How We Review
We research plant care products carefully, check the facts against the manufacturer and independent sources, and tell you plainly what we know and how we know it — including where we have not used something ourselves.
How We Research a Product
Specifications, Checked at Source
We start with the manufacturer’s own product page and cross-check it against UK retailers and other independent sources. Where a figure is the manufacturer’s own claim, we say so. Anything we cannot confirm does not go into a review as fact.
Checking It Still Holds
Checking changes our recommendations. When we re-checked our own picks in October 2026, we found products that did not exist as we had described them and a pest treatment that is not authorised for use in the UK — and we replaced or removed them, with a correction note on each page affected.
Sources on Every Review
Every review and round-up ends with the sources behind its facts — manufacturer pages, retailer listings, and guidance from bodies such as the RHS — and the month we checked them, so you can see exactly where each claim comes from.
Honest Reporting
Affiliate partnerships never influence our scores. We will tell you when a cheaper product does the job, and when you will outgrow the one we are recommending.
What We Don’t Do
Plenty of sites claim to have tested everything they recommend. We would rather tell you exactly where our knowledge comes from, so you can weigh it yourself.
We are not a testing lab
Our product reviews are research-led rather than hands-on. We do not run controlled durability trials, and we do not claim to. If we have genuinely used a product ourselves, we will say so on that review — not as a blanket claim here.
We say when we are unsure
If the evidence for a claim is thin or sources conflict, the review says that rather than smoothing it over into false confidence.
We do not sell placement
No brand can pay to appear, to rank higher, or to score better. We accept no paid placements, no sponsored reviews, and no gifted products in exchange for coverage.
Affiliate links, plainly
Some links on this site earn us a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. That commission never changes a score or a recommendation — including when the honest answer is to buy nothing.
Review Criteria
When we rate a product, these are the four things we weigh, roughly in these proportions.
Quality & Performance
Weight: 30%Does the product do what it claims? We weigh the manufacturer’s specifications, checked against UK retailers and independent sources, against what the job actually needs.
Value for Money
Weight: 25%We compare price against quality, longevity, and what else is available at the same price point.
Sustainability
Weight: 25%Materials, packaging, supply chain transparency, and brand ethics all factor in.
Design & Aesthetics
Weight: 20%A plant pot or grow light lives in your home. We consider how products look, feel, and fit.
Our Rating Scale
Scores are out of 10 — an editorial judgement across the criteria above, not a lab measurement.