So, what do you want from this?

[alexbayleaf]

I see we now have > 20 people involved here on DW, and 14 members on the (currently broken, ugh, stupid buggy hosting site) mailing list, so welcome to everyone! We have an intro thread in progress if you'd like to stop by and introduce yourself.

I wanted to take a moment to ask everyone what you would want from a site like this? I mean, I have an idea what I want, but I'm pretty sure I'm not everyone, so I'd love to hear all your ideas for what the site could do/be.

So here are some leading questions which you can answer in comments, or just ramble in a general way if you prefer?

What do you most want to be able to do on a site like this?
What's missing from other sites that you've looked at?
What would make you keep coming back/staying involved, rather than drifting away?
If this site just did one thing really well, what do you wish it was?

Comments

[eien_herrison]

What do you most want to be able to do on a site like this?

Compare notes with other people, read up on growing experiences,

What's missing from other sites that you've looked at?

Locally geographic information. I said in my intro post, but the majority of sites I've found which are useful are also (lower 48 states) US based.

What would make you keep coming back/staying involved, rather than drifting away?

Community. I don't want this to be a place where people just pick up information from a database; I want to be able to talk to people (whether those who helped pull together the data or are simply using the data to help their garden) and share experiences/advice.

If this site just did one thing really well, what do you wish it was?

Some kind of database/diary noting down weather patterns, planting date, whether it was inside or outside sowing (and if inside, date of transplant), crop type and variety, notes on growth, expected harvest time, and actual harvest time. Shareable/exportable would be great, and collating information with people locally to see what their experiences were with the same crops -- e.g. their tomatoes grew really well, mine didn't, we planted around the same time, but they planted a different variety (which might be better suited for the local micro-climate) would be awesome.