Plants & gardening
Most plant advice online is written for a garden that is not yours: the wrong hemisphere, the wrong soil, twice the light. These prompts are built to force the specifics out first. They ask for your aspect, your soil, your climate and your honest watering habits before offering anything, and they say plainly when the answer is that the plant is dead and you should stop. There are diagnostic prompts that work from symptoms rather than guesses, layout prompts for a bed or a balcony that account for mature size rather than the size in the pot, seasonal task lists pinned to your actual latitude, and one prompt whose entire job is to tell you which plant to give up on so the others get the attention. Written for people who keep plants alive, not for people who photograph them.
36 prompts in 5 groups
Plants & gardening21 categories
Diagnosis and rescue
Working out what is wrong with a plant, what is eating it, and whether it is worth saving at all.
- Diagnose a plant problem from symptomsLongSomething is wrong with a plant and the internet says it is either too much or too little water.
- Identify a pest and respond without reaching for poisonLongSomething is eating a plant and you would like to know what before you spray anything.
- Full check-up on a struggling houseplantLongAn indoor plant has been slowly declining and you cannot pin down which thing is wrong.
- Revive a neglected plant, or decide not toLongYou came back from three weeks away, or inherited something badly treated.
- Tell me which plants to give up onLongToo many struggling plants and not enough attention to go round.
- Why is this plant unhappy?ShortA plant looks wrong and you want questions before a guess.
- What is eating this?ShortHoles in the leaves and no culprit in sight.
- Is this plant dead?MediumBack from three weeks away, or an inherited plant that looks beyond help.
Routine care
Watering tests, repotting calls, pruning timing, compost mixes, and taking cuttings that root.
- Work out a watering routine for my actual conditionsLongThe label says "water regularly" and you have killed three plants finding out what that means.
- Decide whether a plant needs repottingLongA plant looks unhappy and repotting is the thing everyone suggests first.
- Propagate a specific plant the right wayLongYou want more of something and there are five methods with different odds.
- Work out the right soil or compost mixLongStanding in front of six bags of compost with no idea which one this plant wants.
- Decide how and when to prune somethingLongSecateurs in hand and a real fear of cutting off next year's flowers.
- Give me a watering test, not a scheduleShortWhen the label says water regularly and you need something you can actually check.
- When do I prune this?ShortSecateurs in hand, unsure whether you are about to remove next year's flowers.
- Can I propagate this?ShortYou want more of something and there are five methods with different odds.
- Is this pot too small?ShortA plant is sulking and everyone says repot it.
- Sanity-check how I waterMediumYou suspect your watering habits are the reason things keep dying.
- A compost mix from what the garden centre sellsMediumStanding in front of six bags with no idea which one this plant wants.
Choosing plants
Matching plants to your light, your climate and the small print on the label before you buy.
- Choose plants for a specific light and spaceLongYou have a spot and want things that will actually live in it.
- Translate a plant label into what it means for meLongHolding a plant in a shop and trying to work out if it will survive at yours.
- Plant for wildlife in a specific placeLongYou want bees, birds and hedgehogs rather than a bag of generic wildflower seed.
- Choose plants for the climate I actually haveLongPlanting something meant to live for twenty years in a climate that is shifting.
- Will this survive where I live?ShortBefore buying something that has to get through a winter outdoors.
- Five plants that will actually thrive hereMediumYou have a spot and want things that live in it rather than merely tolerate it.
Planning the garden
Bed and balcony layouts, the jobs this month, and records that stop you relearning the same lesson.
- What to do in the garden this monthLongThe start of a month, wanting a list pinned to your climate rather than a generic one.
- Plan the layout of a bed or balconyLongAn empty space and a pile of plants you want to arrange sensibly rather than by trial.
- Set up a garden journal worth keepingLongYou keep learning the same lesson every year because nothing was written down.
- Is it too late to plant this?ShortStanding over a bare patch in the wrong month.
- What should I do in the garden this month?ShortThe start of a month, wanting the jobs that cannot wait.
Growing food
Crops worth the space, sowing calendars worked back from frost, and pairings with real evidence.
- Check companion planting claims before I rely on themLongPlanning a vegetable bed and wanting to know which pairings have evidence behind them.
- Grow food in a small spaceLongA balcony, a windowsill, or a yard, and a wish to eat something you grew.
- Build a seed sowing timeline backwards from last frostLongA packet collection in January and no plan for what gets sown when.
- What grows well next to this?ShortPlanning a bed and wanting pairings with a real mechanism behind them.
- Sowing dates worked back from last frostMediumA pile of seed packets and no idea what gets sown when.
- Which of these crops are worth the space?MediumA balcony or a couple of containers and a long wish list.
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