Privacy and your data
Updated 6 October 2026.
The Garden Hand is operated by Common Sense Money Pty Ltd. Contact us at hello@thegardenhand.com.au.
You can browse plants, guides and calendars and select a gardening zone without creating an account. A free account is required to save plants in My Garden and access them across devices.
What is saved
- On your device: your gardening zone and calendar preferences. If you choose a plant before signing in, we temporarily remember that plant so it can be added after sign-in. If you sign in, your browser also keeps the session needed to stay signed in and a local copy of your account garden.
- In your account: your email address, an optional first name, gardening zone, selected plant identifiers, and whether you have chosen gardening emails. We also record consent choices, the wording shown, how the choice was made and timestamps in a separate consent history.
- For sign-in: Supabase handles your password and verification or recovery process. Do not send us your password or verification codes.
- When you contact us: your email address and the information you include in your message.
Your postcode or locality helps find a broad gardening zone. The saved garden account stores the zone, not a street address or precise location.
How it is used
Your account information is used to sign you in, restore your garden, save changes and help with account requests. Your zone and plants make the gardening guidance relevant to you. Gardening emails are an optional choice, separate from account verification and password-recovery emails. You can turn the gardening-email choice off in Account. Gardening emails will also include a personal unsubscribe link that works without signing in. You can instead email hello@thegardenhand.com.au with “Unsubscribe” in the subject; no password or additional personal details are required. Online unsubscribe takes effect immediately; requests sent by email are handled within five working days. Unsubscribing does not delete your account or garden. This choice covers Garden Hand gardening reminders, not marketing from other Common Sense Money brands or unrelated offers.
Services that help run the site
The site uses Vercel for hosting, Supabase for accounts and saved gardens, and Resend for account email delivery. Support email reaches our Google Workspace inbox. These services process the information needed to provide their service, including technical information such as IP addresses, request times and delivery records.
The account database is hosted in Sydney, Australia. Email delivery uses infrastructure in Japan. Our providers may also process hosting, delivery, support and operational information in the United States and other countries where their service providers operate. The database location does not mean all processing stays in Australia. Provider arrangements can change; their current disclosures are available from Vercel, Supabase, Resend and Google Workspace. Contact us for details relevant to your information.
Understanding site use
We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand visits, referral sources and which public pages are useful. We also count successful zone lookups, manual zone selections and saved gardens, without recording the values entered or the plants selected. This analytics service does not use tracking cookies. We remove query strings and fragments from recorded page URLs and do not send your name, email address, postcode or saved garden to analytics. Analytics is separate from your gardening-email choice.
Keeping and removing information
Your saved account information remains available until it is changed or the account is deleted. Clearing this site's browser storage removes device copies and signs you out, but does not delete your saved account. Signing out is also different from deleting an account.
Account deletion removes the sign-in account, saved garden and account preferences from the active service. When the site confirms self-service deletion, it clears the account garden copy from that browser. Other devices may retain local copies. Deletion does not immediately remove emails you have received or provider logs and backups. A limited consent history may remain after deletion to document email choices and address complaints. It contains an account identifier, consent wording, event type, source and timestamps, rather than your saved garden or password. Access is restricted to administration. We review these records and remove them when no longer reasonably needed, subject to any legal requirement to retain them. Support correspondence, service logs and backups are also kept only as needed for support, security, recovery or legal obligations; provider retention periods differ. Contact us for details about a particular record or deletion request.
Help, access and corrections
Email hello@thegardenhand.com.au for help, to ask for a copy or correction of your information, or to raise a privacy concern. Describe the issue without including passwords or verification codes. You can update your optional first name and email preference in Account, and change your zone and plants in My Garden.
Privacy complaints
Email hello@thegardenhand.com.au with the subject “Privacy complaint” and describe your concern. We will acknowledge it, investigate and aim to respond within 30 days. If more time is needed, we will explain why and keep you informed. If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which can explain whether it can consider your complaint.
Delete your account
Sign in and open Account → Delete my account. Confirm your current password, acknowledge permanent deletion, then choose “Permanently delete my account”. This removes your account, saved garden and email preferences from the active service and revokes your sessions. The site shows the result and attempts to send a confirmation email. If email delivery fails after deletion, the account remains deleted and the site tells you.
If you cannot use self-service deletion, you can request help by email.
Send a request from the email address used for your account to hello@thegardenhand.com.au, with the subject “Garden Hand account deletion”. We will confirm account ownership and the deletion request before removing the account and saved garden. This is handled by a person; sending the email does not delete anything immediately.
If you only want to stop gardening emails, use the unsubscribe link in a gardening email, turn that choice off in Account, or email hello@thegardenhand.com.au with “Unsubscribe” in the subject instead. After account deletion, clear this site's browser data on each device to remove local copies.