Urban smallholding Hen Corner, in West London has been using the online Harvest-ometer, which stores yield data and convert it into a money value, for the last few years and is one of a hundreds of gardens that have recorded their harvest. Collectively these gardens have grown over a million portions of fruit and veg and now you can win £50 or one of 15 Harvest-ometer packs for your garden by having a go! Packs include a Grow More Food publication, a set of luggage scales (ideal for weighing the bulky stuff) and packs of organic seeds. So sign in to your Big Dig account and start using now.

The Harvest-ometer also helps gardens to report back to funders, volunteers, family and friends or just for your own interest and produces graphs and year on year comparisons. The tool was developed by the Capital Growth team at Sustain and is available to all gardens registered in the Big Dig platform.

The data has also ben used as part of a citizen science approach to seeing the value of food growing in cities as part of the Reaping Rewards reports.

Enter the competition

All gardens that use the Harvest-ometer before the end of September will be entered into a draw to win a gardening voucher worth £50 and 15 Harvest-ometer packs, containing scales, our Grow More Food Toolkit and seeds. Here is what you have to do:

• Register your garden with the Big Dig
• Weigh your harvest
• Sign in to your Big Dig dashboard and open the Harvest-ometer
• Select a produce type and enter its weight or quantity
• View your harvest record and see its value
• Check progress on your graphs or export the data

What others have said about the Harvest-ometer:

“The Harvest-ometer has been a great tool for quantifying our data. We frequently use it when applying for funding.  It’s also a great tool to show our volunteers and local community just how much food we've produced. I like the fact that it also puts the statistics into a monetary and dinner form.” Emily Myers, Loughborough Farm

“We have found Capital Growth's Harvest-ometer of great use to weigh and record our produce. It gives plot holders the opportunity to see how much they have grown. Seeing the totals in term of finance and the number of meals gives an incentive... The lists of produce can even help to provide ideas for next season’s growing!” Tim Anderson, Maryon Park Community Garden

"The Harvest-ometer has been an excellent way of tracking our progress. Who'd have thought that what we thought would be a few courgettes and handfuls of beans would result in us recording over £70 of produce so far!  It's inspiring us to set higher targets for next year, and make sure everything that's edible is harvested!" Wayne Trevor, Norword Bzz Garage

Find out more about the Harvest-ometer. 

06/08/2019