Making the most of your Energy - Likes and Gardening

When I first started gardening, I thought it was a little boring and took far too long.  The rewards were kinda lame and I couldn't see the sense in it.  One day, in Celestia, I met two Wizards with very similar names.  They were farming a boss there.  After speaking with them for a while, I found out it was the same person, playing two different Wizards.  It seemed that they were looking for Amber.

That was when I started to see that gardening did more than give you Mega snacks, although that was pretty useful!!

So, back to gardening I went.  The good ol' King Parsley (KP) is a simple option for people starting on their quest for Amber.  One seed can fill a garden fairly quickly and it is the gift that keeps on giving.  But more on KPs in another post.

King Parsleys take some time to grow and it drained a lot of energy keeping them going.  I needed a better way.

So, I started to look at these 'likes' and 'dislikes'.  What did it really mean?  Well, thanks to Wizard101Central, that font of considerable wisdom, I realised that likes would really help improve the speed of my harvest.  Ever since that time, if I am planting a field of a particular seed, I'll make sure all the likes for that seed are already in place.  That saved a LOT of time and a LOT of energy.

This is my "Medium Plot" garden.  I'll cover garden planning in another post, but for now, it is important to see that this field is ready for my 3 main medium plot crops: King Parsley, Honey Sickle, and what is arguably the best seed, the Evil Magma Pea.

It is important to make sure none of the likes and dislikes clash, but as a general rule, stay away from Stinkweed!! (makes sense really).

Yep, those are dead plants in the front.  One of the good things about Likes is that, if a seed likes another seed, you simply plant that seed and never address its needs so it will die.  Dead or alive, the seed that likes will still like it!!  I find that sometimes I need to set this up prior to planting the field as servicing the needs of the field can sometimes keep these likes alive ... and you don't want to take one to Elder, accidentally harvest it, and then have to remember to plant it again.

Some of the Likes will need to crafted, and others are drops from packs etc., so plan well.  Still, once you have the Likes you need, your harvest time is considerably reduced.  You get to keep that extra energy for other things, and you get to take advantage of your harvest drops that much sooner.

It is also useful to note that Likes and Seeds are not 1 for 1.  If a seed likes a Gong, you don't need 4 Gongs for 4 seed.  Just placing the Like near the garden will be enough for the seeds in that garden to take advantage of that Like.

But how can you tell if the seed is taking advantage of the Like?  I struggled with this for a while, but simply hovering over your seed while in Gardening mode will show you what Likes that seed is using.  With the introduction of the Red Barn farm, you can have up to 6 likes per seed!

Have fun with gardening!  There is still plenty more to discuss, but knowing about Likes will make a real difference.

See you round the Spiral.

Morgrim