Information you provide
The seed calculator, garden observation log and My Garden Plan use values you enter in your browser. A seed schedule can be passed to My Garden Plan through temporary browser session storage. My Garden Plan stores selected crops, dates and completed tasks in your browser's local storage so they remain available on that device. The schedule and plan are not uploaded to Zone Garden and can be removed with the Clear saved plan control or by clearing browser site data. The frost-date tool sends the 5-digit ZIP Code you enter to our own lookup service so it can find nearby long-term weather records. The application does not store that ZIP Code in a user database, although hosting and security providers may process request data in standard logs. Downloadable CSV and calendar files are generated in your browser and are not uploaded to us. We do not ask you to create an account. Do not submit sensitive personal information.
Technical and usage data
Our hosting provider may process standard logs such as IP address, browser type, requested pages and timestamps for security and operation. If you select Accept analytics, Google Analytics measures page usage, outbound clicks and anonymous tool events such as starting a tool, receiving a result, passing a schedule to the plan page, opening a saved-plan entry, saving or returning to a local plan, completing a task or downloading a file. Event parameters may identify the tool, result category, planning mode, crop count, task count, page context, whether a local plan exists or an external destination, but do not include ZIP Codes, planting dates, selected crop names, temperatures, station details, saved task contents, log entries, names or email addresses. We configure IP anonymization and do not send calculator or saved-plan input values to Google Analytics.
Analytics choice and browser storage
Google Analytics does not load until you select Accept analytics. Before that choice, Google Consent Mode defaults analytics and advertising storage to denied. Your analytics choice is stored in this browser under zone-garden-analytics-consent-v1 so the site can remember it. Necessary browser storage used for My Garden Plan, calculator handoffs and your analytics choice is not used for advertising. You can review or change the analytics choice at any time with the Cookie settings control in the footer. Choosing Necessary only prevents new Google Analytics measurement on this site; you can also clear browser site data to remove stored choices and local garden plans.
Advertising and cookies
We do not currently run advertising tags. We may add Google advertising in the future. If enabled, Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads, subject to consent requirements and Google policies. We will update this policy and expand the consent controls before activating advertising or personalized advertising.
External links
Links to USDA, university and other sites are governed by those sites' privacy policies. We are not responsible for their data practices.
Changes
We may update this policy as the site, service providers or legal requirements change. The date above identifies the current version.