For some reason I thought that the game automatically planted the seeds when I harvested a new kind of plant?
Next time I pop back home I'll check the garden, as I have recently discovered a couple of new plants.
I think upgrades to your house are automatically applied when you talk to the caretaker. I especially liked how he
saw the dragon head, took it without asking and said something like "I'll clip it to the front of the house. Then everybody can see you are a dragon slayer!"