@NiallC. How is it decided when a beta site can graduate?

@jmusser The SE team evaluates the sites at some interval (maybe 3 months), looking for key statistics like site traffic, number of users (at various rep levels), engagement of those users: how often they visit, vote, etc.

If they decide that a site is building momentum and can sustain it long-term, they'll make the decision to graduate.

@NiallC. Ah, that makes sense. Do all the stats have to be at excellent?

@NiallC. How close do you think we are?

We've had a relatively large amount of activity recently, but I think we're still fairly low overall.

I believe @jonericson is the SE staffer with responsibility for gardening.se; he might be able to say more.

@stormy I'm curious what trees will grow in your area. The only one i know of that stands that kind of climate is quaking aspen.

@jmusser Not necessarily. The difficult one for many sites is Q/d. Many sites are smaller scope and just have a harder time getting enough questions.

Gardening tends to pick up in the spring and die off toward winter.

@NiallC. We've switched to more like 6 months, but that's the still the process more or less.