🌱 The Growers Academy
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the app, premium access and how it all works.
← Back to the app page📱 The App
The Growers Academy is a free interactive web app created by Glen from the Veggie Patch Ideas YouTube channel. It’s designed to help you learn how to grow your own vegetables through bite-sized lessons, quizzes, a monthly planner and a problem solver — all in one place.
Yes — the first three courses (18 lessons) are completely free with no account needed and no credit card required. Premium access unlocks Courses 4, 5 and 6 (a further 17 advanced lessons) plus a free copy of the Vegetable Garden Planner Diary.
No download needed. The app runs directly in your browser. If you want it on your home screen like a normal app, you can tap “Add to Home Screen” in your browser menu — this installs it as a Progressive Web App (PWA) that works offline too.
Yes — it works on iPhone, Android, iPad, and desktop. For the best mobile experience use Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android. It also works in Firefox, Brave and other modern browsers.
Most of the app works offline once you’ve visited it — lessons, the planner and problem solver all load without a connection. YouTube videos require an internet connection to play.
The app itself contains no advertising whatsoever. Some video lessons are hosted on Glen’s YouTube channel and may display a short ad at the start — this is standard YouTube behaviour and helps in part cover the cost of running the app.
No account needed for the free version. Your progress, XP, streaks and badges are saved locally on your device. This means your progress stays on the device you use — if you clear your browser data or switch devices, your progress will reset.
📚 Learning
The app covers everything from growing basics — soil, tools and sowing — right through to advanced topics like crop rotation, no-dig growing, irrigation and year-round harvesting. There are 37 lessons across 6 courses, with more being added regularly.
Most lessons take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete — including reading the content, watching the video and completing the quiz. They’re designed to fit around your day, not take it over.
Absolutely. The first course starts right from the beginning — what plants need to grow, choosing the right containers or beds, basic tools and sowing your first seeds. You don’t need any previous experience at all.
Hearts are used when you answer quiz questions incorrectly. You start each day with 5 hearts. If you run out, you won’t be able to take quizzes until the next day when they automatically refill. This encourages you to read the lesson carefully before attempting the quiz!
Each day there’s a new growing question worth +15 XP. It takes about 30 seconds and is a great way to keep your knowledge sharp and maintain your daily streak. Miss a day and your streak resets — so keep showing up!
🔒 Your Data & Progress
The app stores your progress, XP, badges, streaks and settings locally on your device only — nothing is sent to any server. We do not collect personal data, email addresses or any identifying information through the app itself. For full details please see our Privacy Policy.
Yes — your progress, XP, badges and streaks are saved in your browser’s local storage on the device you use. If you clear your browser data, reset your phone, switch to a new device or use a different browser, your progress will be lost and you will start from the beginning. We recommend keeping your licence key safe in your email if you have premium, as this can always be re-entered on a new device to restore premium access.
If you’d like to start fresh, there is a built-in reset option inside the app. Go to the Progress screen (tap the ⭐ icon in the bottom navigation), scroll to the bottom and tap “Reset All Progress”. This will clear your lessons, XP, badges and streaks and return the app to its starting state. Your premium access will not be affected — simply re-enter your licence key afterwards.
The Vegetable Garden Planner Diary is a PDF download that you print out at home or at a local print shop. It’s designed to be used alongside the app — as you work through the lessons, you can plan your plot, track your sowings and record what you grow, all on paper. There’s something really satisfying about having a physical companion to your digital learning journey. It makes the perfect growing diary to keep on the potting shed shelf or kitchen windowsill. Once purchased or unlocked with premium, you’ll receive a download link by email.
Absolutely — and this is exactly how Glen uses it. Print out a fresh copy each year, date it, and fill it in as your season unfolds. Once you have a couple of years’ worth, you can look back and compare — what were your best sowing timings? What worked well in a warm spring versus a cold one? Which crops performed best in your plot? Over time your dated diaries become an incredibly valuable personal growing record, tailored entirely to your garden and your conditions. Because it’s a PDF, you can print as many copies as you like — once you have it, it’s yours for life.
⭐ Premium
Premium unlocks Courses 4, 5 and 6 — covering Plot Management, Advanced Techniques and Year-Round Growing (17 additional lessons). It also includes a free copy of Glen’s Vegetable Garden Planner Diary (worth £5), delivered as a digital download.
Purchase premium through the app or via the Veggie Patch Ideas website. You’ll receive a licence key by email. Open the app, go to the Unlock screen and enter your key — premium activates instantly and stays unlocked on that device.
Premium is a one-off payment — there is no subscription or recurring charge. You pay once and access the premium content for as long as the app is available. Please see the access disclaimer below for full details.
Your licence key is yours to keep — simply re-enter it on the Unlock screen of any device to restore premium access. Keep your key safe in your email inbox. Your lesson progress and XP are stored locally and cannot currently be transferred between devices.
Yes — we offer a 30-day money back guarantee on premium. If you’re not happy for any reason, contact us within 30 days of purchase and we’ll refund you in full, no questions asked.
⚠️ A note on access duration
When we refer to premium access, we mean access for as long as The Growers Academy app remains live and operational. This is a one-person independent project run alongside Glen’s YouTube channel — not a corporate product with guaranteed long-term infrastructure.
While we fully intend to keep the app running and improving for many years, we cannot make an unconditional lifetime guarantee. Access to premium content is dependent on the app remaining online, the hosting remaining active, and the Veggie Patch Ideas channel continuing to operate.
We believe in being upfront about this. If circumstances ever change, we would do our best to give users reasonable notice. Your one-off payment supports an independent creator — and we’re genuinely grateful for that support.
🚀 Getting Started
Ready to start growing?
Free to join — no account needed. Open on any device.
🚀 Open The Growers Academy