How we write and check our guides

Lasaki Learn is the guides section of the Lasaki Ceramics website. This page explains what the guides cover, how they are checked, what their limits are, and how to tell us when we have got something wrong.

Who we are

Lasaki Ceramics (Lasaki Step Up Pvt Ltd) is a ceramics manufacturer and wholesale supplier based in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh. Our catalogue covers ceramic pots and planters, flower vases, plates and trays for planters, home décor, crockery, our Handmade Tiles range and wood products.

We sell to businesses such as retailers, nurseries, cafés and interior designers. We do not sell plants, soil, fertiliser or artificial flowers. The guides still cover plant and flower care, because choosing a pot or a vase starts with what will go in it.

What the guides cover

The guides are grouped into five subjects:

• Pots and planters: choosing a pot size, plates and trays, styling with white pots, and bonsai pots.
• Plants and plant care: easy indoor plants, succulents in small pots, balconies and small spaces, and care through the Indian summer, monsoon and winter.
• Vases and flowers: matching vase shapes to fresh or artificial flowers.
• Home décor: festive décor and gifting.
• Handmade tiles: reading tile sizes, and ideas for patterned tiles.

They are written with Indian homes and businesses in mind: a flat with one sunny window, a balcony that bakes in May, a shop or café with shelves to fill.

Where a Lasaki product genuinely fits the point being made, the guide links to it. Bringing readers to our catalogue is one reason we write the guides. Even so, advice on measuring a pot, watering through the monsoon or arranging flowers should be just as useful whichever brand you end up buying.

How a guide is made

Product details: checked against our catalogue data

Every product detail in a guide (name, category, colour, size, measurements and, where listed, weight) is checked against Lasaki's own catalogue data at the time the guide was prepared or last updated. Measurements are given in centimetres, written like "about 20 cm", and taken from that data. Read each one as the figure for that one product, not as a rule for a whole range.

Our catalogue data does not record several things buyers reasonably ask about:

• whether a pot has a drainage hole;
• the glaze, the finish or the grade of material;
• whether a piece is food-safe, or can go in a microwave or a dishwasher;
• whether a piece can stay outdoors through frost or heavy rain;
• the type of wood used in our wood products;
• whether a piece is handmade or hand-painted (apart from the name of our Handmade Tiles range).

So the guides do not claim any of these for any product. Where it matters, they ask you to check the product photos or to ask us.

Plant care and other facts: checked against reputable sources

We check plant-care advice, and other facts such as festival dates or fire safety around diyas, against reputable sources. These include university extension services, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in the UK, and Indian government bodies such as ICAR and the India Meteorological Department. For some practical points, such as tile grout or candle safety, we also use guidance from manufacturers, suppliers and trade bodies, and from specialist growers on subjects such as bonsai. We keep a record of the source behind each such fact, so if you want to read it for yourself, ask us. If we cannot verify a fact, we leave it out rather than guess.

Many reliable gardening sources are written for places with climates very different from India's, such as the UK or the United States. When a guide applies their advice to an Indian summer, the monsoon or a north Indian winter, read the result as a general guide, not a rule.

Checking and publishing

Each guide is checked against our catalogue data and the sources before a member of the Lasaki team publishes it. We do not present the guides as the work of gardeners, horticulturists or designers, and no guide is labelled as written by an expert.

Three languages

Each guide is published in English, Hindi and Hinglish. The three versions are written separately for their readers rather than translated word for word, so an example or a heading may differ between them. The facts and the products are the same in all three. If a line in the Hindi or Hinglish version reads oddly to you, please tell us.

What you will not find in the guides

• Prices, stock levels, order minimums or delivery promises. Lasaki sells to businesses, and prices are shown only to approved business customers.
• Anything made up. No invented customer stories, testimonials, awards or statistics.
• Product claims our data does not support. See the list above.

General advice, not a diagnosis

What a plant needs depends on the species and variety, the light where it sits, your local climate, the season, the soil mix and the pot. A watering routine that suits a sunny balcony in May may be far too much for the same plant in a shaded room during the monsoon. Treat each guide as a starting point: check the soil before you water, and watch how the plant responds.

For a plant that is clearly unwell, or if you are growing vegetables or fruit trees, local advice is worth more than any general guide. A good local nursery can help. So can your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). KVKs are centres started by ICAR in districts across India, and they offer advisory services, mainly to farmers. In a big city, a single KVK may serve the whole city.

Where a guide touches on safety, such as plants that may harm pets, or the open flame of a diya or candle, take extra care. If a pet or child may have chewed a plant, contact a vet or doctor straight away rather than waiting for symptoms. Do not try to make them vomit unless the vet or doctor tells you to.

Products, links and the catalogue

Product names, links and cards in the guides point to the Lasaki catalogue. Our range changes over time, and the product page always carries the current details. If a guide and a product page disagree, go by the product page and let us know, so that we can fix the guide. You can browse the full catalogue at any time.

Retailers, nurseries, cafés and interior designers who want to stock or specify our pieces can request trade access.

Reporting a correction

If you spot a mistake, such as a wrong measurement, a broken link, plant advice you think is wrong, or a sentence that reads badly in Hindi or Hinglish, please write to us through our contact page. It helps if you include:

1. the title of the guide and the language you read it in;
2. the sentence or section you mean;
3. what you think is wrong, with a source if you have one.

We check each report against our catalogue data and the sources. When we correct a guide, the date at the top shows when it was last updated.