What advice would you give to a novice? - A short questionnaire (For a uni project)

[Anagoge]

(Couldn't find a more suitable forum than this one and the Fruitful Harvest one so forgive the duplication)

Hi, I'm a University student doing a project based on Homebase's new Grow Your Own range of fruit and vegetables. The project requires me to develop some new packaging that appeals to novice gardeners in order to show them how easy it is to grow their own food. If you've got a few minutes, please answer the below questions. All answers would be really useful in my research. Cheers.

1) On average, how much time does a potential gardener have to spend looking after their crops to ensure a healthy amount of fruit/veg?
2) In your experience, how old is the average gardener?
3) In your experience, what is the percentage of male to female gardeners?
4) When buying seeds, where do you usually shop for them?
5) What helps you decide which seeds to buy over another type?
6) Is there anything in particular that you and/or gardeners in general prefer to plant?
7) What would be helpful to you as a gardener to see on packaging before you buy it?

Many thanks for your answers.

[Thomas W]

1) On average, how much time does a potential gardener have to spend looking after their crops to ensure a healthy amount of fruit/veg?
Half an hour a day for a small backyard garden.

2) In your experience, how old is the average gardener?
Around 50. (Which I find a bit sad. Where are all the young people?)

3) In your experience, what is the percentage of male to female gardeners?
50/50

4) When buying seeds, where do you usually shop for them?
Local businesses (100 km radius) who specialize in organic seeds only.

5) What helps you decide which seeds to buy over another type?
Organic and heirloom seeds have first priority.

6) Is there anything in particular that you and/or gardeners in general prefer to plant?
I prefer to grow something I can eat or cook. The result is freedom and strong health.

7) What would be helpful to you as a gardener to see on packaging before you buy it?
A plan on when to grow what. And it would be really nice to know the optimal soil temperature for each type of seed, since it varies greatly around the world.

[marmite]

What I would like is pictures of seedlings at different stages of growth, I admit I pulled more seedlings then weeds. Regards from Marmite

[tomate]

1) On average, how much time does a potential gardener have to spend looking after their crops to ensure a healthy amount of fruit/veg?
About Half an Hour to One Hour A Day

2) In your experience, how old is the average gardener?
About 30 to 60

3) In your experience, what is the percentage of male to female gardeners?
It's about 65% female and 35% Male

4) When buying seeds, where do you usually shop for them?
Local Buisnesses or Garden Centres

5) What helps you decide which seeds to buy over another type?
I will usually look for Organic seeds

6) Is there anything in particular that you and/or gardeners in general
prefer to plant?
I prefer something I can cook or eat, It's also good to sell eating and cooking vegetables

7) What would be helpful to you as a gardener to see on packaging before you buy it?
what pH soil they need and what different temperatures the soil needs to be. How easy or hard they are to grow. Where is the best to grow e.g. greenhouse rather than a patch.

[Lancslad]

I thought you were asking Gardening questions - not trying to sell robotic lawnmowers.

lancslad

[Lottieluvva]

1) On average, how much time does a potential gardener have to spend looking after their crops to ensure a healthy amount of fruit/veg?
I usually spend about four or five hours on a Saturday on my allotments (large) and an hour here or there about twice in the week during summer
2) In your experience, how old is the average gardener?
On my allotment site, there is a broad range from around people in their early twenties to those well above eighty although the average age is about 40 yrs.
3) In your experience, what is the percentage of male to female gardeners?
50/50 on my site (the best plots are those tended by women!! I'm a bloke by the way)
4) When buying seeds, where do you usually shop for them?
On line, always best sevice, range, deals, etc
5) What helps you decide which seeds to buy over another type?
tried and trusted varieties, wacky things, in gredients for particular recipes
6) Is there anything in particular that you and/or gardeners in general prefer to plant?
Things I like to eat, things I like to look at and plants/flowers for cutting
7) What would be helpful to you as a gardener to see on packaging before you buy it?
the word "free"

Many thanks for your answers. [/quote]