Topic

Community Gardens, Please Don't Do This

I know that a lot of people think its a good idea to keep EVERY SINGLE plot in the community gardens filled up with a crop, and if its not then there is usually someone standing nearby to make sure it something new is planted asap, but I really don't like this practice.  I prefer to have herb garden in my house, since I use it much more, so I have a firebog house.  However, on the rare occasion that I DO need to use a crop garden, it usually takes longer to find a community gardens with an open plot than it takes for the crop to grow.  Please please please, stop filling up EVERY SINGLE plot and leave a handful for other players to use.

It's a community garden, meaning the community should garden there.  Not one person standing around filling it up all day long or leaving notes saying "please replant if you take".  It's not about constantly having free crops available, its about allowing people to use the gardens when they need to.

Thanks in advance.

Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I'm sure if you helped the community by watering the crops there and using a few plops on things you'd find ones that where ready to sprout.  If you then harvested them you'd find free squares.  Course not everybody knows how to make guano or plops.
    Posted 16 months ago by ICountFrom0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well I don't know that I should spend my guano on someone else's crop.  I don't understand why people can't just leave some blank?  It's there so people can garden if they need to, it's not there so that one person can keep it full of crops all the time...which is what it has become
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Laurali - Perhaps a solution might be to team up w/someone who has garden plots in their home. If you would like to team up w/me, we could work out a trade. I have 28 garden plots and am not currently using any, I would like to be able to occasionally plant flowers. Teams could work out 2 ways, you allow someone permission to go into your house, they could plant seeds they already had or feed your pigs to get plops and plant. Or, you could each plant what the other one wants and mail back and forth, or meet up in person to trade. I know this sounds like it could be complicated, but I'm sure arrangements could be worked out. It would be ideal if you both were in similiar time zones (I'm in US, EST) if you wanted to each enter homes to plant or actually trade. Let me know if you want to team up.
    Posted 16 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unless it's changed, you can't use someone else's garden in their home--only the owner can.
    Posted 16 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't realize that SM, thanks for the clarification.
    Posted 16 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I plant if I harvest.

    It irritates me more when people don't clear plots. That's just rude!!
    Posted 16 months ago by g33kgurrl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Larurali  If you don't mind being limited to 4 plots, you can always trek down to Tower Base and Room 4 (the one with the spinach plots and free drinks).  After harvesting the spinach, you'll have 4 plots all to yourself.  The only problem with this is that you can't leave the room until your crops have been harvested.  Not a solution, but it's a workaround.  ^^;
    Posted 16 months ago by Marebito Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't know that I should spend my guano on someone else's crop

    Aren't they everybody's crops?  Is there any reason you can't have them if they finish growing when you're there?
    Posted 16 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sorry, think I may be guilty of this.  If there are lots of empty plots when I go through I get seeds and plant them up with some of everything.  I thought they were for everyone to use. I don't harvest, as I have my own garden with 28 plots, but newbies and others might be glad of the crops I thought.

    Sorry if that is not right.  I usually plant the ones in Kipacre, they are often empty when I am there.  If you find crops please help yourself.  There is rarely anyone there when I am, so I didn't realise I wasn't supposed to plant things for others.
    Posted 16 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Gizmospooky, I have an herb garden, you're welcome to use it, and I'd like to plant some tomatoes once in a while. I'm in GMT-3 timezone (an hour later than you). 
    Posted 16 months ago by Natalia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just a note, I believe entirely due to this thread (since I have only ever seen it like this at game start and end before), Middle Arbor was left with only TEN planted plots when I got there just now. "Leave some empty plots" doesn't mean "Take everything, leave nothing in return".
    Posted 16 months ago by Biohazard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've traded crops for herbs in the past and am happy to do so again--stack for stack. I like to have hairball and rubeweed on hand at all times. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Cassandria -- I think it's nice that you plant for others. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm with emdot! Cassandria, I think it's great. I'm always passing through Kipacre, and seeing so many planted plots in the garden makes me happy and I wonder who the generous gardener is (because I never see anyone there)! I've never been there when anything sprouted, but I usually tend the weeds and water as I pass through.
    Posted 16 months ago by Eureka Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I sometimes plant something in the community gardens (or in model houses.:) just because I think that it's nice to find there something growing. 
    Posted 16 months ago by nekomaki Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know im very guilty of this i do it often all around the place whenever i realize im close to a community garden. i dare say i wont stop either, for me it pleases me to be able to plant a variety of things with all different timers leaving lil roak's behind me. I have a very hard time seeing what is wrong with this. But in the future ill try to remember to not plant all the plots but i already do it out of habit.
    Posted 16 months ago by Karma Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Laurali
    My house garden is still an offer if you want to use it. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Bunni3 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks to all who offered their houses, someone mentioned above not being able to plant in someone else's house.  But even if you can, it's not a regular gardening I need, it's just when a quest pops up where I need to plant I HATE running or teleporting to subwaying from place to place to place just to find one empty plot so I can do the quest, or get the food I need.

    I'm not saying don't plant there for other people, but I am saying if you are planting please try to keep some empty.  It really shouldn't be that hard to leave 5-6 plots open for people who might actually want to use it and not sit and wait 30 minutes for crops to finish
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It now takes too long for plants to grow to benefit from a Community Garden that is half a world away from one's home.  I live in Alakol.  No Herb Gardens here and we can't plant herbs in our personal (and very generous) gardens.  I have been to the Community Herb Gardens several times.  There do seem to always be people tending and planting.  I have seeds I can't plant (I usually leave them in the Garden).  I never saw a yellow whatsit until I was gifted one yesterday.  I have the seeds but those herbs take a very long time to grow and I just can't wait.  Also, as stated, there is almost never an empty patch to plant.

    This really is no problem for me now.  I just like the herbs because they are pretty but do not consume them.  Later, if we begin to have recipes or potions or some such that require herbs, this could begin to be a big problem.  Maybe at that time, there will be more Herb Gardens, Community or otherwise.

    This same problem concerns the Community Gardens for vegetables.  These are also rare and my recent visits have revealed few, if any, empty patches.  Again, not a problem for me but it may be for the Homeless Glitches who depend on these gardens to plant.  To be assured of a harvest at any CG, you must spend a very long time guarding your patches.

    I recently planted vegetables in the CG at or near Beefast Heave.  I tended, planted, watered and returned the next Glitch day to water a second time.  I returned again the next "real" day and all of my vegetables were gone.  That's not a problem, I was just checking as to how well these gardens are doing and how easy or hard it is to bring in a harvest.  If you want to use these gardens you must expect to spend a good bit of time overseeing your crops.  This may best be done by groups so that no one person spends all his or her play time looming over rare patches.
    Posted 16 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, the solution is to hatch more butterflies in community gardens, so that they can be fed with grain from the chickens until they guano.
    Posted 16 months ago by ICountFrom0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • With guano, it takes like 90 seconds for a crop to grow, and BAM! Empty plot. I'll trade half a stack of guano for a full stack of hairball or rubeweed, if it helps (though my time in game is pretty limited this test).
    Posted 16 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't understand why its so much to ask people to please leave a few plots open.  It's not like I'm asking anyone to jump through a hoop of fire or anything, just leave some empty for people (I know that I'm not the only person to have this problem) who need them.

    Very simple!
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just so you know, the game has thousands of players, most who don't read the forums...
    Posted 16 months ago by EgIantine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes, but this is one of the best ways to get ideas out to the world by informing many many of the players who do.  I am pretty good at making myself heard, whether thats a good or bad thing is for you to decide, but I am sure that I can make my own decisions about whether I think it will help to post in the forums or not.
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, the way I see it, the problem is that you're asking for a few (5 or 6) empty plots to be left, but you intend to use those plots, thus leaving no empty plots for others. At least a dozen people probably pass through one community garden every hour. If they each plant only a few, the garden would still more often than not be full.

    What is happening is that you're expecting every single person who passes by when those plots are empty to sigh and say, Oh, Well I can't use those! Someone might need them! (not taking into account that quite a few of those people likely need to use them themselves for the same reasons as you, or other equally valid reasons)

    There are very frequently empty plots in the gardens, I go through them all twice a day normally and see a handful of empty plots (2-6) at least half the time. I think the solution to your issue of being unable to complete the quest you want to do is to simply be patient. You cannot expect there to always be empty plots, and you say you are unwilling to use fertilizer to speed up the growing time, so all you are left with is either telling people to never, ever plant in them (because if everyone who passes plants only 3 or 4 plots, it would still be full a lot of the time), or waiting until you happen upon empty ones to complete your quest.

    It is really unreasonable to ask that people leave it alone if there are only a couple of empty plots, because it would still lead to the same issue. If you say "don't plant if there are 5 or less plots empty", then you would need to follow that rule yourself to be fair, thus leading to being unable to plant, because less than 5 plots remain empty.
    Posted 16 months ago by Biohazard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As far as I'm aware, plants in community gardens are (unless claimed otherwise) for everyone. Therefore a fully grown plot = a empty plot, right? What's the problem?
    Posted 16 months ago by Saro Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you visit a community garden and there are no plots open, how do you kow it was only one person who did the planting? It usually seems like things are pretty scattered as they grow to maturity. I agree that filling all the plots from 0 to 20 might be a bit much but it could also be 10, 5 and 5 by 4 different, reasonable people such as those working on quests :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Pomegrandy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Bio: You must not have read what I said.  First of all, please tell me where you are going that has empty crop plots, because I can spend hours trying to find them when I need them.  I am not asking people to not plant if they need them, I'm askinng people to stop neurotically filling it up to the brink.  Every single time I go to a community garden, EVERY SINGLE TIME, there is one or two people filling every empty plot the second it grows.  These are the people I will hope will read this.  You should read what I am saying before you write a huge response that has nothing to do with what I'm asking.

    Saro and Pomegrandy:  Like I said earlier, there are people who stand there "guarding" the plots and if anything gets taken they instantly replant it.  I've sat here and watched it happen every time I've gone to a community garden someone has been there doing that, and it's not the same person each time either
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Then it sounds like you need to have conversations with those people who are acting that way. 

    If you want to change behavior, then educating people who are acting a way you don't like is far more effective than posting in a forum. 

    Once you've convinced them of the wrongness of their actions, you could then use guano to speed up a few plots so you could harvest them and plant your own preferred crops.
    Posted 16 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • WindBorn: it's not just a couple of people, theres A LOT of people who do it.  On top of messaging people in game, I wanted to make a forum in case there are other people doing it who will see this
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I remember seeing a note in the Shimla Mitch Herb gardens with some rules.  If you guys want to leave something like that at every community garden, that might be a good idea.  Not everyone may follow it, but the note I found said to try and plant a variety of seeds so I made sure to try and plant something that was in the plot before me.

    i have a medium-sized house with a 12 plot garden, which isn't the biggest but honestly, it does what I need it to do and I'm usually overstocked with veggies.  I am always willing to trade veggies (or guano) for herbs but I do understand your complaints.  You need some kind of garden to do some of the quests.  

    Maybe leave a note near one of the small plots (like the 4 plots) saying that you need this for a quest.  I know if I saw that someone needed that cropspace, I wouldn't use it.  Even leave a few veggies or something as compensation (granted, someone probably would take them, but it's the idea that counts).
    Posted 16 months ago by Homura Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The "places" I am going to are the same as you, most likely.
    There are three Produce community gardens as far as I know (Plus the small garden in Stora Rede Model Home, which was completely empty 10+ plots yesterday night), and I find empty plots in at least one of them every time I do the rounds.

    How do you know that the people filling the empty plots haven't been waiting there for half an hour in order to be able to fulfill their quest (or badge)? It doesn't seem as if you've considered that everyone needs the exact same things in this game, instead choosing to believe that they are less deserving of the plot than you for whatever reason.

    I was, in fact, reading what you said where you repeatedly proclaimed that everyone should leave plots open, that nobody should fill the garden plots to completion.
    This implies that you, too, would need to leave those few plots open, lest you be breaking your own "rule", thereby helping absolutely nobody.

    On top of all of this, you are level 39. There is no way that you are unable to afford some guano on auctions in order to speed the growing time to finish up your quest, so all you are displaying is a stubbornness by saying you shouldn't have to spend currents to finish a quest (or move around the world to seek out a plot "I HATE running or teleporting to subwaying from place to place to place just to find one empty plot so I can do the quest" Has it escaped you that this is the main aspect of the game? Running around to collect/do things?), that others should simply make it easier on you by not doing something they enjoy doing in-game.
    Posted 16 months ago by Biohazard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Making rules for how other people should play the game is pretty meaningless. 

    For the rare occasion that [you] DO need to use a crop garden, load up with guano and solve your problem yourself. 

    Why do other people have to play the game in a way that everything is instantaneously available to you? 
    Posted 16 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you Biohazard and WindBorn. Excellent points.

    Maybe this game isn't for you. The rule to this game is the limitless bounds of your imagination and what YOU can do. Not what others can do for you.

    I want to join a group that is all about me, but this one seems to be all about you. Oh well, I guess I'll keep searching for that banana in the tailpipe!
    Posted 16 months ago by Ridem Cowboy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I understand that people might not read this or even care, but I am not the first person to post in the forums about community behavior, and I won't be the last either.  I am also not just talking about myself, as since I've posted this forum I have had about 5 people message me in game telling me they have had the same problem.  It is not about my level, capabilities, or guano, it's just about being respectful of other players in the community who might need to use the plots.

    I am only making this because I think people believe the community gardens is supposed to always be full of crops, and I am suggesting that the community gardens is actually for people to garden if they need to.  This is directed at people who spend their time monitoring the gardens to make sure they are full, and there are a lot of people who do that.

    If you don't like that I made a thread about this, you don't have to read it.
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @WindBorn: they don't have to play in a way that everything is instantaneously available to me, I am just asking that the community gardens be for the community, not just a single player.

    @Ridem: thanks for the advice, but I can judge for myself which games I enjoy.  I am not asking anyone to do anything for ME, but like I said, it is a community garden.  Community.  And it is a community game.  They changes the devs have made to the game (ie adding more multiplayer quests, making mining more beneficial to a larger group of people, putting limits on what a particular player can do such as how many trees you can kill or animals you can move) all show that there is a strong desire for the game to be community minded, and I'm just asking that people try to keep that in mind when using community resources.
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LMAO
    Posted 16 months ago by Ridem Cowboy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I bet those players who plant in all plots are just trying to be helpfull. Making sure there is enough for everyone who comes by to harvest. If it are a lot of people doing this, then I can't say I see a pattern of filling plots because of the filling. I think they may have been waiting for empty plots themselves too, or just want to spend a day gardening and being helpfull to others (especially newbies who don't have much energy yet to do lots of gardening).

    Those people probably assume they are doing what the community garden is for. Planting, watering, costs energy and seeds. Why would anyone want to do that themselves? They are perhaps planting, tending crops for the community, not for themselves, and thus, use the community garden what it was intended for as well: To grow crops for the community! You could end up hurting people a lot by accusing them of selfishness while they actually operate under the conviction that they are acting very social and generous.
    Please don't assume people act like they act because of negative reasons, as that will only lead to a downward negative spiral :(.
    It ofcourse doesn't mean you can't ask them to leave a plot open - you could kindly ask if they want to help you. They can help you by messaging you when a few crops are fully grown / a plot is cleared so you can teleport in and plant. If they are tending the gardens for altruistic reasons they undoubtly will help you with that. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Miri I was not trying to make anyone feel bad, and I KNOW people are trying to good things for the community, that is why I am asking just a few plots be left open, so that the community can also plant if they need, and sorry if this post came off ruder than I intended it too.  I just felt like people were disagreeing just to disagree
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And as I said earlier, even if "Just a few" plots are left open, someone else will come in and plant them for their own quests/badges, and then you will still be upset about this because "all the plots are full".
    What you've done here that I think is the main problem, is assume that every plot (or most plots) have been filled by one person, or multiple people with the same goal (of filling all the plots). You haven't paused to consider that even though you sometimes see someone waiting and pouncing on plots, it could very well be that over 50% of the plots were planted by questers.

    Nor have you realized that even if these people left "a few" plots open, they would likely be filled in less than half an hour by someone else who has not planted anything yet that day. The only way to make sure that some plots are always open would be for absolutely nobody to plant in them, in which case, as I've said, you would still have to wait around for plots to open, because you have to follow your own rules.
    Telling people to leave empty plots just because you haven't found them is simply ridiculous, because then they would always be empty until Queen Laurali comes along to finish her Ever So Important quest. What exactly makes your (or anyone's) reason for planting any better than mine, or the person you claim to always find waiting to fill empty plots?
    Posted 16 months ago by Biohazard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No, I don't get that impression (at least in the beginning of the thread). It just seems a bit selfish that you take umbrage at people using community gardens.  I mean, it's a resource for people to use if they want to harvest their crops...

    I remember camping out at the gardens as a lowbie so I could get the ingredients I needed to crank out my various crudites, buns and potatoes (oh god, the potatoes) for quests before there was guano fertlization. I had to tend roughly half the garden to get the stuff I needed with no croppery or gardening skills after taking *cough* shrinkage into consideration and that was before they fixed the croppery bug.

    If they are willing to camp, they get the crops and the plots. Not like they're zipping around the world doing anything else. If you want a plot, ask them, grab some guano and bump them off if things get extreme, but asking people to not garden in empty plots on the chance that someone might roll around looking for a spot to garden?  Seems a bit unreasonable to me.
    Posted 16 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Bio, again, I am not talking about people who plant for their own use.  Again, as I said earlier, I am addressing the people who plant just to provide crops to all the people running through.  I have considred that some plots are taken by people needing them for their own use, but that will only be a few plots, I am more concerned with the people that spend their time filling up every empty plot as they are the ones that are taking up MOST of the plots that are full.

    No need to be so rude all the time Bio.
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Fertilize, harvest, and replant, like the rest of us!  Or, as Marebito said, you can camp out in an instance of Room 4.  If you plant and fertilize before bed and then sign out, when you wake up in the morning and log back in, your crops will be fully grown.  Of course, now that this is in the forums, the developers will stop it from working... but it's fun while it lasts.  :)
    Posted 16 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think you guys are missing my main point.  I am not talking to people who are planting for ingredients they need, etc.  I am talking to the countless people I have seen who are using the community gardens as a way to provide crops for the community.  Which is fine, providing crops for the community is great.  I have played for quite some time now, and I have been to the community gardens and each time I have been there I have without fail seen one or two people who are not using any of the crops they plant.  They are standing there waiting for someone to take the crops, and then they are replanting so that the next player who runs through can have a crop as well.

    Perhaps I am not explaining myself because it seems no one understands why I am asking.  I am not asking people to not use the gardens and I am not expecting every single plot to be open for me when I need it.  I am asking people to reconsider how they think about the community gardens.  As opposed to making it a place where a few people spend all their time money energy and garden plots making sure somehting is always planted, allow people to use it for their gardening needs as well.

    I KNOW that I am not the only person who has seen this, as I said before others have messaged me in game telling me they have seen the same thing which is a few players making sure there are always crops available.  Anyways, I'm not going to respond any more to insults and comments about me being selfish, I just want (not only for myself) to have people use the gardens for planting as well as providing crops for the community.
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The point is that you have no point, and that is the point everyone is trying to make to you. The people that are "upsetting you" with their plotting are certainly not going to take the time to read any of this, or if they do...they will most likely do it even more...as I am now tempted to do. :)

    This thread is simply ludicrous, which is why I can't stop laughing.
    Posted 16 months ago by Ridem Cowboy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am talking to the countless people I have seen who are using the community gardens as a way to provide crops for the community

    And, somehow, this is a lesser use of the gardens than yours?

    They should not only step aside when you arrive to let you speed up the growth on the plots you need so you can harvest and clear them, but they should also recognize that at any moment you (or someone like you) might arrive and might want to plant and you are just too busy to wait? 

    Arggh. 
    Posted 16 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Laurali - I get exactly what you are saying.

    There are people who are not working on a quest, or planting because they need food, but simply because they think they are helping out by filling in empty plots in the gardens.

    And you are saying there are more ways than one that these gardens can serve the Glitch community, which you and me and everyone else is a part of.

    And that is part of what beta testing is about - seeing what works, what doesn't work, and providing that feedback here in the forums.

    Even if people don't agree with Laurali I don't think people need to resort to "Try another game" type answers which aren't adding to the dialog about how Community Gardens, and Glitch, can function.
    Posted 16 months ago by The Cat Face Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know who you mean, but that's how they like to play, and since they're not hurting anyone, I don't think they need to change their behavior.  In fact, if you just explain what you're doing, I'm sure they'd be happy to help you.
    Posted 16 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • if everybody left plots unplanted, there would be the exact same 'problem' as currently exists, just with a handful of permanently empty plots.

    i don't understand the issue here. i - and others - used to plant up the community gardens many tests ago, filling to the brim each time. the purpose was for other people to take the result, shuck a bit, plant some, and replace the flowers they'd taken and leave them for others.

    this maximizes the productivity of the garden and increases the amount of flowers available for the community to pick.

    if you're wanting to plant something, just go to the garden and harvest something in order to free up a plot.

    if nothing is ready to harvest, hit it with guano and wait a little.

    if this really truly bothers you, buy house with a garden for a bit until you complete your quests.

    quests come and go, and you only need to complete each quest once, so if the only drawback to planting lot of flowers for people to share is a little extra effort to complete a quest or two, that is not a big deal.
    Posted 16 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • oh, and i should say that the inability to garden in a friend's home isn't that big a deal if you're at level 39.

    they sell their house, you sell your house. then you buy each other's houses to complete the swap.

    you do your quests and then swap back.

    you lose a bit of money on each sale, but at level 39 we're talking chump change even for the more expensive houses.
    Posted 16 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
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