Friday, July 10, 2009

Gardenia: Day 6

Gardenia arose a few hours before dawn on Friday, and planted a Very Nice tomato seed she had found in front of the impressive beachhouse the previous day.

She also set about planting 4 of the Unknown seeds in her inventory and, by 8:00 a.m., she had two separate garden plots--one for the Unknown seeds she had just planted,

and one for the plants she could identify. She talked to the Nice apple tree she had planted the day before,

and then harvested her 3 remaining Normal plants--one tomato, one lettuce, and one grape--

("Finally I have lettuce to make myself a meal!" she cried with glee)--then disposed of the Normal plants, in order to concentrate on those of better quality.

Gardenia didn't have enough gardening skill to be able to plant the last 2 Unknown seeds in her inventory,

and, since she was getting quite hungry

(and her refrigerator was still empty), she took time out to eat an apple from her inventory.

(She also reminded herself to plant the Nice watermelon that was in her inventory.)

Still hungry, she was about to eat a bunch of grapes when she noticed that they were of Great quality.

Delighted, she planted them immediately,

and the watermelon,

and decided to fertilize her 2 new plants with Siamese Catfish which, like Red Herring, was a grade 5 fertilizer.

She improved her social need by chatting with her Normal tomato plant,

then set about to make her favorite food, Autumn Salad, for the first time.

She concentrated hard on the recipe,

and the meal turned out well.

Tired, but happy with her accomplishments for the day, she lay down for a nap,

but ended up sleeping till nearly midnight, dreaming of the elusive Tragic Clownfish and the opportunity from the theater that she hadn't yet fulfilled.

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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Gardenia asked me to pass on to you the method she's developed for keeping track of her plants. As mentioned above, she has 2 separate plots--one for plants she can identify, and one for Unknown plants.

In the first plot, she puts all plants of the same species in a column (up and down), and all plants of the same quality in a row (left to right). So, in the picture reproduced below, she has 3 Normal plants in a row behind her back (from left to right, a tomato, a lettuce, and grapes; remember she disposed of her Normal apple tree the day before).

In the tomato column are also a Nice tomato (which shares its row with a Nice lettuce, Nice grapes, and the Nice apple tree sprout that Gardenia's tending). Ending the tomato column is a Very Nice tomato, which is alone in its row because there aren't yet any other plants of Very Nice quality.

In the next picture below, Gardenia has disposed of the 3 Normal plants she just harvested,

leaving only the Nice and Very Nice plants.

In the next picture below, she's planted the Great grapes in the "Great" row (although she doesn't yet have any other Great plants, so the Great grapes are alone in that row); note they are also planted in the grape column (with the Nice grapes).

She planted the Nice watermelon at the end of the Nice row, in a column that will be reserved for watermelon.

Kind of long-winded, I know, but this helps keep track of plants by simple visual inspection without my always having to click/hover on each plant!

2 comments:

  1. That is a great, clever idea--I will definitely steal it! :)

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  2. Thanks, Kerry--be sure to let us all know how you do!

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