What to Sow

Problem

Gardening advice is abundant, but most of it is generic, scattered and detached from the conditions outside a particular person’s window. The useful question is much more specific: what makes sense to sow tonight, here?

Constraint

Planting guidance changes by place and season, while the content still needs to work for people who arrive through search with one immediate question. The system also has to remain manageable across 181 varieties.

Decision

I chose an intent-led content model over a publishing-led one. At its centre is a journey from postcode to local guidance: someone enters a postcode, the product gives the answer local context using frost-date data calibrated against Met Office sources, then points to the next useful action.

I designed and built the proposition, content model, interface and publishing system end to end. The content model organises 181 varieties into connected crop and seasonal pathways, with structured FAQs and internal links joining the immediate answer to deeper guidance.

Live source model

From one location to a connected answer

1. 01 Local context

   Postcode and estimated frost pattern.

2. 02 Timing logic

   Sow indoors, direct sow, plant out and harvest windows.

3. 03 Crop guidance

   Needs, spacing, practical tips and companion relationships.

4. 04 Deeper routes

   Named varieties, recipes and seed-supplier pathways.

Content-system evidence drawn from the live publishing model: 48 crop records and 181 mapped varieties. This is a source-model map, not a product screenshot.

Result

What to Sow is a working postcode-aware product with 181 varieties, connected crop and seasonal pathways, structured content for search and affiliate routes designed into the experience.

What’s next

The product keeps evolving through use: clearer local answers, stronger links between intent and crop guidance, and better evidence about which pathways help people act.