Editorial Policy

Potted Club exists to help people keep things alive and growing in small spaces: courtyards, balconies, window boxes, patios, and pots of every kind. Our promise is an honest, tested, specific voice. This page explains how we work, so you can judge for yourself how much to trust what you read here.

We grow what we write about

The heart of Potted Club is first-hand experience. Our guides and articles, written under the name Robin, come from actually growing things in small spaces, not from rewording what's already online. We test methods before we recommend them, we use our own photographs, and we tell you about the failures as well as the successes.

That honesty is the point. Plenty of gardening content promises effortless results; ours tries to tell you what really happens, including when a plant sulks, bolts, or dies. If we haven't grown or tested something ourselves, we'll either say so or leave it out.

How we research

Alongside our own growing, we check our guidance against reputable, current horticultural sources, and we favour recognised authorities such as the Royal Horticultural Society over second-hand summaries. Where a piece draws on a specific source, we aim to point you to it. We don't invent facts or figures, and where the evidence is genuinely mixed, we'll say so rather than pretend there's a single right answer.

Results will vary, and that's normal

Gardening isn't a formula. Your light, climate, soil, water, and the specific plant in front of you all shape the outcome, and they differ from ours. So we write our guidance as tested starting points and honest experience, not guarantees. Where climate makes a real difference, we include a note on adapting for different conditions. Treat our advice as a well-informed head start, then watch your own plants and adjust.

If in doubt about safety, don't

We write about edible plants as well as houseplants, and safety comes before enthusiasm. We will always encourage you to confirm a plant's identity and edibility from an authoritative source before eating any part of it, and to check whether a plant is safe around children and pets before bringing it home. If you're ever unsure whether a plant is safe to eat, handle, or keep, treat it as unsafe until you've confirmed otherwise. Our full guidance on this is in our Terms of Use.

Independence

Our content is editorially independent. We write about what we think is useful, and our recommendations are not for sale. We don't publish paid placements dressed up as editorial, and a brand cannot pay to be recommended in our guides or articles.

Potted Club is funded primarily through our newsletter. As we grow, we may introduce clearly-labelled sponsorship, or affiliate links where we'd recommend something anyway. If and when we do, we'll disclose it plainly, so you always know when there's a commercial relationship behind something you're reading.

How we use AI

We use AI tools as part of how we research and produce content, always under human direction and editing, and always grounded in our own first-hand growing and testing. AI never replaces the tested experience that makes Potted Club what it is.

Corrections and updates

We get things wrong sometimes, and growing advice itself changes with the seasons and with new understanding. When we learn that something we've published is inaccurate or out of date, we correct it. We update our guides as our own experience grows, and we date them so you can see when they were last reviewed.

If you spot something you think is wrong, we'd genuinely like to know. Please tell us at hello@potted.club, and we'll look into it.

Contact

Questions or corrections about our content can be sent to hello@potted.club.