Overview

Events are the heartbeat of garden.gg. Every time you water a bed, pull a tomato off the vine, spread fertilizer, or spot a pest, logging that event creates a record that powers analytics, gamification, and season-over-season comparisons. The more consistently you log, the more valuable garden.gg becomes.

This guide covers every event type, the different ways to log events, and tips for building a consistent logging habit.

Event Types

garden.gg supports 12 event types that cover the full range of garden activities:

Watering

Record when you water a plot or individual plant. Watering events are the most frequent type for most gardeners and are essential for tracking irrigation patterns.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: amount (gallons/liters), method (hose, drip, rain), notes
  • Tip: Use batch logging to record watering across multiple plots at once

Harvest

Log every harvest with weight, quality, and photos. Harvest events feed into yield analytics, ROI calculations, and variety comparisons.

  • XP earned: 15 per event
  • Required fields: weight (grams)
  • Optional fields: quality rating (1-5 stars), photos, notes
  • Tip: Keep a kitchen scale near your harvest basket for quick weighing

Fertilize

Record fertilizer applications to track nutrient inputs over time.

  • XP earned: 10 per event
  • Optional fields: fertilizer type/brand, NPK ratio, amount, application method
  • Tip: Note the NPK ratio so you can correlate with plant performance later

Prune

Log pruning sessions to track how plant maintenance affects growth and yield.

  • XP earned: 10 per event
  • Optional fields: pruning type (topping, defoliation, sucker removal), notes, photos
  • Tip: Before-and-after photos make pruning logs especially useful for review

Sow

Record when you sow seeds directly into a plot. This is different from adding a plant — sowing creates an event on an existing plant record.

  • XP earned: 10 per event
  • Optional fields: depth, spacing, seed count, notes
  • Tip: Link sow events to seeds in your inventory for automatic quantity tracking

Transplant

Log when you move a seedling from a nursery tray, pot, or indoor setup into its final plot location.

  • XP earned: 10 per event
  • Optional fields: source location, root condition, hardening-off status, notes
  • Tip: Record whether the plant was hardened off to correlate with transplant success rates

Pest Treatment

Document pest issues and the treatments you apply.

  • XP earned: 10 per event
  • Optional fields: pest type, treatment product, application method, severity (low/medium/high), photos
  • Tip: Always photograph pest damage — it helps with identification and tracks whether treatments are working

Note

A general-purpose event for observations that do not fit other categories. Use notes for weather observations, growth milestones, or anything you want to remember.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: text content, photos
  • Tip: Notes are great for recording “first flower” or “first fruit” dates

Mulch

Record when you add or refresh mulch around plants or across a plot.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: mulch type (straw, wood chips, leaves, plastic), depth, area covered
  • Tip: Track mulch applications to see how they affect watering frequency

Weed

Log weeding sessions to track time spent and weed pressure over the season.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: time spent, weed types noted, notes
  • Tip: Consistent weed logging reveals which plots need mulch or ground cover

Train

Record plant training activities like staking, trellising, tying, or cage installation.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: training method, materials used, notes, photos
  • Tip: Training events are especially valuable for indeterminate tomatoes, cucumbers, and climbing beans

Thin

Log thinning events when you remove excess seedlings to give remaining plants proper spacing.

  • XP earned: 5 per event
  • Optional fields: seedlings removed count, spacing achieved, notes
  • Tip: Record how many seedlings you thin to improve your sowing density next season

Quick Log

The fastest way to record an event is the Quick Log button on your dashboard. Quick Log is designed for the most common scenario: you just watered a bed and want to record it in five seconds.

How Quick Log Works

  1. Tap Quick Log on the dashboard or a plot card
  2. Select the event type from the icon bar
  3. If triggered from the dashboard, select the plot (if triggered from a plot, it is pre-selected)
  4. Tap Save

That is it. The event is recorded with the current timestamp and your selected plot. No photos, no notes, no extra fields — just the essential record.

When to Use Quick Log

Quick Log is best for:

  • Routine watering events
  • Quick weeding or mulching sessions
  • Any event where you do not need to attach additional data

For harvests, pest treatments, or any event where details matter, use the detailed logging flow instead.

Detailed Logging

For events that need more context, use the full event form. Access it by:

  • Tapping Add Event inside a plot or plant view
  • Selecting Detailed mode after choosing Quick Log
  • Tapping any event type from the plot’s event tab

Adding Photos

Every event type supports photo attachments. On iOS and Android, you can take photos directly from the event form using your device camera. On the web, upload from your file system.

Photos are stored in your account and displayed in the event timeline. They are especially valuable for:

  • Tracking plant growth over time (take a photo of the same plant weekly)
  • Documenting pest damage before and after treatment
  • Recording harvest quality
  • Capturing the visual state of your garden at key moments

XP bonus: Adding a photo to any event earns an additional 20 XP on top of the event’s base XP.

Adding Notes

Free-text notes let you capture context that structured fields cannot. Good notes include:

  • Weather conditions (“Watered extra after 95F day, soil was bone dry”)
  • Observations (“Lower leaves yellowing, possible nitrogen deficiency”)
  • Reminders (“Check back in 3 days to see if treatment worked”)
  • Measurements (“Plant is 24 inches tall, 6 inches of new growth this week”)

Recording Quantities

Certain event types support quantity fields:

  • Harvest: Weight in grams (required). garden.gg uses grams as the base unit and converts to pounds/ounces or kilograms for display based on your preferences.
  • Fertilize: Amount in your preferred unit (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, ounces, grams)
  • Watering: Volume in gallons or liters (optional)
  • Thin: Number of seedlings removed

Setting Timestamps

By default, events are logged with the current date and time. You can backdate events if you are catching up on logging:

  • Today earlier: Set a specific time earlier today
  • Yesterday: Quick shortcut for events you forgot to log
  • Custom date: Pick any past date from the calendar

Events cannot be set to future dates. For scheduling future tasks, use the task/reminder system instead.

Harvest Events in Detail

Harvests deserve special attention because they drive some of garden.gg’s most valuable features: yield analytics, variety comparisons, and ROI tracking.

What to Record

At minimum, record the weight in grams for every harvest. This is the single most important data point for analytics. Beyond weight, consider adding:

  • Quality rating (1-5 stars): How good was this harvest? Were the tomatoes perfect or split? Was the lettuce crisp or bolting?
  • Photos: Visual record of your harvest
  • Notes: Flavor observations, size, anything notable

Why Weight Matters

Weight is the universal metric that makes all analytics possible:

  • Total harvest: How many pounds of food did your garden produce this season?
  • Yield per square foot: Which plots are most productive?
  • Variety comparison: Did Cherokee Purple or Brandywine produce more per plant?
  • ROI: Compare the market value of your harvests against your expenses
  • Year-over-year: Are you improving season after season?

Tips for Accurate Weighing

  • Keep a kitchen scale in your garden shed or near your back door
  • Weigh harvests before washing (water weight skews numbers)
  • For small harvests like herbs, batch them and divide the weight
  • For large harvests, weigh in a known container and subtract the container weight

Batch Events

When you water all your raised beds at once or fertilize the entire garden, logging individual events for each plot is tedious. Batch events solve this.

How Batch Events Work

  1. Start logging any event type
  2. Instead of selecting a single plot, tap Select Multiple
  3. Check all the plots that received this action
  4. Fill in the event details once
  5. Save — garden.gg creates individual events for each selected plot

The details (notes, photos, timestamps) are shared across all events in the batch, but each plot gets its own event record. This means your per-plot analytics stay accurate.

Best Practices for Batch Events

  • Use batch logging for watering and fertilizing — these are the most common multi-plot activities
  • Avoid batching harvests, since weight and quality differ per plot
  • Batch events still count individually for XP — watering 5 plots in a batch earns 25 XP (5 XP x 5 plots)

Event History

Every event you log is preserved in a searchable timeline. Access the event history from:

  • Plot view: See all events for a specific plot
  • Plant view: See all events for a specific plant
  • Garden view: See all events across the garden
  • Global timeline: See all events across all gardens

Filtering Events

The event timeline supports filtering by:

  • Event type: Show only harvests, only watering, or any combination
  • Date range: Focus on a specific week, month, or custom range
  • Plot: Filter to a single plot within a garden
  • Plant: Filter to a single plant

Editing and Deleting Events

Made a mistake? Events can be edited or deleted at any time:

  • Edit: Change the event type, details, photos, or timestamp
  • Delete: Permanently remove the event (XP earned from the event is also removed)

Editing is preferable to deleting and re-creating, since it preserves the original event ID and any references to it.

Mobile Logging

The iOS and Android apps are optimized for logging events in the field, where most garden activity happens.

Camera Integration

Both mobile apps provide direct camera access from the event form. Tap the camera icon to:

  • Take a new photo and attach it immediately
  • Select an existing photo from your camera roll
  • Take multiple photos for a single event

Photos are uploaded in the background so you can continue logging without waiting.

Offline Support

If you are in an area with poor connectivity (common in large gardens or rural properties), the mobile apps queue events locally and sync when a connection is available. You will see a sync indicator showing how many events are pending upload.

Quick Log Widget

On iOS, add the garden.gg widget to your home screen for one-tap access to Quick Log. The widget shows your current streak status and a Quick Log button for your most recent plot.

Building a Logging Habit

The gardeners who get the most value from garden.gg are the ones who log consistently. Here are strategies for building the habit:

Log Immediately

The best time to log an event is right after you do it. Carry your phone while gardening and log as you go. Waiting until the end of the day means forgotten details and missed events.

Use Streak Motivation

Your daily streak is a powerful motivator. Logging at least one event per day keeps your streak alive and earns bonus XP at milestone days (7, 30, 100). The streak counter on your dashboard is a constant reminder.

Set Reminders

Enable push notifications for daily logging reminders. Set the reminder for a time when you are typically in the garden — early morning or evening for most gardeners.

Start with Watering

If logging everything feels overwhelming, start with just watering events. They are the most frequent activity and take seconds to log. Once the habit is established, expand to other event types.

Review Weekly

Spend five minutes each weekend reviewing your event history. Seeing the timeline fill up with data is motivating, and you will often catch events you forgot to log.

API Reference

For developers integrating with garden.gg, events are managed through the events API:

Create an Event

POST /api/v1/plots/{plot_id}/events
{
  "type": "harvest",
  "plant_id": "plt_xyz789",
  "weight_grams": 450,
  "quality_rating": 4,
  "notes": "First big harvest of the season. Great flavor.",
  "occurred_at": "2026-07-15T08:30:00Z"
}

List Events

GET /api/v1/plots/{plot_id}/events?type=harvest&from=2026-07-01&to=2026-07-31

Batch Create

POST /api/v1/events/batch
{
  "type": "watering",
  "plot_ids": ["plt_001", "plt_002", "plt_003"],
  "notes": "Morning watering, all beds",
  "occurred_at": "2026-07-15T07:00:00Z"
}

Next Steps

Now that you know how to log events, learn how those events translate into rewards: