Juggling when to plant a seed or prepare the soil for the plant life you want can be a hassle and not everyone understands how to read through a Farmer’s Almanac without struggling. Thankfully, most seed packets and plant tags have instructional information on them.

Most seed packets have the same information but there is no standardized organization for them. Every brand of seed takes advantage of this for aesthetic purposes, but the information is definitely there and clearly legible. There is quite a bit of information that isn’t explained though and may come across as pointless.

What about plants that you’ve purchased that are already grown and flowering? They’ll have tags with lighting, spacing, maturity time frames, and watering instructions. But yet again, there isn’t any standardized organization to the information they give you and every brand places it on the tags however they want.

Take the zoning as an example: not all seed packets or plants have this. When they do, they show a map with color coding that only has months next to them. This information is dire to know for all plants however, so just blindly following the information without knowing why can kill any plant you decide to place in your chosen space.

You’ve planted the seeds before and they died right?

A Lot of kids have begged for the small flower kit from the local market that came with the soil pellet, the seed, and the cute little pot the child can draw on, only to find the plant didn’t grow or even attempt to sprout. Seeds need moisture and warmth but can’t be exposed to harsh weather until they’re large enough to withstand the local winds without being uprooted. They may have sprouted and when moved from indoors to outdoors, they wilted away.

Seeds can start either indoors or outdoors. Each choice has its own problems to overcome but neither choice is wrong. It’s easier to take your outdoor plants inside, for example. Plants that are started outside come with risk of being eaten by animals, getting washed away in watering or weather, and could potentially not find enough nutrients if the ground soil wasn’t treated with fertilizer. Indoor seed starting can lead to mold in the planter if the space is enclosed or it can be that there isn’t enough sunlight or warmth for the seed to sprout.

These choices also have transportation considerations to think about. Taking an inside plant outdoors can take a long time as you have to adjust the plant to the new, and admittedly harsher, environment. You can use a slow exposure method where you take your seedbed outside for a short period of time every day, slowly increasing the amount of time the plant is outside before they’re outside completely. Taking an outdoor plant inside (if you’ve managed to uproot it without killing it) can lead to potential deficiencies as now the plant may be getting less light, the soil doesn’t dry as quickly and perhaps you didn’t change the watering schedule.

Nothing is wrong with taking a cutting — but wait there might be.

Cuttings are normally stems or leaves that a gardener has taken from a fully grown plant. Some plants drop parts of themselves as a way of propagation. Ether way, these pieces are going to have to start sprouting roots and any other part of the plant necessary for the type of cutting you have. If you take the cutting yourself, make sure the cutting is a more watered part of the plant.

Once the requirements are met, you can plant cuttings in soil. Cuttings are more fragile than seeds or plants you buy from the store. Rooting hormones may help with the growing process. Something to consider is whether or not the plant can grow from a cutting. Not every plant has the potential.

From plastic container to whatever you put in there.

More often than not, especially when the kids want to participate, gardeners will take pre-grown plants. This doesn’t change what to treat the soil with or how much watering is needed in relation with your soil, but it does make the process easier.

When replanting grown plants, take the soil and the roots from the container that the plant is in and transplant it into the new plot of dirt. Loosening the soil around the roots will help with aerating them and allow for more root growth in the new planter. Mixing the loose soil around the plant in the new soil will also help the plant adjust to the difference within the soil you’ve transplanted to.