# Gardenate — user reviews > 122 indexed App Store user reviews of Gardenate by Hutchinson Software Pty Ltd, rated 4.00/5 from 26 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gardenate/id362009731/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gardenate/id362009731.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 15 · 4★ 4 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 3 ## What do users think of Gardenate? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Simple and intuitive user interface - 💰 One-time payment model (no subscription) - 📅 Accurate planting calendar for specific regions - 📸 Seed packet photo scanning feature - 📝 Excellent diary and tracking functionality - 🌱 Comprehensive plant information and companion planting guides - ⏰ Customizable harvest time tracking - 🎯 Zone-specific recommendations - 💪 Reliable and stable performance - 🤝 Responsive developer support - 📱 Works seamlessly across devices - 🌍 Supports multiple geographic regions **Cons** - 📚 Limited plant database (mostly vegetables only) - 🐛 Data loss issues during updates - 📞 Inconsistent customer support response times - 🔄 Conflicting planting information between devices - 🎨 Lacks visual garden layout/design features - ❌ No shared garden functionality between users - 🔍 Search functionality removed in recent updates - ⚠️ Inaccurate harvest dates for some zones - 🌸 No flowers, fruits, or perennials included - 📊 Limited sorting and organization options - 🖼️ Difficult to import existing photos **Commonly reported bugs** - App freezes when adding new plants - App crashes when entering rotation data - Data loss after app updates - Conflicting planting information between iPhone and iPad - Harvest date customization reverts to default - Search function missing in recent updates - Unable to edit plant information after creation - No upgrade/import path from previous versions - Unresponsive to user support requests - App locks up after adding plants **Most requested features** - Add more Asian vegetables (bottle gourd, bitter gourd, etc.) - Include fruits and fruit trees - Add flowers and ornamental plants - Shared garden functionality for multiple users - Custom plant creation with full editing capabilities - Ability to add quantities when planting - Sort plants by garden bed or location - Harvest readiness notifications - Succession planting reminders - Spreadsheet/calendar view of all plantings - Print information sheets - Seed register feature - Garden layout/design tool - Bulk photo import - Compost/soil amendment tracking - Pest and disease identification guides - Push notifications for planting times - Wish list with notifications - Plant health indicators and feeding reminders - Auto-calculate growing zone from ZIP code - Bell peppers addition to database - Ginger, turmeric, and horseradish options ## Newest reviews (18 of 122) ### 3/5 — Only veg *2026-05-23, version 25.0* I’ve just started using the app & it seems to be good for veg seedlings but I would like to keep track of fruit trees & the associated tasks for them eg when to spray & prune ### 4/5 — Love it! *2024-04-12* I am loving this app. It’s fairly simple once you get used to it. I love the companion planting, and succession planting notes. I do wish you could add custom plants, flowers, or trees. I do love how you can take pictures although I haven’t figured out how to add an existing picture. I also wish you could sort items by the bed/place they were planted … my planting gets a little crazy and sometimes it would be nice to be able to sort by beds so I could figure out what I have growing. It would also be nice to see what should be coming ready to harvest soon on the app. I definitely recommend this to others and love telling people about… great work!!! ### 5/5 — Great App *2024-04-09, version 16.0* This app is fantastic for home gardeners of all levels of experience. Chris has been very responsive to comments and questions. Dan ### 3/5 — Not for beginners *2024-03-30, version 16.0* Great app however there is no demo or FAQ section to get you started. There is no explanation of what terms like “seedling, seed trays or sow seed” mean in the app which is confusing as they could all mean the same thing and each term is used to work out harvesting time. It’s like you are expected to know what they are thinking. There is a forum to ask questions from other users but it’s missing a basic start up demonstration on how to use the actual app. ### 3/5 — Ok *2024-02-18, version 16.0* Need more plants listed or at least the ability to add a plant and add your own information. Need to add flowers as well and auto calculate someone’s growing zone by putting in their ZIP Code. ### 5/5 — Easy to use!! *2023-12-25, version 16.0* I really love this app. I have took it. I don’t use it for potential however, it gives me so many options. Would love to have a section where I can date when I have applied improvement such as compost or schedule this in with a reminder. It’s great having a reference in my pocket too. Keep up the great work🫐 ### 4/5 — Not too bad *2023-12-24, version 16.0* Missing some basic things like Ginger, Turmeric and Horse Radish. Fruit trees would be nice too ### 5/5 — User-friendly *2023-11-02, version 16.0* I just got this app from PIP magazine’s recommendation. Have populated my calendar and already learned that a few things I planted aren’t going to work 😏 Please add passion fruit and more fruits in general - seems to be the main thing missing. Otherwise, I think I’ll be using this a lot and saving $$ ### 3/5 — Nice app though why doesn’t it cater for fruits? *2023-10-29, version 16.0* Nice app though why doesn’t it cater for fruits? ### 5/5 — Good app *2023-10-24, version 16.0* It’s pretty stylish and good for tracking plants and harvest time. I highly recommend this for people wishing to keep track of everything veggie patch related. Fast and great app support too thanks ### 5/5 — Outstanding for gardening! *2023-09-22, version 16.0* Gardening apps are often over complicated, Gardenate is the only one I’ve found to be genuinely useful and well designed for primary use cases. I can’t thank the developer enough for their work and keeping it free of charges - I would happily donate on Patreon or something! ### 5/5 — ESSENTIAL VEGETABLE PLOT APP *2023-07-04, version 16.0* I refer many people to Gardenate as I find it essential in planning. It’s also good for school students to have a kitchen garden project. Everything is there, including a companion planting guide for each plant, spacing, even what not to plant. It isn’t a one size fits all as you can put in your zone settings & put in the details for your garden for the season such as when you plant each vegetable. Within each plant is a colour-coded system for seed raising, planting and harvesting. You can also personalise these. It’s well worth investigating what this app can do. Well done to the developer! Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without it. ### 5/5 — Finally an app that is great for the forgetful gardener! *2023-06-18, version 16.0* Great app! ### 5/5 — Best App ever. *2023-06-04, version 16.0* Love this app helps me to plan what I am going to grow each month. Would love a companion plant section but not important. ### 5/5 — Good helpful app for vegetable gardeners *2023-03-28, version 16.0* I have had this app for a while but I’ve only just started to use it and I didn’t realise how much it had going for it. It’s a great app for all of the details that you need from when to plant all the way to harvesting things. The calendar is my most useful section, it’s better than keeping a journal etc. the diary is another great section which I have only just started using as well. All in all it’s a great app and it’s got everything I have been looking for all in one place, thanks for the app both of you ### 4/5 — Love it *2023-02-26, version 16.0* I love the Gardenate app. I’ve been recording in a paper gardeners diary and am just beginning to use the app for recording this season instead. I’d love to be able to set reminders for succession planting and I wonder if this is a feature that could be added in future updates? Or maybe I just haven’t discovered a succession planting feature quite yet? ### 5/5 — One of the best *2022-05-23, version 15.1* Has a great catalog of vegetables Keep a record of what your growing ### 2/5 — No upgrade facility *2021-10-19, version 15.1* The new version is good, with the same functionality as the previous version. However, although you can share My Garden entries across multiple devices, but there is no ability to import My Garden entries from the previous version. Quite disappointing. 20 October 2021. Thanks for the quick response ;-) As mentioned in my original review, none of the details in the My Garden section were imported with the upgrade. It is completely empty, so I had no record of what I had planted and when. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — App looks okay, no one responding to issues. *2025-04-23, version 16.0* My partner and I both bought it and thought we can connect it and shared our garden but it doesn’t work. And it’s been month since reaching out to the team and no one ever replied or helped. Wouldnt recommend ! ### 1/5 — Lost months of data- no response :( *2020-07-13, version 14.1* I have used Gardenate exclusively to track my vege garden, last week I tried to enter a new planting and the app had gone, retrieved it from the cloud and all of my data for the past few months was gone!! Devastated that it seems my data somehow got lost in the update I emailed to see if Gardenate had a fix or could see my plantings....still no response to my email! Would take a bit for me to trust it again, maybe back to paper or try another solution. ### 1/5 — Not user friendly *2018-09-24, version 10.2* Was working but hadn’t been on it for a while and now there is no way of getting when to plan anything and not help. Waste of time now. ### 1/5 — Locks up *2018-04-21, version 10.2* After adding a plant the program locks up ### 1/5 — Mainly vegetables *2018-04-04, version 10.2* Wasn’t what I was looking for, would be great to plan and maintain a vege garden ### 1/5 — Only for Veggies *2018-03-30, version 10.2* This app is limited to maybe 50 vegetables. There are no annuals or perennials. That would have been nice to know on the front end. ### 1/5 — Sue *2014-09-26, version 7.7* Waste of money! Nothing in this version that you can't get for free in the ABC vegie guide. ### 1/5 — BS *2014-04-27, version 7.1* Here in New Zealand we are half way through autumn (fall). This app is telling me it's ok to sew lettuce and peas in my garden. No I don't think I will waste my money planting prior to winter or supporting this app which I am about to delete. ### 1/5 — Only veg; minimal flower and plant tips *2013-10-01, version 5.2* I don't grow vegetables but need advice on flowers & plants so was disappointed with this ap. ### 2/5 — Let us add other vegetables and fruit *2022-07-18, version 15.1* This app would be great if we could add other varieties, types of veg. Without this it’s only a part solution. And yes I’d pay for that. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Awesome *2026-06-10, version 25.0* My go to gardening application 👌👍 ### 5/5 — Very solid planting guide and tracker *2026-02-19, version 25.0* I have been using Gardenate for some years now and decided to look around at what else was in the market out of curiosity. Anyhow, I came straight back to Gardenate as it does exactly what I need without being overly complicated. I absolutely love the fact that it is a one time payment of a few dollars and not a pay by month/year subscription like many others. ### 5/5 — Most amazing little app *2026-02-14, version 25.0* I’m a serious gardener with a very large garden that provides all vegetables for our family and we sell and give away excess. This app is my favorite ever and the recent update that allows me to snap a pic of my seed pack (even on my saved seeds) is so helpful. I sow hundreds of seedlings each year and it’s so easy to keep track of them. Thank you! I run a countywide food gardening group and recommend this for beginners and experienced gardeners. ### 5/5 — Get it! *2026-01-29, version 25.0* I actually love this app. I’ve had it a few years and haven’t always used it to its potential but this season I’ve really loved it. I love the feature where you can scan your seed packet and it recognises all the details and I can throw the dang packet away and still know what variety to get next season. Totally worth the price! I’m in the waikato so any help we can get! Haha ### 5/5 — Wonderfully Helpful *2025-12-17, version 16.0* This is an excellent app and so very easy to use. Just select the month you want and read the info ! As long as you have set up what region you are in, it will tell you exactly what you can plant and how long until harvest. You can even set a calendar reminder for your own individual garden. Brilliant ! 😄 ### 5/5 — Conflicting Advice but otherwise LOVE it. *2025-11-24, version 16.0* I would really love for someone in your team to explain to me why your planting information differs between the same app downloaded on my phone and iPad. There is a huge disparity between what can and cannot be planted for each month. The same app, different device. The same region on both. Other than this discovery, I have loved this app and recommended it to so many people. But which one is giving me the right advice. ### 5/5 — Please add more Asian veg *2025-04-21, version 16.0* Nice app, very useful. Iam just starting my veggie garden. Can you please add few more asian veg as well such as bottle gourd, bitter gourd etc? Thanks. ### 5/5 — Love it! *2025-04-08, version 16.0* I am loving this app. It’s fairly simple once you get used to it. I love the companion planting, and succession planting notes. You can add other plants, pictures, and information to the app as well which has made it super useful to me… being able to print out the ‘information sheet’ would also be nice for our situation but not absolutely essential for everyone. I do wish you could sort items by the bed/place they were planted … my planting gets a little crazy and sometimes it would be nice to be able to sort by beds so I could figure out what I have growing. I definitely recommend this to others and love telling people about… great work!!! ### 5/5 — BRILLIANT! *2024-11-26, version 16.0* GARDENATE is actually the longest surviving App on my iPhone. I came before any other App I ever downloaded and I remember myself being quite confused about what Apps actually were. It was then, and still is now, on my home page on my phone with my other most important go-to’s. I was a very big fan way back when it first went digital and I’ve stayed a loyal fan through various version improvements and as I have moved homes three times and my two children have been born, raised and now are at uni. They LOVE my gardens and our fresh home grown fruit and veges have always been a staple part of their lives and their school lunch boxes. And Clover the blue healer LOVES snow peas. I have learned a lot of wonderful tricks from GARDENATE, and I especially rely on it for the growing seasons and the planting diary. I use my instincts for harvesting times as they are so variable for so many reasons but remembering when I planted certain beds and crops is impossible for me and GARDENATE makes it so easy. I feel very confident knowing I am planting things at the right time, and then I rely on my own experiences and plant health to fine tune planting within my various microclimates. Huge fan. Always will be. If you have not downloaded the App, what are you waiting for?! You won’t regret it. ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2024-07-23, version 16.0* I have been using this app since it was created. It is absolutely foolproof. Even a child can understand what’s going on. You just click the month and there it is! Plant this or that seed in the garden, in seed trays or plant out seedlings. You can look ahead and get seeds or seedlings ready for the next month. Genius! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-04.*