AI Policy
Last updated
The short answer
Herb & Hollow uses AI tools to help with research, drafting and image generation. Every article is reviewed and edited by a human editor before it is published. The rest of this page explains what that looks like in practice.
The tools in our shed
AI is one tool among many here, useful for some jobs and wrong for others. We use it to:
- Gather background research, such as summarizing published growing information for a variety, collecting common questions about a plant, or comparing planter specifications. Facts that matter are then checked against original sources like extension services and seed company data.
- Prepare drafts, including outlines, first versions of sections, and options for headlines and Pinterest descriptions.
- Create images, mostly illustrations of container gardens, herbs, balconies and apothecary shelves.
- Tidy the writing, by catching typos, repetition and sentences that run too long.
The human hand
AI drafts are a starting point, never a finished article. An editor reads each piece from beginning to end, checks planting times against zone and frost-date guidance, checks every herbal safety note against public health sources, rewrites for clarity and warmth, and removes anything that can't be supported. The article is published only after that review, and the "Reviewed by" line names the editor responsible.
We never let an AI tool decide whether an herb is safe. Safety notes come from sources like the NCCIH, the ASPCA plant list and USDA food safety guidance, verified by a person.
Pictures of plants
Many of the images on Herb & Hollow are AI-generated illustrations or styled scenes. They show how a planting idea or a pantry shelf might look. They are not photographs of our own gardens, and we label AI images where it is relevant.
Please keep two things in mind:
- AI images are not plant identification references. They can get leaf shapes, flowers and proportions subtly wrong. Never use one to decide what a plant is or whether it's safe to eat.
- Real gardens look different. Our illustrations show healthy plants in good light. Yours may look scruffier mid-season, and that's normal.
When we share AI-generated images on Pinterest, we follow Pinterest's rules for disclosing AI content.
What we recommend and how we know
Recommendations for seeds, tools and supplies are based on research of public product information, reviews and specifications, not hands-on testing, unless the article says otherwise. AI may help collect that information, but a person makes every recommendation.
Lines we don't cross
- No article is published without human review.
- No invented personal stories, harvests, reader testimonials or "we grew this" claims.
- No AI images presented as photographs of real gardens or real results.
- No herbal, toxicity or food safety guidance that hasn't been checked by a person against reliable sources.
Questions
If something on Herb & Hollow looks wrong, or you'd like to know how a particular article was made, write to [email protected]. Errors are handled under the corrections section of our editorial guidelines.
Reviewed October 7, 2026.