Thank you so so much for this detailed feedback. That's exactly something we really really need!
It's a good idea to have a short explanation, a little pop-up about the month we start, and where to finish the month into the journal. I think we'd add some kind of one line pop-up for month text and next month button to make that happen. The "Unlock Trait ..." text appeares after the plant died, and thank you for remind us, we forgot to add a short description for the restart button in that scene, and I think we'd add a popup text line to explain what to do next on hover over that button. And as for progression, we're thinking about making a collection/ encyclopedia system as suggested, and we'd like to put all plant traits there too, so that we can see more about the description and the progression.
The repetitive text in the journal is some kind of a design. I thought of making some text variation and pick one randomly each time, but then I gave up that idea, 'cause I kind of hope the repetition can add a little bit atmosphere of existentialism. I chose a music with some kind of a repetition structure for the same reason. And the year after year time loop, also for that. I guess I didn't build up that atmosphere well enough. Thank you so much for letting me know, though I currently have no idea how to improve that, it's very good to know there's something I still need to keep on working.
For the edits: Congratulations! And I'm so happy that you enjoy the trial and errors, I'm a huge fan of that mechanic as a gamer. I also think it's a very genius idea, a great suggestion to have a encyclopedia system. We'll work on that in the post-jam version :D