Code of conduct & policies

Gardening Club is a community space. Everyone is welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, religion, age, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, body size, income or gardening experience.

By joining the club or attending an event, you agree to:

• Treat everyone with respect. No harassment, slurs, intimidation or unwanted contact.
• Ask before touching people, their belongings, their plants or their garden.
• Respect hosts and their homes, gardens and neighbors. Follow the host's rules.
• No promotion, recruiting, selling or fundraising at events without asking first.
• Care for the space: clean up after yourself, don't take cuttings or produce uninvited.
• Look out for each other, and tell an organizer if something feels wrong.

Harassment, threats, discrimination, being under the influence in a way that endangers others, or repeatedly ignoring a host's rules can mean being asked to leave an event and removed from the club. Organizers make that call at their discretion. If something happens, email veronica@joingardening.club. Reports are handled privately.

Gardening Club events are informal community gatherings, not professional instruction or supervised activities. Gardening involves real physical risk: tools, thorns, uneven ground, ladders, heat, sun, insects, allergens, animals, chemicals and plants that can irritate or poison. Some events take place in private homes and gardens.

• You attend voluntarily and at your own risk, and you're responsible for your own safety.
• You're responsible for anyone you bring, including minors, who must stay with you at all times.
• Follow safety instructions from the organizer or host. Use tools at your own risk.
• No medical care is provided. Call 911 in an emergency. Tell an organizer about anything we should know (allergies, mobility needs) so we can help where we can.
• You're responsible for damage you cause to a host's property, and for your own belongings.
• To the fullest extent allowed by law, you agree not to hold Gardening Club, its organizers, volunteers or hosts responsible for injury, illness, or loss of property arising from your participation. Nothing here waives liability that cannot be waived by law, including gross negligence or willful misconduct.

Ages. Public events are 18 and over. Alcohol may be served; you must be 21 with valid ID to drink. Family gatherings are separate, invitation only, and children must be accompanied by their parent or guardian at all times.

Alcohol. If alcohol is served, drink responsibly, don't serve anyone under 21, and arrange a safe way home.

We photograph and film events and share them on our website and social channels, including TikTok and Instagram, to show what the club is and invite people in. Attending an event means you may appear in that footage.

• You can opt out at any time: tell an organizer when you arrive at an event, ask the person with the camera, or email veronica@joingardening.club. We'll do our best to keep you out of posted photos, and we'll remove or crop anything you flag afterwards. Because these are open community gatherings, we can't guarantee you won't appear in the background of a wide shot.
• If you're already in something posted and want it removed, email us and we'll take it down or crop you out as quickly as we reasonably can. Note we can't control reposts by others.
• Children are not photographed for public posts without a parent's or guardian's okay.
• Don't photograph or film other guests without asking, and never share the address or interior of a private home without the host's permission.
• We don't sell photos or license anyone's likeness for advertising by third parties.

What we collect. Only what you type into our forms: your name, email, city and neighborhood, social handles if you share them, what you're interested in, anything you offer to contribute, organizations you're connected to, whether you'd like family event invites and the school levels in your family, and any notes you write. If you RSVP through Partiful, that happens on Partiful under their terms.

What we don't collect. No passwords, no birthdays, no government IDs, no payment details, no addresses beyond city and neighborhood, and no children's names or ages. We don't use third-party advertising or tracking cookies. We count anonymous page and button activity on our own site to see what's working; it isn't tied to your identity.

How we use it. To email you about events in your city, plan gatherings, match people with things they offered to help with, and run the club. That's it.

Who can see it. Only the club organizer, through a password-protected admin area. Data is stored in our database with access rules that prevent public reading, and is processed by our hosting, database and email providers on our behalf. We do not sell or share personal information, and we never have.

How long we keep it. Until you ask us to delete it, or until the club stops operating.

Your rights. California residents (and anyone else who asks) can request a copy of what we hold, request corrections, request deletion, opt out of emails, and opt out of photos — without being treated differently for asking. Email veronica@joingardening.club and we'll respond within 45 days. Every email we send has an unsubscribe link.

Age. Our forms are for adults 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from children. If a child submitted something, email us and we'll delete it.

We want this site and our events to work for everyone. The site is built to be usable with a keyboard and a screen reader, with text alternatives for images and readable contrast, and we fix issues as we find them.

Event spaces vary: some are private yards with steps, gravel, uneven ground or no accessible restroom. Event listings note what we know, and you can always email veronica@joingardening.club before an event to ask about access, seating, shade, parking, restrooms or bringing a support person — we'll tell you honestly what the space is like and help where we can.

Found something on this site that's hard to use? Email us and we'll fix it and give you the information another way in the meantime.

Offering a space, a skill or goods is voluntary and unpaid unless we agree otherwise in writing. Hosts set the rules for their space and can decline or cancel at any time. Private addresses are shared only with invited guests and never published. Sharing a private address publicly is grounds for removal from the club.

If you recommend someone else's space or a person, please make sure they're okay with being contacted.

We'll update these policies as the club grows and note the date at the top. Questions, requests or reports: veronica@joingardening.club.