#if i find the before and afters

[balkanradfem]

Since I've been gone and computer-free for a while, it's only right that I make a life and plant update! I've been having the worst start with this year's plants, and I've been neglecting them for a while because it was making me a bit sour to see them all doing so bad; let's get into what happened.

So, since it's my fourth year of gardening, I felt super confident that I have leveled up so much that my plants will now grow however I please and that there will be no troubles whatsoever, which is just, a great mindset to start making mistakes in. So, I figured I'd wait until it's not freezing outside, and then, I would put all of the plants on my balcony, and they would have a lot of sun there, and that would make it easier for me to care for them. Before that, I've been keeping them in the kitchen during the night and morning, balcony in the afternoon. It's less work for me if they're on the balcony.

Well, it turns out, tiny baby plants do not do well on the balcony, even if it's not freezing outside! The temperatures were from 2-5 celsius during the night (that's 36 fahrenheit), and even if my plants didn't die, they started shriveling up, the backs of their leaves turning purple and dark. Seeing them turn dark and purple made me feel they were nitrogen deficient, because that has happened before, so I fertilized them all, thinking it would fix the issue - only it made the issue worse. Tiny plants cannot handle a lot of fertilization, they need to grow a bit before they're ready to be properly fed. So the result of this was that my most tiny and vulnerable plants burned out and died, most of just-transplanted tomatoes wilted, and basil died almost completely.

So, I finally realized that they actually disliked the cold of being outside, and brought them back in, and left them in the kitchen, where they had less light, but very warm, stable temperature. And, they all got better. It was almost like a weird mocking game from nature - if I had left them all in the kitchen, without ever taking them outside, they would have been growing consistently, and gotten twice the size already. I have been fooled by my arrogance. So why did all of the plants got sick and purple on my balcony?

Because the temperature of the soil affects what nutrients they're able to draw out. If it's too hot, or too cold, they won't be able to pull nitrogen out of the soil, even if there is plenty of nitrogen in! Same works with calcium, they need proper temperature and moisture in order to feed on it. Tiny plants do not take well to quick changes in temperature, they need to be bigger, and introduced gradually to colder nights. A month old plant can easily survive what a week old plant cannot. Only plants that are twice as big as their pot can easily bear thru cold nights outside without getting sick.

So, after this happened, I had a few happy accidents that I didn't count on, that cheered me up. There are 2 balcony windows that don't get a lot of light, but they're very warm (radiator underneath). I have left a few houseplants there, few lemons, and one cabbage, and forgot them completely. I didn't water them except maybe once every week. And somehow, without me noticing, tomatoes have started growing out of the pots with lemons, because apparently there were some seeds left in the soil there, and they quickly out-grew all of my carefully cared for tomato plants. Also that cabbage I forgot? It was the biggest most successful plant I had. I was in disbelief when I saw that, because, excuse me, I thought, you guys needed light to grow. Apparently, they cared more for the heat, and were happy to just get 2 hours of direct sunlight to grow. This went against everything I knew, but maybe I just needed to learn a new thing: sometimes warmth matters more. Next time I can just neglect bunch of plants on those windows and get successful plants with zero effort.

Encouraged by this, I was very careful this time to introduce my now bigger plants to the cold and bright balcony light, and this time I was listening to the rules carefully: First day only 1 hour in the direct sun, next day 3 hours, third day 5. Then they can stay overnight, and I only do it with plants that are big enough to survive minor damage. And it worked out perfectly. All plants held up well, and the last week of April, I've already started transplanting my tomatoes in the garden.

Another fun bit about me not being able to access laptop or my data, was that I could not check my own garden plan, that I made for this year. Planting the garden, I just had to figure out a whole new garden plan on the fly, which was absolutely hilarious. Me frantically typing on my phone 'can beans and strawberries grow together' while already holding a bag of beans in my hand, trying to decide where to dig the holes. Turns out, beans and strawberries DO grow well together, and since I have 3,5 garden beds of strawberries, I decided to plant beans in every one of them, just to see what happens. I have also stabbed large sticks in those gardens, and to an unknowing individual, who does not know about the beans, it might look as if I'm expecting my strawberries to climb up, which would be charming, and something to work towards in the future.

The strawberries are in full bloom and I want to spend hours just lying on the grass and looking at bees fertilize them. I felt so much yearning for the garden, so much of just wanting to be there all day and just watch life develop and grow.

After planting beans, I had a nagging feeling that I was supposed to plant something else and was forgetting about it, while I was ignoring all the plants due to feeling sulky, and I went to my box of seeds and took everything out to see what was not yet planted - to be immediately hit with a wall of shame: I had forgot to plant cucumbers and cantaloupes completely. And my poor mystery squash was also still in seed form. Now, these plants can grow very fast, and I started them right away and by now they're already developing their first leaves, so nothing is lost! This will depend on the climate. If we have a crazy hot summer with heat waves, my cantaloupes will not fare well, and I will have fewer cucumbers. If, by some chance, we have a bit more rain, some milder weather, maybe a storm every few weeks, then I might be looking at a good harvest anyway.

I had to starts all of my plants and plant my garden early, I planted everything about a month earlier than everyone else, because I know I will not be able to water my garden, and I'm counting on plants getting big and strong before the heat waves hit, and by then, they'll be mulched, covered, casting shade one over another in order to survive the heat. Last two years this worked brilliantly, and my garden was big and strong. I'm having high hopes this year as well, even as I started on rocky grounds, everything recovered so nicely, I even have a few basil plants looking good, brought back from the brink of death.

I've definitely spent more time outside, more time reading, writing, cooking, foraging and processing food, without access to computer. I've gathered so much bear's garlic, and found it's excellent in a pasta salad. I've eaten a full bowl of wood sorrel and came out just fine. I've tried to cook a soup with wild carrots - I would advise against using the roots, makes it taste very wrong. Almost got poisoned again because I confused young 'forget-me-not' plants with spinach and ate them in a sandwich; luckily I was fine. Laughed at myself a lot for that one. I saw lots of lizards, a frog, several deer, ducks, and a lot of birds in the forest, some very cool bugs as well. I sometimes run into other women in the forest and I feel like we're exactly where we're supposed to be, and we're ruling this land by protecting what's ours.

[juiche]

a moment of peace before the whole world shatters 😇

get your own print here ❤️

[hinamie]

I don't want to regret the way I lived

[joshuamj]

Hero.

[rika-mortis]

Bonus:

[egophiliac]

Hello ! I positively adore the running joke of Idia unknowingly finding Lilia to be the coolest guy ever whenever he doesn't know it's him, like when Silver described his father, or obviously with muscle red. I can't say what'd be funnier, Idia finding out his online best friend is actually Lilia, resident spooky hyper fairy; or them both never finding out, and it'd become even more ridiculous as time goes on. How do you think it'll play out ? You're always so on point

(Also, though it makes sense, I'm still devastated bat boy didn't get a ticket for the Halloween skeleton train : ( does anyone mentions him at some point ? Like how he'd have fit right in with all those Halloween town little freaks, and how he'd have impressed them with his spooks and scared techniques; after all he's been every Briar Valley's children worst fear on Halloween for centuries. I'm on the eng server and I didn't wanna spoil myself by watching the whole thing on youtube)

Have a nice day !

you and me both, Idia and Lilia being oblivious online BFFs (+ Idia being incredibly intimidated any time Silver brings up his jock gamer dad) is my favorite running joke/subplot. 🤝 it's SO good, to the point where I also am unsure if I actually want it to ever be resolved or not...maybe, like, as a post-canon stinger or something? everyone's standing around covered in overblot ink, and Idia and Lilia's phones go off at the same time...

(legit I do think this is part of why Idia couldn't be present for Lilia's dream, because for some reason Lilia decided he was going to just. embody his past self online. he probably quotes his own battle strategies or whatever in the middle of boss fights. Idia didn't pick up on the whole "oh how weird that we both live on a super remote island" thing, but he would spend thirty seconds listening to General Lilia describing siege warfare and be like "w-wait")

all that aside, however it does end up happening, I do see Lilia being very blasé and all "oh! cool!" about it. y'know, taking it very much in stride! and Idia...very much not.

(can't tell if tumblr is going to chew this into illegibility or not, this will be a fun surprise ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ)

as for Lilia sadly missing out on Halloweentown shenanigans...he does get one little mention as part of an offhand reference to the light music club, but so far no one has brought up how this basically is just Lost In the Book of Liliatown (Sebek's been too busy yelling about not getting to be in the same group as Malleus). 😔 honestly though, it's probably for the best that he got left out, because he would just settle right in and refuse to ever leave. canon would shatter. we would miss out on all the delightful angst of episode 7 because Lilia is too busy eating poisonous shrubbery inbetween practicing his very best screams, and no one can pull him away from it.

(I can hope for a sequel next year though...)

[starry-bi-sky]

on a completely separate note; shizun luo binghe with a disciple shen yuan who fell into the abyss??? *thinks about LBH canonically stealing SQQ's corpse for 5 years* he'd hallucinate i think. like, like visual and audial hallucinations.

Keeps thinking he's seeing SQQ in the corner of his eyes, or wandering between the trees, amongst a group of disciples. Thinks he hears him calling for him, but its just the wind or another disciple.

Gets Xiu Ya reforged but patently fucking refuses to make a sword mound. Because his disciple Is Not Dead :))) There was No Body. He's Not Dead. And If You keep Insisting That He Is, He's Gonna Skewer You :). He's holding onto Xiu Ya so he can return his most favored disciple's sword when he returns. It's on his hip right next to Zheng Yang where it's supposed to be.

Also this motherfucker?? does not sleep btw. He has the image of SQQ, wide eyed and hysterical and standing at the mouth of the abyss burned into his fucking eyelids. Can't use the dreamscape to escape it either because he keeps trying to save him and either he does and it's an incredibly cruel trick to wake up to, or he doesn't and he gets his heart broken in several different pieces again.

There is no convincing this man that Shen Qingqiu is dead. Absolutely nothing at all. He is buried so deep in denial that moles would be jealous of how deep he is. He keeps making tea for two in the bamboo house only to remember that it's just him. SQQ's fans are hiding everywhere, little reminders of his presence. He goes to wake up SQQ on the mornings he sleeps in-- only to find the room empty.

[risibledeer]

GUYS IMP AND SKIZZ ARE GONNA BE ON JOELS TALK SHOW!!

or ig Joel's are gonna be on imp and skizz's podcast lol dunno yet

but either way, I am so fricking excited lol

[kaidatheghostdragon]

Good reveal au, where after learning phantom's identity and realizing the atrocities that the GIW have committed (or alternatively, ethical science au, where they find out the GIW plagarized them), the fenton parents decided to create the 'ultimate ghost-ending weapon' and sell it to the agents.

They go absolutely overboard, describing to the agents in meticulous detail how it evaporates any ghost it hits near-instantly and describing it quite ruthlessly in the blueprints, and soon the GIW have raplaced all their main weapons with the new gun.

Except it doesn't actually kill ghosts. It's the Fenton Bazooka. You know, the one that creates a portable portal to suck the ghost back into the ghost zone? What they actually did was retool it slightly to make it look more grusome than it actually is. They even added a beacon in Phantom's Keep, which all Fenton Bazookas will target when they open a portal, so the ghosts are always delivered to the keep.

From there, Phantom stationed an emergency medical team at the keep to treat the many injured and ragged ghosts that the GIW 'destroyed,' and to explain what just happened.

What they didn't anticipate was that now that the GIW have a mass-produced weapon that they believed would effectively eradicate ghosts, they would go on the offensive. They have a number of cities they've been monitoring but didn't want to get involved in without better tools.

One of those cities is Gotham.

And the Bats are ectocontaminated enough to register as ghosts.

Batman witnessed several of his children get evaporated by green energy weapons within mere moments of each other. He's absolutely gutted. Devastated. They didn’t even stand a chance.

He'll get his revenge, and it's frighteningly easy to track the weapon to private subcontractors. The Doctors Fenton, in Illinois. Their research calls for the genocide of all ghost kind, and apparently, that war started by killing his own children.

His children will not die in vain.

He gets to Amity Park and finds the Engineer's Nightmare of a building that is Fentonworks, but that night, before he can hack through the security and break in, one of the windows opens.

It's one of his kids that he had watched evaporate before his very eyes. They give him a silent signal of one of their identifying security codes and gesture for him to come inside.

Is it a trap? A prank in poor taste? Utterly genuine?

He goes through the window.

All of his dead kids are there, wearing borrowed pajamas and only their dominoes to conceal their identities. Daniel Fenton (son of the Fentons, this is his bedroom, has voiced a few arguments against his parent's views, but still an unknown) is among the crowd of teens and young adults, twirling on an office chair and obnoxiously sipping a capri sun.

"First thing you need to know, Bats," Daniel says after finishing his drink, "is that my parents are absolutely NOT genocidal ectophobic scumbags, and that is the reason why your kids are still alive."

[nights-at-crystarium]

Paprika doesn't appear in the comic for a long while, but now you know the real wol :>

[lucabyte]

leering

[crabsnpersimmons]

remember this little guy?

this is him now

feel old yet?

bonus Sun and Moon reacting to the little guy:

[maharellasa]

how I imagine this is gonna play out

[lygma-nygma]

Being a batfam fan is funny because people will make a post like “here’s my headcanon-“ and it’s just something that’s directly canon to the story then post about major canon events and get everything wrong.

[lilydally]

glub glub 🫧 he'll blow you a bubble 😘

[shrimpricebowl]

oh thank god