Privacy Policy

Who Are We

Our website address is https://www.goodgardener.ca. This privacy policy (“Policy”) will help you understand how Good Gardener  (“us”, “we”, “our”) uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use the Good Gardener page.

We reserve the right to change this policy at any given time, of which you will be promptly updated. If you want to make sure that you are up to date with the latest changes, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

When you visit the website, we may collect the following data:

• Your IP address.

• Contact information and email address.

• Other information such as interests and preferences.

• Data profile regarding your online behavior on our website.

Why We Collect Your Data

We are collecting your data for several reasons:

• To better understand your needs.

• To improve our services and products.

• To send you promotional emails containing the information we think you will find interesting.

• To contact you to fill out surveys and participate in other types of market research.

• To customize our website according to your online behavior and personal preferences.

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

The Good Gardener site is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. The Good Gardener has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Links to Other Websites

Our website contains links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links the Good Gardener is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data- Forms

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box that you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.

If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

The Good Gardener will not lease, sell, or distribute your personal information to any third parties unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

 USE OF WEB BEACONS AND PIXELS

In conjunction with the use of cookies, third parties may also use web beacons, which are also known as clear GIFs, web bugs, or pixel tags to collect general information about your use of our website. They monitor user activity and are used to track customer behavior data. This information may be relevant to third parties such as the ad networks used on our website to tailor the advertising based on your behavior and interests.

We may use social media pixels to track and collect general information about your use in compliance with different social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc) for the purpose of promoting products, tracking conversions, remarketing, running target advertisements, and so forth.

Third parties like Facebook may use their own cookies, web beacons, and other technologies to collect and receive information from our website for the purpose of providing target advertisements. You may see our ads on Facebook after you have visited our website.

THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND USE 

We may include, offer or advertise third party links, products, or services on the website. Once you click on a third-party link and leave this website, you are no longer bound by our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

Articles on this website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, advertisements, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

We may use Google AdSense advertising along with any other third-party advertising on the website. Google is a third party that also uses cookies to serve ads. Only on the website for the purpose of providing a positive user experience. Third-party vendors such as Google use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to the website. You can opt-out of Google by visiting their privacy policy and ad settings.

We have no control over these third parties and they have their own privacy policies. Neither are we responsible for the activities and practices of these third parties. You should contact them directly and read their privacy policies for any questions. You also agree that your use of these third-party websites is solely at your risk.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

As a general rule, we do not disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent with the exception of the following circumstances:

  1. We may disclose your information to our trusted third parties that work with us such as our website hosting partners, email marketing service provider, other service providers that assist in the operation of the website, and any other affiliates and subsidiaries we rely upon to provide you products and services offered here.
  2. We may disclose your information in order to comply with state or federal regulations related to copyright infringement lawsuits or any other legal claims related to the website.
  3. We may disclose your information to our successor and/or acquiring party in the event of a merger, acquisition, restructuring, dissolution, or partial sale in the future. However, your personal information will be transferred to the acquiring party in accordance with this privacy policy.

CANADA’S PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION AND ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS ACT (PIPEDA) 

We comply with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) that regulates the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information provided to us. PIPEDA requires that we notify you why we collect your personal information, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will disclose such information. Under PIPEDA, you also have the right to access your personal information held by us as well as receive an accounting of how that information is being used or disclosed. We take all the necessary security measures appropriate to secure your personal information provided to us.

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA CONSUMER PRIVACY ACT (CCPA COMPLIANCE)

If you reside in California, you are entitled to additional rights under California law and we ensure compliance with the CCPA. Here are your rights:

  1. You have the right to know whether your personal information is sold or disclosed to third parties.
  2. You have the right to say no to the sale of your personal information.
  3. You also have the right to access your personal information, which we will provide within 30 days of such a request.
  4. You have the right to know what personal information is collected from you and how it is used, which we explained in this Privacy Policy
  5. You have the right to have your personal information deleted
  6. You have the right to equal service, price and no discrimination
  7. You have the right to data portability and the right to request your personal information and use it for your own purposes.

Pursuant to California’s “Shine the Light Act,” you are permitted to request information about the manner in which we share certain categories of information with third parties for their marketing use. We may disclose your personal information to our affiliates or other related third parties such as service providers, vendors for their use in marketing to you, so we can provide the products and/or services offered on this website to you. When we disclose such information, your personal information is still kept confidential and between us and that third party. It is not used for any other purpose that’s not permitted under the laws.

Please be advised we DO NOT SELL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION to third parties and have never sold your personal information. We do not intend to sell your personal information in the future either.

Under the CCPA, you still have the right to opt-out of such sales and send us a “do not sell my information” request. If you would like to exercise any of your rights under California law, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at [email protected] Only you as the person registered with the California Secretary of State can make such verifiable consumer requested related to your personal information or someone you authorize to act on your behalf.

Your verifiable consumer request must provide sufficient information that allows us to verify that you are the person you are claiming to be or that you are the authorized representative of such person about whom we had collected personal information. You must describe your request with enough details such as your first and last name, address, and your country that allow us to properly understand the request and respond to it. Please note we cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information unless we first verify your identity or authority to make such a request and confirm that the personal information relates to you. We will make all attempts to respond to your request within 30 days of receipt.

EMAIL MARKETING 

You have the option of opting in or unsubscribing from our email list. By subscribing and opting in, you agree to receive newsletters, updates, messages, promotional materials, and any other content related to this website. When you send an email, your email message along with your email address and responses are saved for communication purposes with you. This information is kept confidential and we do not share, sell or trade your email information with third parties except as otherwise stated in this privacy policy.

We do not envision offering goods or services to individuals living in the European Union as outlined in the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

If you are in the European Union and opt-in to receive any of our free products or services and/or purchase any products or services through our website then you will be subscribed to receive our free email newsletter once you affirmatively consent to it. Please see the Opt-Out section below should you wish to “unsubscribe” and not receive any emails from us.

But if you are NOT in the European Union then you will be automatically subscribed to receive our free email newsletter once you opt-in to receive any of our free products or services and/or purchase any products or services through our website. Please see the Opt-Out section below should you wish to “unsubscribe” and not receive any emails from us.

Additional information

We sometimes use affiliate links in our content or posts. This won’t cost you anything but it does help the Good Gardener website to offset the costs of paying our writing team and occasional contributors. The Good Gardener Thanks You for your support! 

Affiliate Program Participation

The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

The Good Gardener is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com.  As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales. We also participate in ebay affiliates, which is a similar program and also used on this site. You can read Amazon’s Privacy Policy for further details on how they handle your information. 

Our website address is: http://goodgardener.ca.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We do use Google Analytics to give us information on buying patterns to help improve our site. Please read the full Google Analytics Privacy Policy to fully understand how we will be using your data.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.