My yard was dying, so I made the app

When I returned to my computer five minutes after giving Gemini a long time, I had two things: a working program in the monitor window, and an error message.

“~ Channel is broken and will be terminated!” It sounded awful! But at the bottom there was a button to correct the error. So weird that I just told the computer to run the whole program for me quickly, but it required me to click a button to fix the error. I actually did that, and in 233 seconds Gemini said it did, using words like “blockades” and “racial conditions.” I didn’t understand a bit about it. It was fun.

This was my second or third attempt at a vibe-coding program, depending on whether you count one that I haven’t released for viewing. The project that never fully took off was a web app with one mission: to simulate a high-end grocery store running its annual Peach-o-Rama event. So far, no peaches. However you count, the project at hand is very ambitious: a program that will help me get to know my disobedient circle.

When my husband and I moved into our house eight years ago, we didn’t think much about yard work. Sure, you mow the lawn and stuff, but don’t the shrubs and trees take care of themselves? We ignored the yard until the weeds came in. The flower beds bordering the house and yard were quickly filled with biblical grass. Of course there was more to the whole business than we expected.

We won a few battles with the weeds but eventually lost the battle and called the ranger. Its one-time flight has allowed us to leave the field mainly in aviation for several years. It worked, but the weeds started creeping back and the plants were showing signs of depression. As the weather turned to spring this year, I was determined to find out what was going on in our yard.

I had a rough idea to start with, but I needed help on how to plan the work that needed to be done. Why not make an app for this?

I tried to be as descriptive as possible and as quick as possible, which was a list of requirements: Help me manage a long list of yard maintenance tasks; Make suggestions; Consider the weather; Use image recognition to identify problems with plants. I put it all into Google’s AI Studio with the goal of creating an Android app that I could install on my phone and export. You know, where plants live. I figured it would take an hour or so and I would spend the rest of the day writing my blog and doing whatever the program told me to do.

My readings were a little low. Sure enough, I had the program running in the viewing window for a few minutes. It was well organized, with sections to monitor different areas of plants and an AI “plant doctor” where I could upload photos from my phone. But it had a big color problem.

For some reason, Gemini chose the black option for my program, with purple and brick red colors. The words were not clear, but they were disgusting. I suggested a white background with shades of green, pink, and blue, reminding people to keep it readable. It also came with something fun, and a cheery greeting above the original program: “Welcome Back, Gardeneer!” Honestly, I like the edge of the “gardener,” so I kept it.

I kept the base that Gemini came with, too. I had a few changes, such as including live weather instead of the weather that the AI ​​came up with. It seems that Gemini thought that I would just choose the right “profile” to match the weather of the day and it would change its mind to water properly. It seemed strange when weather information was so easy to call through an API, and it wasn’t the last time I had to remind Gemini about the difference between the physical and the imaginary world. Otherwise, I installed it on my phone and started using it as quickly as possible, very happy to send my first app to the trouble of repeating.

Except there were some serious things I missed when I looked at the app on my laptop computer. I couldn’t change the chores after they were done, or schedule them on specific days. I could create individual plant profiles and group them, but I couldn’t link them to other projects or… do much with anything, really. There were separate tabs for one-time and recurring tasks, but every task I added to the app seemed to ignore this sorting and go to the recurring tab.

This turned into a tedious back and forth. I requested an update, waiting for Gemini to use it, they removed the old app from my phone, and installed a new one. I see something not working, like the date picker that doesn’t let you pick a date, and then you have to go back to the chatbot. Instead of just being an uncontrollable circle, I now had an uncontrollable program to run as well. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, I’m sure.

On the other hand, the AI ​​plant doctor was very useful outside the box. It’s a “Hey Gemini, find out what’s wrong with this plant” button, and I uploaded a photo of a sick rhododendron. After a minute or so it produced a detailed report on the plant’s health (very bad!), what might have caused the problem, and other things I could add to my plan and faucet. That It was exactly the yard help I needed.

Our do-it-yourself landscaping was covering the flower beds with colorful fabric and river rocks. This will control the weed problem for a long time, he said, and the existing crops will be healthy. In addition, they offered a discount if we paid cash. I did it and you did it.

Now, years later, something was off. The leaves of the bush near our door turned yellow and flies buzzed around it. The rose bushes grew tall and the flowers were few.

Gemini is not slow to criticize the cloth and stones accepted by the place. It said it was weakening the roots, which were also drying out because the curtain in the area had probably been filled with dirt over the years. On top of that, the sun-baked rocks were cooking the roots from the surface on hot days. No wonder our yard looked like a dump; it was a wonder that any of them were still alive at all.

By then, it was too late to start Operation: Rhododendron Rescue. After creating my entire program, I was able to spend an entire afternoon on the best weather forecast for the social media. Every time I hit enter and sent Gemini on a new writing assignment, I believe I was chewing the electricity equivalent of a microwave dinner at a data center outside of Spokane or wherever. Grief has not lost me.

Although my program was not good, I put aside my requests the next day and decided to follow Dr.’s advice. Gemini rhododendron. I spent the afternoon sweating with a podcast in my ears, hauling back rock from the river and cutting fabric, and trimming shrubbery. After that, I looked at another rock, which had grass that had started to grow. above of cloth. Hot tip: Don’t put too much fabric on your yard.

It was exhausting work in the full sun, and as soon as I got close to the thickets of black Himalayan mulberries that ran into the yard, the bullets started flying. But here’s a secret to field work that I didn’t know eight years ago: It’s very satisfying. That feeling when you get your tool under a big weed and pull the whole thing up, roots and all? Or when you take your shovel under a blackberry bush and tear it up, sending it to hell? There is nothing like that. Weeding is absorbing, but it’s also confusing. Once I’m gone I always have an easier time convincing myself that I’m only going to be out for 20 minutes when I have to pack.

Then I called it a day, opened my app, and went through a few yard projects that I had completed. After spending a few hours in the grass of my yard, I had a new list of requests in my head. I needed ongoing support from Gemini as I worked to revive my plants, not just a one-time diagnosis. And while the idea of ​​organizing my yard and areas appeals to my type A, I’m not sure it does anything for me. I’m taking care of a small town-suburb, not, like, Central Park. Could this app be Gemini’s chat and to-do list in Google Keep? Maybe.

I don’t think my “Gardening” app will make it to the Play Store, but making it has been educational. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to watch a computer turn your words into a working program – kind of a “Telling someone about your dreams” situation. But you need to go in with a clear vision of the problem you want your app to solve. I could have saved myself a lot of back and forth if I had done a little more work up front to focus on my needs before shooting.

My vibe-coding journey has also revealed something I knew well, but didn’t understand: AI doesn’t know what the real world is. It did not hesitate to put the black text on the dark purple color, because the validity does not affect the computer. It tried to interest me in general information rather than actual weather, because what is real time on a computer? Although I’m working on my “Is It Peach-o-Rama Yet?” app, Gemini tried to release a version that would pretending to check the grocery store’s website and social media, but you can just look at the date and Peaches-o-Rama usually starts in mid-July. I had to say that it was important, especially, if the Peach-o-Rama was actually happening.

I haven’t given up on the board program yet, but the right version is probably simpler than the one I started with. And as for the advice I received from Gemini, it seems like the AI ​​was spot on. It’s only been a few days since I pulled the stones and cloth from the rhododendron, but I can already see new leaves coming out of one branch. Maybe there is life left in my yard.