Editorial Policy

These are the rules every page on Garden Planet Book is written to.

Sourcing

• Claims are linked where they are made. A factual statement links to its source in the same sentence or paragraph, not in a list at the bottom.
• Preferred sources: university extension services, USDA and EPA documents, the federal regulations themselves, nonprofit research organizations, and peer-reviewed studies.
• Every source is opened before it is cited. A link is only used if the page it points to actually supports the claim.
• No invented numbers. If a specific figure can't be traced to a source, it is removed rather than estimated.
• No commercial sources. Product pages and retailer content are not cited as evidence.

Disagreement and uncertainty

Extension services in different states often give different numbers for the same thing, sometimes because conditions differ and sometimes because the underlying research is thin. When that happens, pages show the range and name who says what. When the evidence doesn't support a firm answer, the page says so.

Independence

The site does not sell products and does not accept payment for coverage, placement, or recommendations.

Corrections and updates

Errors are corrected on the page. Pages are reviewed when the sources they rely on are revised, and outside links are checked periodically so that citations still point to pages that support them. To report a problem, use the contact page.