Gardening

I had 80% of the solution, but that last 20% killed it. This is the day I failed Advent of Code 2023.

After the couple of weeks at Master Gardener, I didn’t expect to get to Grandmaster Gardener quite so soon. It was those Silver Trumpet Vines that did it; 300 xp per harvest, 3000 xp when they went elder, and I had four of the plants, the only remainders of my once-flourishing garden. I had a whole new plot picked out that has never seen a single seedling. Now that leveling isn’t a concern any more, I’ll have to pick out plants for what they harvest. With all the pet snacks they’ve given, maybe I could finally level up one of my pets :)

I’d hoped that the Giving Tree would give, as its final gift, the seed for another Giving Tree, but – no such luck. A bunch of rare Celestia harvests, a handful of gold and Rank 7 – Expert Gardener – will have to do in its place, I guess. I’d been saving a Rank 7 seed just for this occasion, the Maelstrom Snap Dragon, which was intended to fill the Giving Tree’s empty plot. The Large Enchanted Soil required for the plant couldn’t fit in the spot where the Giving Tree had been planted, so I had to plant it across the path, which is going to be inconvenient. I planted more Baby Carrots where the tree had been, instead. ...

It seemed level 58 would never come to my dynamic wizarding duo in Wizard101. Slogging through grindy grind after grindy grind. Last night, The Friendly Necro kindly help me kill a bunch of Megamind-style Minions in the Science Center for one sort of thing. THAT took forever. Then the quest continued – I had to go back and kill the OTHER kind! Ugh! So I logged off. ...

It’s been a busy day at my Wizard101 garden, on the test server. I was tending my plants and harvesting when, after a 5xp harvest from a Honeysickle, I unexpectedly leveled to rank 2. That meant I could train up in the advanced bug be-gone spell and get rid of the persistent insect infestation that had sprung up around one of my Dandelions. The gnomes seemed please to be done with all the buzzing; they need quiet for their work. Not that the Boomshrooms let anything get any rest. ...

It has not been a happy day for the Boomshrooms in my Wizard101 garden on the test server. Rank 2 bugs have moved in, and are buzzing around it, disturbing its rest. The Boomshroom is a difficulty 2 plant, even though it is only rank 1. I guess that means the bugs it gets can’t be driven away by the rank 1 spells. ...

Yesterday, I played in Wizard101’s test server for a time, hoping to figure out Gardening’s strange attraction. That, and to figure just how you got experience in gardening! Well, I wasn’t able to make any progress – I remain one bubble into Rank 1, precisely where I started after talking to Farley, the Golem Court mole who teaches the skill. Nonetheless, I pulled on my work gloves and got to digging. I bought two medium pots from Farley in which to grow Honeysickles – the spell to prepare medium-sized plots of land is rank 2, but you can buy a medium pot at any level. ...

Q. Why is that farmer so famous? A. Because he is out standing in his field! KingsIsle today dropped a little bit of dirt, some seeds, a bit of warm rain and a little sun into Wizard City today. On the Test Realm, Life professor Moolinda Wu is just udderly bursting with good news! Gardening has come to the Spiral, and it is the job of good wizards everywhere to plant a flower to replace every lotus blossom they pick. It’s part of the “Ravenwood Gives Back” program. ...