Houseplant Care

This workbook turns the course into hands-on practice with your own plants and home. Each section pairs with a course module and mixes guided exercises, fill-in worksheets, and checklists you will use at the windowsill and potting bench. Work through it with a plant, a light meter or phone app, and your watering can within reach, and keep the templates to track light, watering, feeding, and the health of every plant in your collection.

Audit the light in every room, score each plant spot, and sort your plants into care groups.

Walk through your home with a phone light-meter app such as Photone, or use the shadow test, and rate each spot a plant could live. Measure at the height of the leaves, not at the window, and ideally at midday on a typical day. Doing this once removes most of the guesswork from plant care.

For each plant you own or want to buy, record its care group and required light, then the light band of the spot you plan to put it in. Flag any mismatch so you can move the plant or pick a different spot.

Practice correct watering technique, replace the calendar with soil tests, and blend a proper mix.

Pick one plant whose soil has dried to its trigger point. Water it slowly with the soak-and-drain method until water runs from the drainage holes, let it drain fully, and empty the saucer. Lift the pot right after watering to learn its heavy weight, then again every couple of days.

On the same plant, run the finger test, a wooden skewer pushed to the bottom, and the lift test, and compare what each tells you. The goal is to learn which signals you trust so you can stop watering on a fixed calendar.

Choose one plant and design the right mix for its group from the course recipes. Record the parts of each ingredient, then run the squeeze test on a wet handful and note the result.

Read root-bound signals, repot one plant cleanly, choose pots with intent, and set a feeding schedule.

Choose a plant showing root-bound signs and repot it following the course sequence, stepping up just one to two inches in pot diameter. Water it the day before so the root ball holds together. Work on a tray and have fresh mix ready before you slide the plant out.

For a plant you plan to repot, work through the choices that decide watering frequency and root health. Match the pot to the plant and to your own watering habits.

Read the label on your fertiliser and design a feeding plan for the growing season. Remember to dilute, feed only onto moist soil, and pause in autumn and winter.

Diagnose leaf symptoms in context, treat root rot, knock out pests, and propagate new plants.

Pick a plant that is yellowing, browning, or dropping leaves and diagnose it by reading the whole situation, not just the leaf. Check soil moisture, light, last feeding, and any recent change before you decide on a fix.

Inspect the undersides of leaves and the soil surface across your collection. If you find a pest, identify it against the four common suspects, isolate the plant, and begin the matching treatment. If you find none, practice the inspection so you can catch one early next time.

Propagate one plant by the right method for its type: a stem cutting below a node for a vining aroid, or division for a clumping plant. Use clean tools and place cuttings in bright indirect light. Take a few at once so the strongest ones carry the day.