Gardener interviews/Bec

Demographics
Age:


 * 30-55

Gender: female

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

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

Do you rent or own? own

Your garden
Tell me about your garden?


 * heavy clay soil (western clay plains of melbourne) -- so i use raised beds, using compost straw and potting mixes. 4 garden beds, 3 are circular (half water tanks that I got from Rainwise). We're growing far too many tomatoes, corn, carrots, beans, pumpkins, eggplant (one, ther est didn't want to grow this year), basil, chillis, coriander (growing very slowly). We don't have a very big yard so there are no fruit trees -- it was either going to be trees or a veg garden.

How long have you been growing food?


 * We finally decided what to do with the backyard in autumn 2011, so we put one garden bed in (because we b ought them slowly), put some peas and garlic and stuff in, and just slowly built them up. So it's been almost two years.

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


 * I think it tastes better. I can get my hands on varieties of fruit and vegetables that I wouldn't be able to get otherwise.  I"m a member of the Diggers Club and so I can say I want to try *these* types of corn or *these* types of pumpkin, and I can experiment.  It also helps that at the right time of year I never have to buy tomatoes or garlic or whatever

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


 * WHen I have the time I go to farmers markets. I also shop with Aussie Farmers Direct -- a delivery service.  I shop there because the duopoly between Coles/WW annoys me and the quality isn't as good as it could be. I wanted to support a company that has a better relationship with farmers. More ethical, doesn't cost me that much more. Can shop at night online.

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


 * Yes -- one of my partners Scott helps me in the garden, it's basically his and my project. Occasionally my husband's partner will help dig holes and pull out weeds and stuff.  But mostly Scott and I.

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


 * Not really... I could probably add it up, but i haven't because it was gradual. The purchase of soil: it was in the hundreds of dollars.  The garden beds themselves (tanks) start at about $150 upwards.  The most expensive was about $300, but we bought them over time.  It's been a fair amount of money but we had the luxury of being able to spend that.

Where do you buy garden supplies etc?


 * I buy seeds and seedlings through Diggers Club. They deliver them through the post with instructions to water immediately. WIth the exception of one, they've turned out fine (wrt the delivery). Potting mix etc from Bunnings.

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


 * I use the sustainable gardens australia website, there's lots of information there. When i first started and was thinking about what to do with my backyard, they had lots of good information about avoiding lawn/monoculture, being good to your soil, etc.  Diggers website has a lot of information.  I've got a couple of books of varying quality, eg. square metre gardening.  Occasionally if I want to know if i can grow something in the clay soil I've got, I'll type the name of hte plant and the soil type into google and see what comes up.  Departments of Agriculture have some really good fact sheets.


 * Most useful: probably Google for the most part. A combination of Wikipedia and department of agriculture to get an idea of whether it'll grow in my region and whether I'd like the taste of it.  I'm a supertaster, so I need to be careful of bitter foods.

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


 * Parents do and did through most of my childhood. We were often dragged out to do weeding and stuff. My sister has in the past had a veg garden and still has fruit trees.  My other two sisters don't currently.  Parents are very avid gardeners.

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


 * I did think about doing it, was going to do a photo a week to see how it evolved over time, and I didn't because I keep doing many other things and I have a blog to manage, so I tend to focus on cooking with them.

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


 * Probably if I had a whole lot of friends who were doing something similar, including online friends/people I met online. Also if there was the potential for me to say "I have this problem! does anyone have any suggestions?"

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, reading the internets, talking to people. I don't do any online gaming. Purchasing software. Shopping online.

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


 * Sony Ericcson Experia Arc (Android). Messaging people and playing games. Internet is too slow and not configured sufficiently for phones, so a lot of sites I would go to on my phone I'd have to zoom in etc, and find it awkward.

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


 * Twitter to keep up with people I know -- friends -- discuss politics, collate news. LinkedIn for pro networking.  I use Flickr for photos, but not Instagram.

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


 * Not on linkedin so much! But on twitter, yes, eg. I'm overlogged with tomatoes and need to make more tomato relish this week. And that the pumpkin's taking over the garden.  I sometimes post pics of my garden to flickr -- not recnetly, but in the past.

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


 * I have a monthly subscription with New Matilda (news site). Monthly subscription with AVAAZ -- activism.

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


 * Not apart from diggers and sustainable gardens australia.

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?


 * Yes, it sounds like fun. Food swapping and seed sharing would be really beneficial. I'm drowning in tomatoes, and if someone was drowning in eggplant. Seed swapping: not just stuff I saved, but maybe things I tried and didn't like.

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 reminders do. The shared gardening thing does as well -- it's a really good idea.

Would you consider paying for an account to support the site or get those features?


 * depending on the amount

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.)


 * something like $10-$15 a month would probably be fine

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?


 * I think it's a great idea. I have noticed you mention it on Twitter and was curious about what it was.

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


 * Wrt price, it's not just what I would pay, but what I can pay -- no change.

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


 * You mentioned CERES earlier. Given that they're a co-op garden type place. Would Growstuff promote that sort of organisation? (Answer: Hell yes!)

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


 * added!