Gardener interviews/2/Emilly

Demographics
Age:


 * 30-55

Where do you live? (general area OK) -- South-east Melbourne

Your garden
Tell me about your garden?


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


 * answering for previous garden in Brunswick, which was mine not my mum's. mostly in containers, mostly food or herbs rather than flowers. Tomatoes, herbs, a lemon tree (in a tub), silverbeet, lettuces, lemongrass, capsicums, a few flowers. It was as organic as we could make it -- we used worm tea and liquid compost rather than commercial fertilizer, but we used commercial potting mix.

How long have you been growing food?


 * on and off, since I was 10. I started because my grandmother grew food.

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


 * I mostly grow food so I can have herbs for cooking, without having to go to the supermarket. I like to have fresh food close by.

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


 * Housemate used to.

Growstuff use
So, you've signed up for Growstuff. I'm going to ask you about various parts of the site and whether you've used them. You can just answer yes/no, or give more detail about how you've used something, if you like.


 * edited your profile - Y
 * listed your location - Y
 * planted something - N
 * added a photo - N
 * added another garden or edited your default garden - N
 * checked out the crop database - Y
 * checked out other members - Y
 * searched for members near you - N
 * looked at another member's profile - Y
 * sent a private message to a member - N
 * read people's posts - N
 * read the forums - N
 * posted something - N
 * ... on the forums? - N
 * commented on a post? - maybe
 * bought a paid account - N
 * read the support/FAQ page - Y
 * subscribed to an RSS feed for recent posts, recent plantings, etc. - N
 * used or looked at the JSON API - N
 * checked out the wiki - Y

I'm going to describe four types of activity or ways of using Growstuff, then ask you how much each one describes you, and how you'd like to use Growstuff.

Tracking: keeping a garden journal, noting down what you planted and when, for your own reference.

Sharing: writing or posting information publicly, to share it with friends or others, and to make connections with people who might have similar experiences or interests.

Learning: researching things to grow, reading tips or how-tos, asking for help and getting advice.

Trading: buying or selling or swapping produce, seeds, skills, etc, either with people who live in your immediate area, or further away by mail.

Which of these do you like best, or describes you best?


 * Tracking, Learning. If I had to pick just one: Tracking

Which describes you least?


 * Trading

If Growstuff were to focus energy on one of these areas over the next 6 months, in terms of developing new features etc, which would you choose?


 * I would say Learning, though I feel like you already are. Although tracking describes me better, I also feel like the site already has more features in that area.

Specific features
I'm going to list some potential new features for Growstuff, and I'm interested in your thoughts on each one. I'll ask you to rate each one based on how strongly you would like it to be implemented, as follows:


 * Strongly agree = 5
 * Agree = 4
 * Don't care = 3
 * Disagree = 2
 * Strongly disagree = 1

You can also expand on each one and tell me if you have any related ideas or thoughts.

Tracking

 * Expand the range of crops in the system - 5
 * Plant "other" crops that aren't currently in the database - 4
 * Ability to mark a planting as finished (eg. dead, all harvested, etc.) - 4
 * Say where you got a plant/seeds from (eg. nursery, from a friend) - 5
 * Add more fields to the planting form (which?) - 4 (mostly where you got it from)
 * Ability to mark a garden as inactive (eg. moved house) - 4
 * Track harvests of produce (eg. 3lb tomatoes) - 5
 * Say what you did with produce (eg. made jam) - 4
 * Ability to transplant from one garden to another - 3
 * Wishlist for things you'd like to plant in future - 4
 * To-do list for future planting/maintenance (eg. feeding, pruning) - 4
 * Track what seeds you have - 5
 * Track other materials/equipment/resources - 3

Sharing

 * Post your updates to Twitter/Facebook/other social media (which?) - 2 (if you want to tweet, just tweet it yourself!)
 * Make it easier to find members near you (geographically) - 3
 * Make it easier to find friends (in a non-creepy way) - 3
 * Find members who grow things similar to you (regardless of location) - 4
 * Follow other members - 3
 * "Newsfeed" of activity from people you're following - 4
 * Have recent activity emailed to you - 2
 * Ability to comment in more places (eg. on people's plantings or photos) - 3
 * More forums/different topics - 2
 * Threaded comments on posts - 2
 * Ability to track forums or posts, and get email notifications - 2

Learning

 * Add more information to the crop page (what?) - 4
 * sun/shade and water needs - 5
 * propagation methods - 5
 * where to buy seeds - 4
 * companion plants - 5
 * pests and diseases - 5
 * where it's being grown geographically - 4
 * comments/discussions directly on crops - 4
 * Allow posts/comments to link to crops, and show that discussion on the crop page - 4
 * More information about what people near you are growing - 4

Trading

 * Offer seeds to sell/swap - 3
 * Offer produce to sell/swap - 3
 * Offer equipment/resources to share/swap/etc (eg. manure, woodchipper) - 3

Other

 * Improved site design/visual appeal - 3
 * Better international/multilingual support, eg. international names for crops - 4
 * Better mobile support (phone/tablet) - 4
 * API (Application Programming Interface) - 3

Now I'm going to remind you of some of the things you said you really wanted. Of these, which are the three you want *most*?

- adding more info to crop page, tracking harvests, saying where you got plants/seeds from

Of those three, which single one do you want most?

- more info on crop page

Communications
Now I'm going to ask you about how Growstuff communicates with our members.

Do you follow us on Twitter? Y

Are you subscribed to our email newsletter? N

Do you read our blog? sometimes

Do you read any RSS feeds from the Growstuff website itself? N

How often, on average, do you currently hear something from or about Growstuff? Daily, weekly, monthly, less often? Daily

Would you like to hear from us more, less, or about the same? same

How would you most like to hear from us? Email, blog/RSS, Twitter, Facebook, other social media? email

What information do you want from us? I'll give some examples and you can say agree/disagree like before.


 * Information about new features/updates to the site - 5
 * Updates on site activity: forum posts, who's planting what, etc - 3
 * Updates just from friends/people you follow - 3
 * Suggestions for things to grow based on your location - 4
 * How to get more involved in Growstuff, volunteer opportunities, etc - 4 (I get this already)
 * Related events/activities/resources from beyond Growstuff - 4