Privacy Policy

This privacy policy describes how PlantingCalc ("we", "us", the "Service") handles information about visitors and users of plantingcalc.com. By using the Service you agree to the practices described here. We keep this policy short and concrete because the answer to most privacy questions about PlantingCalc is: we don't collect what we don't need.

What we do not collect

• We do not require an account. Every calculator on PlantingCalc works without login, sign-up, or any form of identity verification.
• We do not store the values you enter into calculators. Bed dimensions, ZIP codes, plant selections, and everything else you type into our tools is processed in your browser or sent to our API for a one-shot lookup and then discarded. We do not build a profile of your garden.
• We do not sell, rent, or share email addresses. Not with advertisers, not with data brokers, not with anyone.

What we collect

Two narrow categories of data, both used to keep the site running and improving:

• Anonymous page-view analytics. When you visit a page, an inline script sends an anonymous event to our own analytics backend (Project Dash). It records the page path, a randomly generated per-session ID, rough device type (mobile / tablet / desktop), and the referrer URL if your browser supplied one. We do not receive your IP, we do not set a persistent cookie for this, and we do not tie these events to any identity. You can disable tracking by appending ?notrack=1 to any URL on this site, which sets a local opt-out flag in your browser.
• Opt-in email addresses. If you voluntarily submit your email address through one of our subscribe forms, we store the address plus the source page of the signup in our database. We use the address only to send the mailing list you opted into. You can unsubscribe from any email we send, and unsubscribing deletes your address from our active list.

Cookies and similar technologies

PlantingCalc itself does not set tracking cookies. We use two pieces of client-side storage:

• A short per-tab session ID in sessionStorage, used only to deduplicate analytics events within a single visit. It is cleared when you close the tab.
• A do-not-track flag in localStorage, set when you visit any URL with ?notrack=1. It permanently disables analytics for that browser.

Third-party services we embed (see below) may set their own cookies. Those are governed by the respective service's privacy policy.

Third-party services we use

• Google AdSensemay display contextual advertisements on some pages. Google's advertising cookies and technologies are governed by Google's advertising policies. You can manage personalized advertising preferences at adssettings.google.com.
• Amazon Associates affiliate links, where present, may set attribution cookies under Amazon's interest-based ads notice.
• Vercelhosts the site and may log standard HTTP request metadata (IP, user agent, path) as part of normal server operation. See Vercel's privacy policy for details.
• Public APIs we call — USDA phzmapi.org for zone lookup and NOAA climate normals for frost dates. When you use the planting-dates calculator, your ZIP code is sent to these public services for a one-shot lookup and is not retained by us.

Children's privacy

PlantingCalc is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights

If you are in a jurisdiction that grants you rights over personal data (for example, the EU under GDPR or California under CCPA), you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and opt out of any processing that relies on consent. Because we collect so little personally identifiable information, these requests are usually trivial for us to fulfill — the main piece of data tied to an identifier is your email list subscription, which you can remove yourself at any time via the unsubscribe link in our emails. For anything else, contact us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy can be sent via our contact page.