News: Gardening's Here!

Finally! Gardening! Many have been waiting for ages for this invention to come true, and now it has! Come experience it for yourselves in the Test Realm (instructions on getting there will be added)! When you enter, go the Moolinda Wu and she will teach you how to start gardening. Easy as that! You can plant many things, and monsters drop seeds, too. You can plant indoors or outdoors. Garden now on the Test Realm!

Here's the complete article Professor Moolinda Wu wrote:

 Hello everyone! Professor Moolinda Wu here and I'm excited to tell you all about a new feature in the Spiral: Gardening! To get started on your path to a greener thumb, come visit me in my classroom in Ravenwood if you are level 12 or higher.

Students at Ravenwood can plant and grow amazing plants in their Dorms and Castles! Wizards of all schools can garden, so my hope is that every student will learn the joy of shepherding new life!

A plant's journey of life begins as a seed. There are many types of seeds, each with a different destiny. With enough energy, you can prepare soil of your choice in your Castle (if you have one) or a planter in your dorm. Then you can place the seed into the readied soil. After a time, it will begin to grow. You can shepherd its growth through spells and other means of caring for it, creating an environment for it to thrive.

After you've planted your seed, it starts to grow, from seed to seedling, young plant, mature plant to elder. You can use a number of helpful spells to usher it along as it grows, keeping it healthy and happy. Once you have planted a seedling, either in a plot or in a pot, it cannot be moved.

  This is a seedling, the youngest phase of life for a plant. You will need Energy to plant a seed in a planter or the ground. After a seed is planted, you can use plant growth spells on it to help it flourish. Plants require some things to thrive and survive: water, sunshine, pollination, magic and even music.

  This is a young plant, in its next stage of life after seedling. You can observe your plant's growth visually and you can use your mouse to highlight a plant to get more information about its status. You will some new spells to help you garden: The Plow spell allows you to remove a plant or dirt pile, if you wish to do so. The Revive spell allows you to transform a dead plant into a new seedling, ready to grow once more. 

  This is a mature plant, in the fullness of its growth. When a plant becomes mature, it can be harvested. You can harvest a plant by interacting with it. Each type of plant yields a different harvest: reagents, pet snacks, gold, treasure cards, or more seeds! You can harvest from a plant as long as it's in its mature stage of life. When a plant is in its mature stage that doesn't mean that you can harvest it right away or that it's continually harvestable. It means that once every day or so it will be harvestable so long as it's in that mature state.

  This is an elder plant, the final stage of a plant's life cycle. Many plants won't reach this stage! An elder plant can be harvested one final time, with much greater possible rewards. Once an elder plant is harvested, it disappears and cannot be revived.

I'm sad to say that gardening isn't all nurturing and happiness. Plants endangered by some very real threats.

  This plant is wilting. It will die before too long if it is not taken care of. Plants can die if their needs are not met, if they are in surrounded by things they dislike, or if they are killed by pests. Plants have likes and dislikes, things that encourage or discourage their growth. A plant's likes are things it enjoyes being near. These can include other types of plants or gardening items. A plant will flourish if it is near things that it likes, while things it dislikes will cause it to become unhealthy. An important part of gardening is learning how to arrange your plants, and create a healthy garden for them.

  This plant is dead. Now all that can be done is to plow it over, or to revive it. The greatest threat to plants are pests. Pests can infest a plant and hinder its growth. If pests are not eliminated, eventually the plant will begin to wilt and die. When a plant is infested by pests, it cannot be harvested. To eliminate pests, you must use pest fighting spells. To eliminate a pest, the spell must be of high enough rank. You can purchase pest fighting spells from vendors throughout the Spiral, or even win them as treasures. It's a sorry state to see plants doing so poorly, but it's important to know what risks there are when gardening.  
 
 
 
 How do I Garden?     
Where do I get Seeds?
You can get seeds from gardening vendors throughout the Spiral. Farley is the gardening vendor in Wizard City's Golem Court, look for his cousins Marley, Charley and Harley in other worlds. You can also earn seeds as rewards through defeating enemies in magic duels, or get them in other ways.
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How do I Plant?   When you're ready to plant a seed in prepared soil or a planter, you must cast a seed planting spell. This places the chosen seed into the soil or planter,  where it can begin to grow. To prepare an area for planting outdoors in your Castle, you must cast a soil preparation spell. Soil preparation spells cost Energy. To garden in your dorm room or an indoor space in your Castle, you must buy a planter from the gardening vendor. There are different sizes and types of plants, but some types of plants cannot be planted indoors.

Plants require attention to grow in the form of plant growing spells. All plants have needs that must be met, and plant growing spells fulfill those needs for a period of time. Plants needs include water, sunlight, pollination, music and magic. Plant growing spells cost Energy to cast, and are cast through the garden interface in your home.

  Plants have likes & dislikes, conditions that can help them grow or hinder their   development. A plant will grow faster if it is surrouned by things it likes, and it will grow slower if it is surrounded by things it dislikes.  You can learn what a plant likes or dislikes by using the Inspect spell on it.

Plants go through several stages as they grow, from seed to seedling to young plant to mature plant to elder plant. Once a plant is mature, you can harvest it by interacting with it. A plant can be harvested repeatedly until it reaches the elder stage. Harvesting yields rewards such as reagents, pet snacks, gold, treasure cards or other seeds. When a plant reaches the elder stage, it can be harvested only one more time. This harvest will yield the greatest rewards. After this, the elder plant will disappear.

Gardening Tools
  Utility spells are useful for many aspects of gardening. The plow spell removes a targeted plant or dirt pile. The Inspect spell lets you look at a targeted plant's characteristics and progress. The Revive spell lets you turn a plant that has died into a young plant of the same type. 

  Pests    Plants can sometimes suffer from pests. Pests are annoying critters that will cause it to  wilt and die if they are not dealt with. To get rid of pests, you will need to cast the appropriate pest fighting spell. Different types of pests require different types of spells. Pests are ranked and require spells equal to or greater than their rank.
  If you have a high enough gardening rank, you can cast pest prevention spells to keep pests away from your garden. You can buy pest fighting and pest prevention spells from certain trainers throughout the Spiral, you can buy them at the Crown shop or you can earn them through treasure rewards.  Each plant differs by how easy they are to garden, how long they take to grow and mature and how long they live.

As you continue to garden you will earn gardening experience through successfully harvesting plants. There are 10 ranks of gardening:
Novice
Neophyte
Apprentice
Initiate
Intermediate
Journeyman
Expert
Adept
Master
Grandmaster

The types of seeds you can plant may be restricted, requiring a minimum gardening rank. Additionally, some kinds of gardening equipment and spells require minimum gardening rank to use.

Happy Gardening!

William IceFlame