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The Potted Blog
Notes from Robin on growing in small flats — opinions, mistakes, and what's actually worked.
- Plant Problems
What to Do With Strawberry Plants After Fruiting
The fruit has finished. The plant hasn't. What to cut back, whether to keep the runners, how to turn one balcony strawberry pot into next year's plants for free, and when an old plant is finally worth replacing.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE Balcony pots, hanging baskets and window boxesDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 8 min - Plant Problems
Can You Save Plants That Dried Out While You Were on Holiday
You come home to a wilted, crisp-edged balcony and assume the worst. Before you flood everything, here's how to tell what's actually salvageable, and how to rehydrate a plant properly rather than making things worse.
LIGHT 2 of 3SPACE Balcony, patio or windowsill potsDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Seasonal
What Should You Do With Lavender After It Flowers
Your lavender looked fantastic in June and July. Now it's grey, leggy and covered in dead flower stalks. What to actually cut, the one place you should never cut, and how a potted lavender needs different treatment to one in the ground.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE Balcony pots, patio containers and sunny window boxesDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 8 min - Plant Problems
Why Are My Leaves Turning Yellow
Yellow leaves are a symptom, not a diagnosis, and they can mean almost opposite things depending on the pattern. How to actually work out whether it's watering, light, feeding, pests, or nothing to worry about at all.
LIGHT 2 of 3SPACE Any windowsill, shelf or patio potDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Plant Problems
Why Is My Plant Drooping After Repotting
Some drooping after repotting is normal and resolves within a week or two. Here's how to tell ordinary transplant shock apart from a genuine problem, and what actually helps a plant recover.
LIGHT 2 of 3SPACE Any windowsill, balcony or patio potDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 8 min - Seasonal
Fire Risk in a Dry Garden, and What to Actually Check
UK fire services have responded to over 700 wildfires this year, and a garden fire can spread to a house within minutes. Compost heaps, mulch, dry grass and where flammable things sit near your home, what actually matters and what to do about it.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE Any garden, yard or balcony with stored materialDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Getting Started
Watering With Just a Can: What to Prioritise
Can you fill a watering can with a hose during a ban? It depends who supplies your water. How often to water by hand realistically, which plants to prioritise, and how to reduce the burden altogether.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE All spacesDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 10 min - Plant Problems
Looking After Tomatoes Through the Rest of Summer
Your tomatoes are flowering or fruiting now, which changes what they need. Feeding, watering consistency, pinching out side shoots, and what to do about splitting, blossom end rot, and fruit that won't ripen.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE Patio, balcony or sunny doorstepDIFFICULTY moderate✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Plant Problems
What Kew's New Report Reveals About Changing Flowering Times
Kew analysed 8 million historic plant specimens with AI and found flowering times have shifted by 2.5 days a decade for a century. What the State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2026 report actually found, and why it matters for a small garden.
LIGHT 2 of 3SPACE Any small spaceDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 8 min - Getting Started
Should You Deadhead, or Let It Go to Seed
Deadheading isn't automatically the right move for every flower. Which plants genuinely want it, which are better left to seed for wildlife, self-sowing or next year's plants for free, and how to tell the difference.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE All spacesDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Houseplants
Should I Feed My Houseplants?
Yes, but far less often than most people assume, and not through winter at all. When to start feeding a new houseplant, how often through the year, and the signs you've overdone it.
LIGHT 2 of 3SPACE Indoor windowsillDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min - Plant Problems
Why Your Lettuce, Spinach and Coriander Keep Bolting
It's not just the heat. Why lettuce, spinach and coriander suddenly shoot up and flower, why some crops do it because of day length rather than temperature, and what to actually do about it.
LIGHT 3 of 3SPACE All edible spacesDIFFICULTY easy✓ TESTEDREAD 9 min
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