Botanist ignoring Pots

[Jin_Jenkins]

I unlocked the Bungalow and and installed eight pots, racks and UV lights, added shelves and a packing station.

The pots are connected to an empty shelf, assigned to any seed.
The source shelf for the Botanist is stocked with soil and seeds.

The Botanist only handles one pot and then goes outside again.
So far I've tried:

Going to bed
Spacing out the pots
Reorienting the pots
Keeping the workspace clean
Restructuring his work plan
Letting the Botanist run out of money, then repay them
Fire them and rehire them
Restarting the game

any ideas how to fix Botanist ignoring the pots?