Tracking & Logging
Record your garden activity with planting logs, milestone tracking, and status updates in MyVeggieGarden.
The daily heartbeat of MyVeggieGarden is logging — recording what happens in your garden so the app can learn from your experience.
Plants vs. Plantings
Understanding this distinction is key:
- A Plant is a reusable variety template — "Cherokee Purple Tomato" exists once in your library
- A Planting is one attempt to grow that plant, in a specific zone, in a specific season
You might plant Cherokee Purple Tomatoes in your back bed in 2025 and your front bed in 2026. That's one plant, two plantings.
Creating a log entry
Click on any planting to open the planting drawer. Each log entry can include:
| Field | What it captures | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Date | When this happened | Yes |
| Notes | What you observed or did | No, but highly recommended |
| Status | Health assessment (Good, Fair, Poor) | No |
| Milestone | Lifecycle phase (Germinated, Flowering, etc.) | No |
Notes are the most valuable field
Your notes are what the AI reads when planning next season. Write like you're leaving a message for future-you:
- "Transplanted outdoors, 6 inches tall, soil temp 55°F"
- "Powdery mildew starting on lower leaves, sprayed neem"
- "First ripe fruit! About 3 weeks later than last year"
The more context you capture, the smarter your future plans become.
Status: How is it doing?
Status is a quick health assessment — think of it like a check-in:
- Good — Thriving, on track
- Fair — Alive but struggling, needs attention
- Poor — In trouble, may not make it
Status is shown as colored circles on zone cards (inspired by Linear's status indicators). You can see at a glance which plantings need attention.
Milestones: What stage is it in?
Milestones track lifecycle phases — the progression from seed to harvest to removal.
Common milestones:
- Germinated
- First true leaves
- Transplanted outdoors
- Flowering
- First fruit
- Harvesting
- Removed
- Winterized
When you tag a log entry with a milestone, you're recording when that planting reached that phase. Over time, this data helps the app predict timelines for future seasons.
See Milestones for the full guide.
Planting lifecycle
Every planting follows a lifecycle:
- Planned — You've added it but haven't logged anything yet
- Active — Has at least one log entry
- Winterized — Dormant for winter (perennials). Creates a linked planting next season.
- Removed — Done for the season. Moves to history.
Tips for effective logging
- Log regularly — Even a quick "looking good, 2 inches of growth" is valuable
- Note the weather — "95°F all week, wilting despite watering" helps explain patterns
- Record problems early — "Spotted aphids on lower stems" is more useful than "aphids destroyed everything"
- Capture quantities — "Harvested 4 lbs" or "picked 12 tomatoes" helps with yield tracking
Frequently asked questions
Why does the app separate plants from plantings?
So your history compounds. "Cherokee Purple Tomato" exists once as a template, but every time you grow it — in different zones, different years — each attempt has its own logs and performance data. After a few seasons, you can compare how the same variety did in different conditions.
What's the most important thing to include in a log entry?
Conditions and context, not just what you did. "Transplanted 6 seedlings, 8 inches tall, soil temp 62F, overcast" helps you adjust timing next year. "Planted tomatoes" doesn't. Date is required; notes are where the real value is.
Can I log from the planting drawer?
Yes — click any planting to open its drawer. You'll see the full timeline, status history, tasks, and the log form all in one place. You can also use Ask AI to query that planting's history.
Related
- Milestones — Deep dive into lifecycle phases
- Tasks and timelines — How logging connects to task completion
- End-of-season review — How logs feed the reflection process