Gardener interviews/Questions 1

Demographics
Age:


 * under 18
 * 18-29
 * 30-55
 * 55+

Gender:

Where do you live? (general area ok)

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

Do you rent or own?

Your garden
Tell me about your garden?


 * size
 * layout
 * types of plants
 * container garden? permaculture? raised beds?
 * etc

How long have you been growing food?

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

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

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

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

Where do you buy garden supplies etc?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you like best about them?

What do you dislike about them?

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?

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?

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

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.)

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?

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

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

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