How do you completely pause the game? The stragety guide says to pause the game if you are going to be away. Says to go to Main Menu - Options - Pause "so plants will not suffer from neglect while away".
I don't find a "pause" option. Tried using the "stop time" option & the main screen says "time paused" but came home to find most plants dead or infested and all out of water.
Is there a way to really stop the game when away? Never had this problem with FT or VV1 or VV2.

Stop Time is Pause. I should edit the guide so that it's consistent with the game's Options screen.

There are circumstances where setting Stop Time will not totally stop the passage of time in the game. This phenomenon is explained in this answer in our Support FAQ.

I use the spacebar on my keyboard to pause and I have never had a problem with it. I have never used the actual stop time button.

That's what is recommended in the FAQ answer, too. Pausing that way avoids any potential problems.