
• Total weight harvested
• Color intensity based on harvest volume (lighter = less, darker = more)

Weekly View

Aggregate harvest data by week:

• Total weight per week
• Number of harvest events per week
• Comparison to the previous week (up/down trend)
• Running cumulative total

Monthly View

The broadest view, ideal for season-level analysis:

• Monthly totals with year-over-year comparison
• Peak month identification
• Seasonal patterns across crop types

Peak Week Heatmap

The peak week heatmap is a visual highlight of your harvest calendar. It shows a color-coded grid where each cell represents a day and the color intensity indicates harvest volume.

Reading the Heatmap

• Light cells: Low or no harvest activity
• Medium cells: Average harvest days
• Dark cells: High harvest volume days
• Highlighted border: Your single highest harvest day of the season

The heatmap helps you identify:

• When your garden enters peak production
• Whether your harvest is concentrated or spread out
• Gaps in harvesting that might indicate missed produce

Using the Heatmap for Planning

Review last season’s heatmap when planning the current season. If your peak was too concentrated, consider succession planting to spread harvests over a longer window. If there were gaps, add varieties that fill those time periods.

Yield Projections

Based on your historical data, garden.gg projects future harvest yields for your active plants.

How Projections Work

Projections use:

• Your past harvest data for the same plant type and variety
• The plant’s days to maturity from the database
• The current lifecycle stage of each active plant
• Seasonal adjustments based on your hardiness zone

Projections are displayed as a range (low estimate to high estimate) and become more accurate as you accumulate more data across seasons.

Projection Accuracy

Projections are most accurate when:

• You have at least one full season of data for the variety
• Growing conditions are similar to previous seasons
• The plant variety and plot type match historical records

First-season projections use database averages and are less tailored to your specific garden.

ROI Tracking

Available on Bloom and Harvest plans.

ROI (Return on Investment) tracking compares the cost of your garden inputs against the market value of your harvests. It answers the perennial question: “Is my garden saving me money?”

Logging Expenses

To calculate ROI, log your garden expenses:

1. Go to Garden > Expenses (or the expenses tab on mobile)
2. Tap Add Expense
3. Enter the amount, category, and optional notes

Expense categories include:

• Seeds: Seed packets, seed starting supplies
• Soil & Amendments: Potting mix, compost, fertilizer, lime
• Tools & Equipment: Hoses, pruners, stakes, trellises, cages
• Water: Estimated water cost (if metered)
• Infrastructure: Raised bed materials, greenhouse cost, containers
• Other: Anything else garden-related

You can assign expenses to a specific plot, a specific garden, or leave them as general expenses.

Market Value of Harvests

garden.gg includes built-in 2026 produce prices based on national grocery store averages. When you log a harvest, the system automatically calculates the market value of what you picked.

Prices are updated periodically and represent conventional (non-organic) grocery prices. For organic comparisons, garden.gg includes a separate organic price tier that you can select in your settings.

Example market values (2026 national averages):

ROI Calculations

garden.gg calculates ROI at three levels:

Per-Plant ROI

The market value of all harvests from a single plant minus the proportional cost of inputs for that plant.

Plant ROI = Market Value of Harvests - (Plot Expenses / Number of Plants)

Per-Plot ROI

Total market value of all harvests from a plot minus all expenses assigned to that plot.

Plot ROI = Total Harvest Value - Plot Expenses

Garden ROI

The big picture: total market value of all harvests from all gardens minus all expenses across all gardens.

Garden ROI = Total Harvest Value - Total Expenses

ROI Dashboard

The ROI dashboard shows:

• Overall ROI: A single number showing whether you are net positive or negative
• ROI by plot: Which plots are paying for themselves?
• ROI by plant type: Which crops provide the best return?
• Monthly ROI: How ROI accumulates over the season
• Break-even projection: When in the season your garden’s harvest value exceeds your expenses
• Year-over-year ROI: Compare across seasons

Tips for Improving ROI

• Grow high-value crops: Herbs, tomatoes, and peppers have high market value relative to growing cost
• Minimize infrastructure costs: Reuse containers, build beds from reclaimed materials
• Start from seed: Seeds cost a fraction of transplants
• Grow what you actually eat: The best ROI comes from produce that replaces grocery purchases

Data Export

Available on Harvest plan.

Export your harvest data for external analysis, record-keeping, or sharing.

Export Formats

• CSV: Spreadsheet-compatible format with one row per harvest event
• JSON: Structured data format for programmatic processing

What is Exported

Export files include:

• Event date and time
• Plant type and variety
• Plot name
• Weight (in grams and your display unit)
• Quality rating
• Notes
• Market value (if ROI tracking is enabled)

How to Export

1. Go to Garden > Analytics > Export
2. Select the date range
3. Choose your format (CSV or JSON)
4. Click Download

Exports can be filtered by garden, plot, plant type, or date range before downloading.

API Reference

List Harvests

GET /api/v1/gardens/{garden_id}/harvests?from=2026-06-01&to=2026-09-30

Harvest Analytics

GET /api/v1/gardens/{garden_id}/analytics/harvests?group_by=plant_type&period=monthly

Response:

{
  "period": "monthly",
  "data": [
    {
      "month": "2026-07",
      "groups": [
        {
          "plant_type": "Tomato",
          "total_weight_grams": 12500,
          "harvest_count": 18,
          "avg_quality": 4.2
        },
        {
          "plant_type": "Pepper",
          "total_weight_grams": 3200,
          "harvest_count": 12,
          "avg_quality": 3.8
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Variety Comparison

GET /api/v1/gardens/{garden_id}/analytics/variety-comparison?plant_type=tomato

Next Steps

• Seed Inventory: Track your seed collection from purchase to planting
• Companion Planting: Optimize your plot layout with companion planting data
• Environment Monitoring: Track growing conditions and correlate with yields