Gardener interviews/Jess

Demographics
Age:


 * 18-29

Gender: female

Where do you live? (general area ok) Coburg

Do you live in a house, flat, ??? House

Do you rent or own? Rent

Your garden
Tell me about your garden?


 * It's my first veggie garden ever. It's a rented property so we've got a square backyard, normal quarter acre suburban block.  Lawn in the middle, garden beds all around the outside.  If it were up to me there would be more garden beds, but it's not, so we just use those edge garden beds.  Beds dug into the soil.  Whoever was there previously had lined some of them with plastic stuff.  We dug out a massive concrete ball out of a couple of them -- looks like there used to be some kind of structure.  It's quite clay-ish soil.  We do a lot of stuff by guesswork and occasionally looking it up on the internet.  WE've done our first soil treatment this season: gypsum and manure, and we have a compost bin.  It was full of good manure when we moved in so we used all of that, and now we're filling it again.


 * We moved in and there was a shed with ltos of seeds in it, so we're just growing those: corn which we planted too late, broccoli which we planted too early, a few nightshades, cucumber and zucchini, eggplants. There was  massive fig tree when we moved in which was a bonus.  Also some root veg, like radish and beetroot.  And we've got herbs, like parsley and basil and coriander.  Also chillis.  We're at an experimental stage -- I'm a trial and error person, so I just planted everythign to see how it gfoes.

How long have you been growing food?


 * about 1 year

Why do you grow your own food? What do you like best about it?


 * I'm a sustainability nut, first off, and an organic food nut, so the idea of... my ultimate forever dream is to be completely self sufficient, which I realise I couldn't do in this house but i'm just getting started and learning it. I love gardening and loking after stuff and making stuff grow.  And the food tastes better when you grow it yourself.

Do you buy fruit/veg from other places? Where? Why do you shop there?


 * Yes, usually we get an organic delivery from Organic Angels. We've just had to stop doing that as our income has changed. We also go down to coburg markets.  i try hard to avoid woollies and coles produce.  Sometimes preston markets and vic markets too.

Do you garden with anyone else/does anyone help you with the garden?


 * my husband. we both just kind of go out there and do stuff. i would say he does more than me, more planting. I worry about doing it right, but he just sticks stuff in the ground to see what happens. whoever feels like going out just drags the other one out htere.

Do you know how much you spend on your garden? Supplies, seeds, plants, etc?


 * we do occasionally do a shopping spree and buy heaps of stuff. Stu my husband goes crazy at Bunnings. I like to do my research and buy better quality stuff, but he usually wins that race because it's faster.

Where do you buy garden supplies etc?


 * bunnings but trying to steer away because of anti-corporate, also their plants aren't realy high quality. I've been wanting to check out Vasili's down the road from me.  when we run out the seeds I want to check out some of the online heirloom seed places.

Where do you get information/help about gardening? Which sources are most useful?


 * The internet! I go straight to the gardening australia website because I trust it for some reason. I pick stuff up randomly here and there.  Also talking to lots of friends who are foresters -- my sister's girlfriend worked in forestry.  We have some books but I don't read them... no, I've poked through them but they're low quality, often picked up in op shops.  I keep my research to a minimum because I'm scared of getting it wrong, and prefer to experiment and find out for myself.  If I read too much I start worrying about, like, soil acidity and nitrogen levels.

Do any of your family members or close friends have veggie gardens?


 * yes... my sister and her girlfriend have a veggie garden. my mum used to have a veggie garden when we were growing up so now she's moved into a flat. she still grows some stuff in a flat.  I get information from here because she was a really good gardener.

Do you keep a garden journal or otherwise keep track of what you plant? Tell us about it.


 * No, never thought about it

If no: Would you consider keeping a garden journal? What might inspire or motivate you to do so?


 * I guess it would be smart later on when I start doing bed rotations and stuff like that. At this stage I can remember everything I've ever grown.

Are you involved in any community groups or organisations related to gardening?


 * No

Online behaviour
Do you have high-speed Internet at home? What do you mostly use it for?


 * Yes. Everything -- work, socialising, research, entertainment, shop online occasionally, not a gamer, downloading tv shows, pay bills, email but more social media

Do you have a smart phone? What kind? What do you mostly use it for?


 * iPhone 5. Everthing -- I look ati t more than I look at the world.  Most of my internetting is on my phone.

Do you use social networks? Which? What for? How much time do you spend?


 * Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for work. part of my job is social media.  I use facebook for staying in touch with friends and stalking ex boyfriends and stuff. I use twitter for learning and networking on topics that I"m interested in.  Usually it ties in with what I'm working on at the time, so at the moment I'm following lots of nonprofits and tech people.  It's also where I get all my news.  Instagram: no.  I do pinterest occasionally but not very much.

Do you talk about your veggie garden on social networks? Why or why not?


 * Sometimes on Facebook. Pictures of stuff I grew, inviting people over toe at stuff out of my garden. I don't get garden info from social networks... although maybe I should???

Do you pay for any online services/subscriptions? Which and how much?


 * no... apart from my ISP. Isn't the intenret meant to be free? Apps: occasionally but not really.

Do you use any gardening websites or apps? For instance garden planners, trackers, planting guides/reminders, forums, or wikis/encyclopedias of plants?


 * no... though I would like to get a planting guide. that's really smart!

What do you like best about them?

What do you dislike about them?


 * one of the reasons I don't do that is becuase time in the garden is separte from screen time, so the thought of merging the two is sort of scary, because screen time has infiltrated enough parts of my life. Gardening is *outdoors*.

Growstuff
We're building a website for food gardeners. It's called Growstuff. It's free to use. It lets you:


 * track what you're growing (like a garden journal)
 * post updates and pictures of your garden and share them via social networks
 * research and learn about things to grow, how to grow things, get help with problems, etc
 * see what other people in your local area are growing/talking about, and connect with the local community
 * swap/trade (or potentially buy/sell) produce, seeds, gardening supplies, etc from people near you

Does any part of this it sounds interesting or useful to you?


 * I'm excited by that! Do any other sites do this? (I told her about some).  I really like this idea!  It's like community gardening online.  I like the social aspect, the idea of having a conversation about stuff, not just researching and trying to get it right, chatting to people in your area.  It sounds casual, "hey what are you doing? this is what I"m doing?"  It's empowering people to do it their own way.  The idea that it's grassrootsy, isntead of being Garden Wankers or Garden Nerds.  "Hey, I'm growing food in my backyard.  What works for you?"  Like, when you go on gardening websites and they're like, "You shoudl have a soil kit blah blah" but what I want to know right now is quite basic.  You could choose who you follow or talk to so you could be sharing similar experiences.

We're also thinking of offering a paid upgrade to provide premium features. These might include things like:


 * managing multiple gardens
 * sharing your garden with co-gardeners
 * planning future garden activities and setting reminders

Do any of those features sounded interesting to you?


 * The third one (reminders) is the most appealling. SHaring the garden sounded "cute" -- great idea but I probably wouldn't do it.  But if other people were doing it I'd think "that's so cool".

Would you consider paying for an account to get those features?


 * For me, what makes me consider paying for apps and stuff is that I've used the free version and it's working really well and I want to give my money to that company.

How much do you think would be a reasonable price? (Feel free to compare to other online services, if it helps you think about what are normal sorts of prices.)


 * For me, paying for stuff online is like buying apps from the app store. The most I've ever spent was the RadioLab app for $3, becvause I knew the money went to them.  Maybe in the app store I'd consider spending up to $5 on an app.  On the web... I've never paid for a subscription to a website service, so I'd be less likely to do that.

Have you ever contributede to kickstarter etc?


 * I'd really like to but I'm poor.

Growstuff works towards social good in a number of ways. For instance:


 * we choose ethical and sustainable providers wherever possible
 * we'll offer free accounts to non-profits/community gardens
 * we make an effort to be accessible and inclusive to all, to respect our members' privacy and self-identity, and to always act ethically in the way we run our online service
 * our software is developed in a collaborative model, working closely with our community
 * we mentor volunteers who want to learn how to code, especially women and people from non-traditional IT backgrounds
 * our software is released under an open source license, meaning greater transparency and trust between us and our community
 * the aggregate data we gather from members is provided under a free/open license for people who are researching or building other tools for food gardeners

Knowing this, would you be more or less likely to pay for a premium account on Growstuff?


 * n/a

Does this change the amount you'd be willing to pay?


 * n/a

Does this make you want to contribute or take part in this project?


 * Yes! I don't know anythign about programming, but as you said that, I thought that for me that volunteering my time is something I'd rather do that paying money.

Other
Anything else you'd like to tell us that we didn't cover in the questions?


 * I don't know if this is built in, but something for beginner gardeners would be good. (I told

Would you like to receive our newsletter? (fortnightly, gives updates on our progress and will tell you when Growstuff is launched)


 * added