A few growers near each other, each growing something different, swapping what they have spare. That’s the whole idea behind Grow Together at gardenbuddy.au/grow-together/. Joining a group costs nothing, ever. Here’s what it actually does, what it costs, and how we built it so nobody has to hand over their address to use it.
A minute or so on what Grow Together does and what it costs.
What Grow Together actually does
A garden doesn’t produce on a schedule, it produces in gluts. Six lettuces come ready in the same week, then nothing for a month. Meanwhile someone three streets over has forty tomatoes and no greens at all. Grow Together is a group, usually a handful of people who live close enough to actually swap something, built around three jobs: see what the group has spare, choose exactly what you show them, and post what you have going.
A group isn’t a public marketplace and it isn’t a social feed. There’s no directory to browse and no way to find or join a stranger’s group. The only way in is an invitation sent to your email by someone already in the group, and we built it that way on purpose. Sharing your garden and roughly where you live only makes sense with people you can drive to, not with strangers.
Why it matters
Five households each growing five different things beats five households all growing zucchini in January. The size of any one garden stops being the limiting factor, because what spreads through a group is variety, not square metres. It works the same way on a suburban block as it does on acreage.
The thing that normally stops people sharing a garden is trust: nobody wants to publish their address, their private notes, or hand strangers a reason to know when they’re not home. So sharing in a Grow Together group is opt in at the bed level, not the default. Nothing of yours is visible to anyone until you turn it on, and you can turn it back off any time.
How to use it
- Get invited, or start one: someone already in a group invites you by email, and the link creates a free account for you if you don’t already have one. If nobody’s invited you yet and you want to get one going, starting a group needs a Starter or Pro plan. Everyone you then invite joins for free and stays free, because a group of eight shouldn’t cost eight subscriptions.
- Pick what shows, bed by bed: every bed you own starts private. For each one you choose to share, tick the details you’re happy for the group to see, plant, variety, quantity and when it’ll be ready are the sensible starting point. Leave your notes and the bed’s exact position off unless you’ve got a real reason to turn them on, because the group can see them the moment you tick the box and it can’t un-see what somebody already read.
- Swap on the board: post that you’ve got spare pumpkins or that you’re after garlic, and other members register interest. We put the two of you in touch and stop there. We don’t take payment, set a price, or handle the handover, that part’s between you and the other grower.
- Coordinate a season, if you’re on Pro: a Pro group admin can switch on season coordination, and from then on every member, whatever plan they’re on, can propose a crop, vote for what the group actually wants, and claim it so two people don’t both plant beans while nobody plants onions.
What we never share
Your suburb shows to the group so people know whether you’re close enough to bother. Your exact address never does. Your care log, your watering history and your pest records are never shared with a group, there’s no setting that turns them on because we didn’t build one. An invitation link works for fourteen days and only from the email address it was sent to, so forwarding it to someone else won’t let them in.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to share anything to join a group? No. You can join, see what everyone else is growing, and share nothing of your own.
Does starting a group cost my neighbours anything? No. Only the person who opens the group needs a paid plan. Everyone they invite joins free and stays free.
Can the group see my whole garden? No. Only the beds you have chosen to share, and only the details you ticked on each one.
What happens if I leave a group, or stop sharing a bed? Everything you were sharing with that group stops being visible immediately.
Can I be in more than one group? Yes, and you choose what to share separately for each one. A street group and a community garden group do not have to see the same things.
Related features
Grow Together works best once there is something in your own garden worth sharing.
- Build My First Garden: the fastest way to get your first bed planned before you invite anyone into a group.
- Add your first garden bed: the actual mechanics of adding a bed, which is what a group needs to see something at all.
- A tour of My Garden: where beds, harvests and now group sharing all live day to day.
Try it now
Read the full step by step guide to starting a group, inviting a neighbour and choosing what to share at Grow Together groups, or head straight to Grow Together and see what it costs. Joining is free, and it stays that way.
