Gardening by GPT

I’m not a great gardener.

I’m definitely a horrible landscaper and lawn mower. If you like positivity, I’m a fantastic advocate of the native prairie look.

But I do love growing veggies in the summer. I enjoy going to my very own salad bar each day for lunch! Previous years featured different plants, new plant beds, but mostly the same strategy: buy compost, mix into existing dirt, dig hole, plant seed/plant, water infrequently, wonder why certain things don’t grow, Google ‘what’s wrong with my cucumber’, share weekly videos of the plant progress.

This year I’m exploring co-gardening with the chatbots. I’ll do my best to share what I’m doing differently. So far the utility has been in deciding what to plant where, what fertilizer to add, mulch strategy, and a big help has been documenting what I’ve done and when.

If you are a veggie whisperer and are willing to share your secrets, let me know your pro tips. Or if you see something wildly off that I share, throw your garden gloves at me and tell me what the better path is!

Here’s an image of what I provided the bot to help me decide what to plant where. I told the bot all the seeds I had and the orientation of my beds. That helped guide the sequence of radishes and other salad bar items. The 4x4 square box is now full of peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos.

Other fun uses of Garden by GPT:

1. I converted text maintenance reminders into calendar reminders so I don’t forget to fertilize my plants.

2. I set up an API feed to Google Sheets for temperature and rainfall to nudge me when I should water the plants. The bot reminded me to water less frequently but to soak the plants to develop deep roots. This is likely overkill but I do enjoy playing with data!

   1. Here’s the google sheet if you’re in the NW burbs of Chicago. Let me know if you’d like more info on setting this up for your location.

Garden Log – 2025 Season

Date: 5/11/25

• Planted from seed in 3x6 bed:

  • Cherry Belle Radishes (south end)

  • Purple Top White Globe Turnips

  • Green Ice Lettuce

  • Buttercrunch Lettuce

  • Early Wonder Tall Top Beets (up to mid-bed)

  • Cucumbers (north end)

Date: 5/25/25

• Transplanted into 4x4 bed:

  • 2 Tomatillo plants (north side)

  • 1 Cherry Tomato (center)

  • 1 Roma Tomato (southwest)

  • 1 San Marzano Tomato (southeast)

  • 2 Bell Peppers (center, flanking the cherry tomato)

  • 1 Poblano Pepper (front edge)

• Transplanted into 3x6 bed:

  • 1 Zucchini (in the space between beets and cucumbers)
    

Amendments and Care on 5/25/25:

• Added powdered milk and fertilizer to tomato planting holes

• Sprinkled fertilizer into all other transplant holes

• Watered all newly planted crops thoroughly

• Applied mulch over all planted areas
  

Upcoming Maintenance Reminders:

• 6/8/25 – Side-dress tomatoes and peppers with low-nitrogen fertilizer; check for pests/disease

• Mid–Late June – Begin harvesting radishes, lettuces, early beets; re-seed if desired

• Early July – Train cucumbers up the trellis; hand pollinate cucurbits if needed

• Mid–Late July – Expect first cherry tomatoes; begin light pruning for airflow

• Every 2–3 Weeks – Feed tomatoes with powdered milk tea; check and replenish mulch