Gardener interviews/Mirella

Demographics
Age:


 * 30-55

Gender: female

Where do you live? (general area ok) Northern suburbs of Melbourne

Do you live in a house, flat, ??? Flat (modern)

Do you rent or own? rent

Your garden
Tell me about your garden?


 * 8 planters on the balcony, grows salsa capsicums (2 of them), originally got them for the colours but now eats them, raspberries, basil, parsley, oregano, also carnivorous plants

How long have you been growing food?


 * 2 years

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


 * you get to see the progress. it's awesome. takes a photo every 2 weeks and dates it, like drawing on a wall to show a kid's height. prefers to grow rather than buy because hates GMO food and non-organic food. Also hates cost of commercial food (raspberries $7) and that they go rotten so fast, generally anti-commercial.  Shops at coburg market, avoids supermarkets (prefers Aldi when she can't avoid).  Also, is a strict vegetarian.

Do you garden with someone else?


 * boyfriend

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


 * boyfriend does all that!

Where do you buy garden supplies etc?


 * $2 shop on Sydney Rd

Where do you get information/help about gardening?


 * Internets! Google. Also back of seed packet/seedling label. Also wikipedia.

What are the *best* sources of information?


 * seed labels

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


 * friends have herb gardens because of retail prices (parsley, etc)

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


 * yes, photos as above; no other journal

Online behaviour
Do you use any gardening websites?


 * as above

What do you like best about them?

What do you dislike about them?

Do you use social networks? Which?


 * Twitter (professionally, not socially), doesn't post garden pics on instagram or anywhere, doesn't really want to -- is a pro photographer, doesn't use phone for garden photos

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


 * thinks "eh, this is so vapid" if friends post that sort of thing -- not just garden, but also cats etc

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


 * not personally, but does for her business (adobe cloud)

For each service, what makes it worth paying for?


 * n/a for personal, for business it's more like a leasing plan

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


 * birdwatching (nature related)

Would you like to receive our newsletter?