Best Garden Tracking Apps (2026)
Tracking what you grow — sowing dates, variety notes, harvests, what worked and what did not — is how you get better at gardening each year. Here is an honest look at the apps that actually help you do that.
Last updated February 2026
Quick picks
- Best overall tracker: Leaftide — vegetables, fruit trees, and perennials in one place
- Best for crop rotation records: GrowVeg — tracks what grew where across seasons
- Best for plant care reminders: Gardenmate — good for ornamentals and houseplants
- Best for plant ID: Garden Answers — quick identification from photos
- Best analogue option: A paper notebook — no subscription, no data loss
Leaftide
Best for tracking your whole garden across seasons
Pricing: Free tier available. £5/month or £45/year for premium.
Pros
- ✓ Tracks annual vegetables and permanent plants (fruit trees, shrubs, perennials) in one place
- ✓ Season-by-season plant records with sowing dates, variety notes, and outcomes
- ✓ Harvest predictions based on growing degree days for your location
- ✓ Care routines and pruning schedules for permanent plants
- ✓ Garden journal for notes, observations, and photos
- ✓ Your data stays accessible on the free tier — no lock-in
Cons
- ✗ No offline mode
- ✗ Mobile experience is functional but not as polished as dedicated mobile apps
Gardenmate
Best mobile app for plant identification and care reminders
Pricing: Free with ads. Premium around $2.99/month.
Pros
- ✓ Plant identification from photos
- ✓ Care reminders for houseplants and garden plants
- ✓ Large plant database
- ✓ Clean mobile interface
Cons
- ✗ Focused on individual plant care, not garden-level planning
- ✗ No sowing calendar or planting schedule
- ✗ No seasonal tracking or year-on-year records
- ✗ Not designed for vegetable growing
GrowVeg
Best for tracking annual vegetable beds with rotation history
Pricing: $29–35/year. No free tier after trial.
Pros
- ✓ Tracks crop rotation history across beds
- ✓ Planting calendar with sowing and harvest dates
- ✓ Good visual record of what grew where
Cons
- ✗ No tracking for fruit trees or permanent plants
- ✗ Data is lost if you cancel your subscription
- ✗ No harvest prediction or growing degree day calculations
- ✗ No garden journal or photo notes
Garden Answers
Best for plant identification on the go
Pricing: Free with in-app purchases.
Pros
- ✓ Fast plant identification from photos
- ✓ Pest and disease diagnosis
- ✓ Large community Q&A
Cons
- ✗ Not a tracking app — no records, schedules, or history
- ✗ No garden planning features
- ✗ Identification accuracy varies
Paper garden journal
Best for gardeners who prefer analogue records
Pricing: Cost of a notebook.
Pros
- ✓ No subscription, no app updates, no data loss
- ✓ Flexible — track exactly what matters to you
- ✓ Satisfying to flip back through old seasons
Cons
- ✗ No reminders or scheduling
- ✗ Hard to search or filter past records
- ✗ Easy to lose or damage
- ✗ No climate data or predictions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app for tracking your garden?
Leaftide is the best garden tracking app for most gardeners in 2026. It tracks annual vegetables and permanent plants like fruit trees in one place, keeps season-by-season records, and predicts harvests based on growing degree days for your specific location. It has a free tier with no time limit.
What should a garden tracking app record?
A good garden tracking app should record sowing and planting dates, variety names, locations in the garden, care events (watering, feeding, pruning), harvest dates and quantities, and notes on what worked and what did not. For permanent plants like fruit trees, it should also track age, pruning history, and annual yields.
Can I track fruit trees and perennials in a garden app?
Most garden apps focus on annual vegetables and do not support permanent plants. Leaftide is the main exception — it has a dedicated section for tracking fruit trees, berry bushes, shrubs, and other perennials with pruning schedules, care routines, and year-on-year records.
Is there a free garden tracking app?
Leaftide has a free tier with no time limit. Gardenmate and Garden Answers are also free with optional paid upgrades. GrowVeg requires a paid subscription after a 7-day trial.
How do I track what I planted and when?
The simplest approach is a garden tracking app that lets you log each plant with its sowing date, variety, and location. Leaftide does this for both annual vegetables and permanent plants, and keeps a season-by-season history so you can compare results year to year.
What is the difference between a garden planner and a garden tracker?
A garden planner helps you decide what to grow and when to sow it. A garden tracker records what you actually did — sowing dates, care events, harvests, and observations. The best tools do both. Leaftide combines planning (planting windows, plot designer) with tracking (plant records, journal, harvest predictions).
Try Leaftide free
Track your vegetables, fruit trees, and perennials in one place. No credit card required.
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