Frequently Asked Questions

What is GardenJot?
GardenJot is an online community for people interested in gardening that offers local new, tips and information. If you’re an experienced gardeners, add your garden to the GardenJot map, upload photos, provide updates and help others grow more successfully. Beginning gardeners can also add their gardens to the map and view nearby gardens to see what others are growing and ask questions to those gardeners about how they did it.

How can GardenJot help me?
GardenJot is an online community for people interested in gardening that offers local new, tips and information. If you’re an experienced gardeners, add your garden to the GardenJot map, upload photos, provide updates and help others grow more successfully. Beginning gardeners can also add their gardens to the map and view nearby gardens to see what others are growing and ask questions to those gardeners about how they did it.

Why register with GardenJot?

Although anyone can view gardens immediately, registering with GardenJot allows you to "Add A Garden" which gets your own webpage with photos of your garden(s). Garden pages show their details, photos and latest updates. Registrants also have the benefit of getting to save links to their favorite gardens and befriended gardeners in their personal home page. They also gain the benefit of contacting other gardeners and leaving comments and questions for other gardeners.

How do I add a garden?

All you have to do is click "Add A Garden," place the garden on the map, enter some information about it and upload some pictures of the garden.

When does my garden qualify to be added to the GardenJot map?
Right now. Whether you’ve been working on your garden for years or it’s a greenfield ready to be planted, add it now. This enables you to participate in the community by asking and answering questions and help others learn from what you’re doing. All you have to do is click "Add A Garden," place the garden on the map, enter some information about it and upload some pictures of the garden right away.

What if I only have a windowbox or a single potted plant, can I add them as a garden?
Yes. GardenJot is for all gardeners. My mom is a Master Gardener with an incredible garden. I’m a beginner currently with just two potted plants on my fire escape. GardenJot is for both of us. I can use the site to look at gardens and learn how to be a better gardener. My mother can use the site to show off her garden and answer novice gardeners’ questions. All gardens are equal on GardenJot.

I've visited one of the public gardens listed on GardenJot (i.e. Kew Gardens, San Francisco Botanical Gardens, etc.) and would like to add my photos to the page. Can I do that?
Yes. The public garden pages are public property. Everyone can contribute updates, photos, descriptions and comments to these pages. All you have to do is visit that garden page and click on the Claim Ownership of this Garden button on that garden page. Once the user that created the public garden page approves you as a co-owner, you will be able to edit content on that page.

Why won't GardenJot accept my photo?

Unfortunately posting digital photos to the internet can be tricky. The problem is that cameras take photos with enough data resolution to print a 3‘ x 3‘ printout (The more magepixels the more data it stores). On the web, however, where each photo has to be downloaded you need images to contain as few details as possible. The average camera stores a photo with 1.2MB (approx. 1228k) of data (or much more!) while the average web photo is only 20k. (Imagine if a user on a dial-up connection had to wait for several 1228k photos to download their 56k/second connection. It could take a few minutes!). So to handle this problem you need to convert your full-resolution photo to a web-ready image. Most modern photo software have a feature to save a photo for the web or to send as an email.

One easy solution to use PicResize to prepare your image. Here are some directions for desktop software for PC [Photo Editor] and for Mac [iPhoto] software. For the PC there is also this simple easy and free Fookes Photo Editor you can download and make web ready images.

How come I don't seem to receive any emails including friend invites from GardenJot?

If you expect to be getting emails from us and are not, it's very likely that your mail provider or spam blocker may be incorrectly filter our mail as spam or bulk mail. Take a peek in your Bulk or Spam folders and do a search for the domain GardenJot.com. If you see any matches you know we're sending them, but your mail or spam software has the wrong opinion of us. The best way to stop this from happening, is to make such an email as safe and to whitelist our email address info@GardenJot.com.com with your mail software. By telling your software to approve of all emails from the domain GardenJot.com they'll always go straight to your inbox.

Your FAQ on modifying photos is confusing!

The best thing to do then is find that person you know who is clever with computer things and ask them to help convert the photos for you. We'd love to help you do it, but then we'd never have time for improving the site.

But I don't even have digital photos, just prints!

If you only have print or traditional film you have two easy solutions. One is to find a clever computer person and ask them if they can scan your photos and convert them into web-ready photos. The other is to have your undeveloped film printed right onto a CD at a local photo shop, drugstore or grocery store.

Someone added my garden already but I can’t make any changes to that garden page. How can I get control over that garden page?
Someone added your garden already for you. To claim your garden, just click on the Claim Ownership of this Garden button on that garden page. Once the user that created the garden approves you as an owner, you will be able to control your garden page.

I’ve clicked on the Claim Ownership of this Garden button, waited a few days and nothing happens. What should I do to take control of my garden?
Write a message to that owner using the Send Message button on the gardener profile page. Ask them for control of that garden page since that garden belongs to you or because you are one of the rightful owners of that garden. If that doesn't work, please e-mail us at claims at gardenjot dot com and we’ll advise you of next steps.

Why would I want to claim my garden?
A few reasons: 1) Update facts about your garden. 2) Add photos of your garden and share them with your friends and family. 3) Ask questions of fellow gardeners about how best to do something or what to grow next in your garden.

Can I remove my garden information from the site?
By having access to information about other people's gardens you know more about what you can grow in your own. This information leads to better and happier gardeners. If we allowed deletions to our database, we would not be able to provide these services to help you and your neighbors be better gardeners.

I’ve added a garden and now want to let the real owner of the garden provide updates, add photos and otherwise manage the garden page. How do I do that?
 Invite the new owner of the garden by clicking on the Invite Another Owner button on the garden page. Enter that owner’s email address and click Invite. Once they accept your request, you will both be able to manage that garden page. At that point, just remove yourself as the Owner by clicking the Release Garden Claim button.

What if the owner of that garden doesn’t accept my invitation to take control of the garden page?
Keep trying. Someone needs to be the editor of that garden page and it starts off with the one who creates the page. That can’t change until someone else steps in as the owner.

What is a garden "tag"?
Tagging is a neat way to add a keyword or two (or more) to a garden that describes it in a qualitative way. For instance, if I live in Austin and grow tomatoes, roses and Jasmine in my garden, I might tag the garden as "Texas, Austin, tomatoes, Jasmine, roses." Or, if my cat was sitting on a table next to a vase of red roses, I might tag that photo "red, roses". We have developed a search tool that allows you to create searches based on these tags. Now, if you search for 'dahlias', you will get a list of all gardens and gardeners growing or interested in dahlias.

To add tags to your garden, go to your Garden page. Click on the 'Add/edit photo tags' link next to your garden's picture (Plus members can select the Photo Manager link). Then, add tags! (This feature is still being developed. It should be released shortly)