Privacy Policy

Scope and a plain-language overview

KnowTheYard is a public gardening information website. You can read most pages without creating an account.

Like any website, it must receive technical request data to deliver a page, protect the service, and diagnose failures.

We also receive information that you deliberately send by email or through any form that is clearly presented to you.

This policy covers KnowTheYard pages and the services used to operate them. A link that takes you to another website is governed by that site’s policy.

We describe categories because the exact records can differ by browser, device, feature, and provider. We do not claim to collect a category merely because collecting it is technically possible.

Information Received Automatically

When a browser requests a page, servers and security systems may record an IP address, request time, requested URL, referring page, response status, browser or device information, and diagnostic events.

Those records help deliver the requested content, find broken routes, identify abusive traffic, investigate security incidents, and understand service performance.

KnowTheYard uses Google Analytics to measure visits and Cloudflare to help deliver pages and measure their performance. Google Analytics can use cookies and send information such as the page visited, device details, and an IP address to Google. Every page also loads Google AdSense, which the next section explains.

The Disclosure states the current commercial status.

Advertising and Google AdSense

KnowTheYard uses Google AdSense to show advertising. The AdSense script loads on every page, so Google can receive request information from a visit even when no ad appears.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a visitor’s prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on visits to this site and other sites on the internet.

You can opt out of personalized advertising from Google in Ads Settings. You can opt out of some other vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at www.aboutads.info, and visitors in Europe can also use Your Online Choices.

Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland see a consent message from Google’s certified consent platform before personalized ads are served. It asks whether Google and its partners may use cookies and personal data for advertising and records the choice.

Google describes the information it receives from sites like this one and how it is used in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Information You Choose to Provide

If you email us, we receive your address, message, subject, delivery metadata, and any attachment or detail you include.

A correction report might contain a page URL and a source. A gardening question might include a general location and plant conditions.

A privacy request may include the information needed to find the interaction concerned.

If a newsletter, comment, account, survey, upload, or similar feature becomes available, the interface should explain what is requested before submission. This policy does not mean every listed feature is currently active.

Feature, data, and purpose

• Deliver pages, assets, and functions that you request.
• Maintain availability, prevent abuse, investigate security events, and repair errors.
• Measure broad usage and improve navigation, accessibility, performance, and content.
• Answer a message, evaluate a correction, or handle a privacy or terms request.
• Maintain records reasonably needed for operations, compliance, or dispute handling.
• Serve and measure advertising through Google AdSense, and measure affiliate links if that program is ever enabled and disclosed.

We do not use a gardening question as permission to publish your identity or private message.

If a reader observation would help an article, we would remove identifying details or seek permission when attribution is appropriate.

Service providers and external disclosure

Google provides our analytics and advertising services. Its explanation of information from partner websites describes the information received, its uses, and available controls. Cloudflare provides delivery, security, and performance services, and its Web Analytics documentation explains performance measurement. Email and hosting providers also process information needed to deliver their services.

We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, protect rights or safety, investigate misuse, or support a business transition subject to appropriate handling.

KnowTheYard does not describe ordinary service-provider processing as a sale simply to avoid explaining it. Privacy laws can still define “sale,” “sharing,” or targeted advertising in specific ways.

Where a law gives you applicable rights, the privacy contact path is how to make a request.

Cookies and Browser Storage

Cookies, local storage, pixels, and comparable technologies can maintain a preference, protect a session, measure a visit, or serve and measure advertising. Some are set directly by the site and some may be set by a configured service.

Blocking or clearing storage can change how a feature works, and it will not necessarily remove records already retained for legitimate purposes.

You can use browser controls to limit cookies, delete stored site data, or restrict tracking signals. Device and browser vendors describe those controls differently. Google also provides ad personalization settings and a Google Analytics browser opt-out add-on. Turning off personalized ads does not stop every advertising measurement or security request.

Where the consent message appears, it covers the advertising choices described above. Browser controls remain available separately.

Retention depends on purpose

Server and security records may be kept long enough to operate and protect the service. Correspondence may remain while a question, correction, permission, or dispute is active, and for a reasonable recordkeeping period afterward.

Provider systems may retain backups or logs on different schedules.

We aim to remove, aggregate, or de-identify information when it is no longer reasonably needed for the purpose, for security, or for an applicable obligation.

Security has practical limits

We use measures intended to protect the site and the information in our control, such as access restrictions, maintained software, secure transmission where supported, and operational monitoring. No website, email transmission, device, or storage system can guarantee complete security.

Use a trusted device and avoid sending sensitive information you do not need to send.

Children’s privacy

KnowTheYard is intended for a general gardening audience and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly seek personal information from children under 13.

A parent or guardian who believes a child submitted personal information can email us with enough detail to locate the interaction, without sending additional sensitive documents at the outset.

Your Choices

Rights differ by location and circumstance. We assess a request under the requirements that apply, and exceptions may protect security, legal obligations, other people, or records that cannot reasonably be linked to the requester.

Policy changes and privacy contact

We may revise this policy when site features, providers, operating practices, or applicable requirements change. The date at the top marks the latest material revision.

Earlier interactions remain subject to the policy and law that applied at the time, while continued site use is covered by the current notice.

Email [email protected] and use the subject line “Privacy request”. Identify the interaction, approximate date, address used, and requested action.

We do not publish a fixed response deadline, because the applicable requirements and verification needs can differ.