"Just water them now and then" is how a house sitter ends up watering the cactus every day and forgetting the fern. A page that says which plant, which day and what to do takes the guessing out of it. This guide covers what to put on it, then how to print it with Care Cat, our plants and pets app for iPhone, in its Plants mode.
What a good plant sheet has
Keep it to one page the sitter can follow without asking:
- Every plant by a name the sitter will recognise, like "Big fern" rather than its Latin name.
- Where each one is: the room, or the windowsill.
- What you do for it, and how often: water, feed, mist. This is your own routine, the one you already follow.
- Which days: a column per day you're away, with the jobs marked on the days they fall.
- A box to tick, so the sitter can see what's done and you can see it when you're back.
- A note: where the watering can is, and your number.
Write down the routine you already have. If you're not sure what a plant needs, ask whoever sold it to you before you go. Care Cat doesn't identify plants or give care advice; it prints the schedule you set.
Set up your plants
In Care Cat, pick Plants on the first screen.
- Tap Add your first plant, or + (Add plant) once you have one.
- Type a name the sitter will know, and a Room (optional). When there's space, the room prints under the name on the sheet.
- Turn on the jobs you do under Your schedule: Water, Feed, Mist or Repot. Water is on to start with.
- Set Every … days for each one to what you actually do.
- Tap Add.
The count starts from today. If you last watered a plant a few days ago, open the plant, tap its Water card and set Last done, so the sheet puts the next watering on the right day.
Make the sheet
- Tap Sitter sheet (the printer button) on Plants' Home.
- Set From to the first day you're away, and the number of days away. You can set up to 14.
- Pick Letter or A4.
- Write a note for the sitter. The field suggests "where the watering can is, your number".
- Check the preview at the top. It's the page exactly as it will print.
- Tap Print or Share. Share sends it as a PDF, so you can text or email it to the sitter as well.
What the sitter gets
The page is headed Plant care while I'm away, with your dates and how many plants there are. Then:
- A key: a letter for each job (W for Water, F for Feed, M for Mist, R for Repot) and "Tick the box when it's done."
- A row for each plant, with its name. When the rows are big enough, each one also has the plant's photo, its room and your intervals, like "Water 7d".
- A column for each day, with weekends shaded. On each day something is due, there's a box with the letter of each job due, ready to tick.
- Your note at the bottom.
Anything already late when you leave lands on the first day. The schedule on the sheet assumes each job is done on the day it's due, so the sitter's next box follows from that.
It all fits on one page. With a long list, the rows get smaller, down to a size a pen can still tick, and the smallest rows show just the name. Any plants that still don't fit are counted at the bottom of the page.
When you're back
The sheet is paper, so Care Cat doesn't know what the sitter ticked. Open Today, and tap the round button next to each job that was done. If a plant was watered on a day other than today, tap its Water card on the plant's page and set Last done to that day.
What it costs
All of Plants is free: unlimited plants with photos, your own schedule and reminders, the care history and the plant-sitter sheet with Print and Share. No ads, no account. Care Cat Pro is optional and only adds extras to Pets. More on the Care Cat page.
Every plant, photo and log is kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share it.
Quick answers
Does the sheet tell the sitter how to look after each plant?
No. It prints what you set up (names, photos, rooms, intervals and your note) and adds no care advice.
What about notes I wrote on a plant's page?
They don't print on the plant sheet. Put anything the sitter needs in the sheet's note.
Can I print it for more than two weeks?
The plant sheet covers up to 14 days.
I also print a pet-sitter sheet. Is the note separate?
No. The plant and pet sheets share the same note, so write one that works for both.
Try Care Cat
Care Cat is coming soon: free, no ads, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/care-cat