A garden diary that writes itself, for Australian gardens

What is Percy?

Percy is the garden diary that remembers, so you can enjoy your garden. It's an app you talk to instead of writing in. It uses AI to turn what you say into dated entries, keeps your photos and the day's weather with each one, and lets you ask about past seasons. Its seasons run July to June, and it works for veggie patches, courtyards, balconies and backyards anywhere in Australia.

Just talk. Percy remembers.

July is winter here. Your garden diary should know that, and Percy does. Its real job, though, is to spare you the writing.

Hold the button and say what happened: tomatoes in on Melbourne Cup weekend, first zucchini off the plant, a possum through the netting again. Percy puts it on the right day, in your words, with that day's weather attached, and shows you the entry before it saves. Typing works the same way, if you'd rather.

Photos go in too. Snap a plant, a pest or a leaf that's gone wrong, and Percy tells you what it looks like and what to do, then keeps the photo with the day you took it.

Weeks later you can ask it things. "When did I put the garlic in?" "What did I do about the fruit fly last summer?" The answer comes from what you told it, not from a general gardening website.

A garden diary, not another garden planner

You plan the garden you hope to have. You keep a diary of the garden you actually had.

Plenty of good apps help with the first part: planting calendars, bed layouts, what to sow this month. Percy is for the second. There are no beds to map, no plants to enter in advance and no schedule to keep up with, which is useful, because nobody told the plants about the schedule. The seed packet makes promises. The heatwave, the possums and the cockatoos have other plans. Percy writes down what actually happened, so next spring you're working from your own garden, not the packet.

If you already plan in another app, keep it. Percy sits happily alongside a planner.

Gardening advice for your corner of Australia

A garden in Hobart, a garden in Brisbane and a garden in Darwin are three very different things. Frost matters in some places. Heat, humidity and long dry spells matter more in others. So Percy doesn't hand everyone the same national planting calendar. It works from the weather where you actually garden: it estimates your frost dates from about 30 years of climate data, where frost is a thing at all, and warns you when a frost or a dry spell is on the way. In a lot of Australian gardens, the dry spell is the one that matters.

Percy keeps your diary in a July-to-June year, so a season shows up as 2026–27 and summer stays in one piece. In the tropical north, where the wet and the dry matter more than four seasons, it's simply a way to keep the year together.

Everything is in the units you use. Temperatures are in °C, rain in mm and wind in km/h.

When you photograph a plant, Percy tells you what it looks like and flags it if it's a recognised weed, including the Weeds of National Significance, or a native worth knowing about. It draws on Australian government sources, but its weed notes aren't yet specific to your state or territory. Local rules differ, so check your state's official weed list before you act on one. When Percy isn't sure, it says nothing rather than guess.

Then there's the Garden Letter. About every two weeks, Percy sends a short email written from your own diary: the weather worth watching where you are, what the local wildlife is getting up to, and the things you told Percy you meant to do. It isn't a newsletter. It's written for your garden, not everyone else's.

One diary for the whole garden

The veggie patch, the pots on the deck, the citrus by the fence and the bed down the side: say where you are when you talk, and Percy keeps each place straight. Percy uses one location for frost and weather, so set it to where your garden is.

Bring your old garden diary with you

If you've kept a diary on your phone, in a document or in a spreadsheet, bring it in. Paste it, or choose a Word, CSV or text file, and Percy finds the dates and shows you every entry on its day, in your words, before anything is saved. Here's how. Photos of handwritten pages are coming in a later update.

Every garden has a story. In July, Percy tells yours.

Most garden diary apps stop at keeping the record. Percy also writes it up. When your season closes at the end of June, it turns the year's notes, photos, plantings, harvests and small moments into a Migration Report: every plant you grew, how the weather shaped the season, the moments worth keeping, and notes for next time. Every report comes with a digital edition to download: the story of your season up front, with your whole diary behind it. A shorter season makes a shorter one.

Swipe for more. Pages from a sample digital edition, from a garden in the US, so the small print is in °F.

You can read a full sample Migration Report to see what one looks like.

Free through 31 July 2028

Sign up now and Percy is free through 31 July 2028, with nothing locked and no card needed: the season you're in now and all of the next, so you're never billed mid-season. Your first Migration Report is part of it. After that, you choose whether to stay on as a Founding Member for US$39 a year. In the App Store and on Google Play you pay in Australian dollars, at the price the store shows. Cancel anytime.

Whatever went in last weekend is a fine first entry.

Questions

Is there a garden diary app for Australia?

Percy is one. It's a garden diary app you talk to, on iPhone and Android in Australia and in any web browser. Seasons run July to June, temperatures are in °C and rain is in mm.

Can I record my garden diary by voice?

Yes. Hold the button and talk, and Percy turns what you said into a dated diary entry in your own words. You check it before it saves. Typing works the same way.

Does Percy understand Southern Hemisphere seasons?

Yes. Percy keeps your diary in a July-to-June year, so a season shows up as 2026–27, not 2026. Frost and dry-spell alerts come from the weather where you garden.

Can I keep a garden diary without planning every bed?

Yes. Percy doesn't need a garden plan or a plant list first. Say "the veggie patch" or "the pots on the deck" when you talk, and Percy keeps each place straight.

Can Percy help me remember what I planted last year?

Yes. Ask it, in plain words: "When did I put the garlic in last year?" or "What did I do about the fruit fly last summer?" The answer comes from your own diary.

Can I import my existing garden diary?

If it's typed, yes. Paste it in, or choose a Word, CSV or text file, and Percy puts each entry back on its date before anything saves. Here's how. Photos of handwritten pages are coming in a later update.

Does Percy know which weeds are a problem in Australia?

When you photograph a plant, Percy flags it if it's a recognised weed, including the Weeds of National Significance, or a native worth knowing about. It draws on Australian government sources, but its weed notes aren't yet specific to your state or territory. Local rules differ, so check your state's official weed list before you act on one.

What should I enter for my location?

Your suburb and state, like "Castlemaine VIC". A four-digit postcode on its own can be mistaken for somewhere in New Zealand.

Is Percy free to use in Australia?

Sign up now and Percy is free through 31 July 2028, with nothing locked and no card needed: the season you're in now and all of the next, so you're never billed mid-season. Your first Migration Report is part of it. After that, you choose whether to stay on as a Founding Member for US$39 a year. In the App Store and on Google Play you pay in Australian dollars, at the price the store shows. Cancel anytime. Pricing has the details.