To garden in Sims 4, start by purchasing seeds from a computer or a planter box in Build Mode. Place the seeds in your garden or a planter, then click to plant them. You must water, weed, and spray for bugs regularly. As your gardening skill increases, you can evolve plants for better quality and even splice them to create new hybrids.
Hello, fellow plant lover! Welcome to your very own guide to the wonderful world of gardening in The Sims 4. Have you ever wanted your Sim to grow a lush garden, but felt a little lost? Maybe you bought some seeds, but your plants just aren’t thriving. Don’t you worry. Many people find it tricky at first.
Gardening can be one of the most rewarding and profitable skills in the game. It just takes a little know-how. I’m here to walk you through everything, step-by-step. We will turn your Sim’s empty yard into a green paradise. Together, we will learn how to plant, grow, and care for every type of plant. Let’s get our hands virtually dirty!
Getting Started: Your First Seeds and Planters
Every great garden starts with a single seed. In The Sims 4, getting started is simple. You don’t need a huge yard or fancy tools right away. All you need is a place to plant and something to grow.
Where to Buy Seeds
Your Sim has a few easy options for finding their first seeds. You don’t have to go to a special store.
- From a Planter or Pot: Go into Build/Buy mode. Look for garden planters or pots. When you place one on your lot, you can click on it in Live Mode to buy starter seed packets.
- From a Computer: Use your Sim’s computer. Click on the “Order” menu, and you will see an option to purchase seeds. This is a great way to get specific types of seeds as your skill grows.
- Foraging in the World: Encourage your Sim to explore! You can find wild plants growing in all the neighborhoods. Your Sim can harvest fruits, flowers, and vegetables from these plants for free. You can then plant these in your own garden.
Choosing Your Planting Spot
You can plant directly in the ground or use a container. Each has its own benefits.
- Garden Planters and Pots: These are perfect for beginners. They keep your garden neat and tidy. You can place them on a porch, a balcony, or even indoors if you have enough light. They make it easy to see what needs care.
- Planting in the Ground: If you want a larger garden, you can plant directly in the soil. Simply drag the seed from your Sim’s inventory onto the ground. This will create a small mound of dirt where your plant will grow. This is great for creating big, beautiful farm-like spaces.
I recommend starting with a planter box. It helps keep things organized while you are learning the ropes. Once you feel confident, you can expand into a bigger garden plot.
The Basics of Plant Care: Water, Weed, and Watch
Your plants are alive! Like any living thing, they need regular care to grow strong and healthy. The three basic tasks are watering, weeding, and spraying for bugs. Performing these actions will also build your Sim’s gardening skill.
Step-by-Step Planting Guide
- Buy Your Seeds: Purchase a starter seed packet from a planter box or computer. It will appear in your Sim’s personal inventory.
- Open the Packet: Find the seed packet in the inventory and click on it. Select “Open Seed Packet.” The seeds will then appear as individual items in the inventory.
- Place the Seed: Drag a fruit, flower, or vegetable from your inventory to your chosen spot. This can be a planter box or a patch of ground. A little mound of dirt will appear.
- Plant It: Click on the mound of dirt and choose the “Plant” interaction. Your Sim will walk over and plant the seed. Congratulations, your garden has begun!
Daily Gardening Tasks
Check on your garden every day. Your plants will tell you what they need.
- Watering: Plants get thirsty. When a plant needs water, the soil around it will look dry. Click on the plant and select “Water.” If you have many plants, you can select “Water Area.”
- Weeding: Pesky weeds will sometimes sprout up around your plants. They look like little green sprouts with leaves. Click on the plant or the weed itself and choose “Weed.” A clean garden is a happy garden!
- Spraying for Bugs: Sometimes, little bugs will attack your plants. You will see them flying around in a small cloud. Click on the affected plant and select “Spray for Bugs.” This will save your plant from being eaten.
Doing these simple tasks every day will keep your plants in good shape and help them grow faster. It’s a peaceful routine for your Sim and a great way to build their skill level.
Level Up! Unlocking Your Sim’s Green Thumb
As your Sim gardens, their skill will improve. Each new level unlocks helpful abilities that make gardening easier and more interesting. There are 10 levels in the gardening skill. Let’s look at what you can expect at each stage.
| Skill Level | Unlocked Abilities |
|---|---|
| 1 | Plant, Water, Weed, and Harvest. Your journey begins! |
| 2 | Research gardening on the computer. This helps build skill faster. |
| 3 | Fertilize plants. This helps improve their quality. Your Sim may also get Fun from gardening now. |
| 4 | Talk to plants. This fills your Sim’s social need and helps plants grow. |
| 5 | Take cuttings and graft plants (Splicing). This is how you create new hybrid plants! |
| 6 | “Weed Area” and “Water Area” interactions become more effective. |
| 7 | Can revive plants that have died from neglect. Also unlocks the “Tend Garden” interaction, which handles all needs at once. |
| 8 | Can grow a Cowplant! You also unlock the ability to re-shape bonsai trees. |
| 9 | Gardening tasks are performed much faster. Your Sim is now a true expert. |
| 10 | Your Sim is a master gardener. They are more efficient and can mentor other Sims. |
Advanced Gardening: Evolving and Splicing
Once you master the basics, you can start to improve your garden in amazing ways. Evolving and splicing are two powerful techniques for creating a super garden.
How to Evolve Your Plants
Evolving a plant improves its quality. A higher-quality plant produces better harvests, which sell for more Simoleons. They can also be used as more powerful fertilizers.
There are five quality levels:
- Normal
- Nice
- Excellent
- Magnificent
- Perfect
To evolve a plant, it must be healthy and ready. When a plant is sparkling, it has a chance to be evolved. Click on the plant and look for the “Evolve” interaction. Your Sim must have a high enough gardening skill for this option to appear. Keep caring for your plants, and soon you’ll have a garden full of “Perfect” quality produce!
The Magic of Splicing (Grafting)
Splicing is the most exciting part of gardening in The Sims 4. It allows you to combine two different plants to create a brand new one! This is how you grow rare and valuable plants like the Death Flower or the Orchid.
Here’s how it works:
- Reach Level 5 Gardening: Your Sim must have a gardening skill of 5 or higher.
- Take a Cutting: Click on a mature plant and choose “Take Cutting.” A cutting will appear in your Sim’s inventory.
- Graft onto a Host Plant: Click on another mature plant and choose “Graft.” You can then select the cutting from your inventory to graft onto this host plant.
After a while, the host plant will start to grow both its original produce and the produce from the grafted cutting. But even more exciting, it may also produce a third, hybrid plant! This is similar to a real-life technique called grafting, which horticulturalists use to combine plants. You can learn more about real-world grafting from the University of Minnesota Extension.
Here are some popular splicing recipes to try:
| Graft This Plant… | Onto This Plant… | To Grow This! |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | Snapdragon | Dragonfruit |
| Cherry | Apple | Pomegranate |
| Lily | Snapdragon | Orchid |
| Pomegranate | Orchid | Death Flower |
Gardening with the Seasons Expansion Pack
If you have the Seasons expansion pack, gardening becomes even more realistic and challenging. Plants now have preferred seasons to grow in. Planting something “out of season” means it won’t grow unless it’s sheltered.
Understanding Plant Seasons
Each plant has one or more seasons where it thrives. You can check a plant’s preferred season by hovering over it in your inventory or in the world. When you are planting, it’s best to choose plants that are in season.
- Spring: Perfect for flowers like Bluebells and Daisies, and vegetables like Carrots and Spinach.
- Summer: The best time for heat-loving plants like Tomatoes, Snapdragons, and Fireleaf.
- Fall: A great season for Grapes, Mushrooms, and Apples. Many herbs also do well.
- Winter: A tough time for outdoor gardens. Only a few plants, like the Holly and Snowdrop, can survive the cold.
How to Garden All Year Round
Don’t want to let winter stop your gardening dreams? You don’t have to! You can create a sheltered environment for your plants.
- Greenhouses: Build a room with a glass roof. This will protect your plants from the weather, allowing you to grow anything you want, no matter the season outside.
- Indoor Planters: Simply place your garden pots and planters inside your house. As long as they are under a roof, they are considered sheltered and will grow year-round.
Special Plants and How to Get Them
Some plants in The Sims 4 are extra special. They have unique properties and can be a fun challenge to grow.
The Mysterious Cowplant
The Cowplant is one of the most iconic creatures in The Sims franchise. It’s part plant, part cow, and has a big personality. To get one, you need to find a Cowplant Berry.
- How to Find a Berry: You can find them by exploring space in a rocket, fishing in forgotten grottos, or sometimes by digging up treasure. Splicing can also sometimes produce one, though it’s rare.
- Caring for Your Cowplant: Plant the berry and care for it like any other plant. It will grow into a full-sized Cowplant. You must feed it every 12 hours. If you don’t, it will try to lure a Sim with a piece of cake. If a Sim eats the cake, they might get eaten!
- Benefits: A happy Cowplant produces a “life essence” drink after it has eaten something (or someone). Sims who drink this will have their lifespan extended.
The Money Tree
Yes, you can literally grow money! The Money Tree is a rare plant that produces Simoleons instead of fruit.
- How to Get It: You can’t buy a Money Tree seed. You have to purchase it from the Aspiration Rewards Store for 5,000 satisfaction points.
- Growing and Harvesting: Once you plant the Money Tree, care for it like any other plant. When it’s ready to harvest, it will produce golden money bags. The amount of Simoleons you get depends on the quality of the tree. A perfect-quality Money Tree can give you over §22,000 per harvest!
Making Your Garden Work for You
A beautiful garden is great, but a helpful garden is even better. Let’s talk about tools and helpers that make your life easier.
Sprinklers: Your Best Friend
Tired of watering every single plant by hand? Sprinklers are the answer. You can buy them in Build/Buy mode. Place them near your garden, and you can set them to water your plants automatically every morning. This saves a huge amount of time, especially with a large garden.
Patchy the Scarecrow
Patchy is more than just a decoration. If you have the Seasons expansion, you can buy Patchy from Build/Buy mode. Place him near your garden, and your Sim can chat with him. If you build a good relationship, Patchy will come to life! He will help you by watering plants, weeding, and even spraying for bugs. He’s a fantastic, free garden helper.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do I start gardening in Sims 4?
To start, buy seeds from a computer or a planter box in Build Mode. Place the planter or drag the seeds from your Sim’s inventory to the ground. Click on the planter or dirt mound and select “Plant.” Then, care for it by watering and weeding.
How do I make my plants better quality?
To improve plant quality, you need to “Evolve” them. Care for your plants daily. When a plant is sparkling and healthy, click on it. If your Sim’s gardening skill is high enough, you will see the “Evolve” option. This raises the plant’s quality from Normal to Nice, Excellent, and eventually Perfect.
What does fertilizing do in Sims 4?
Fertilizing helps your plants evolve faster. You can use fish or produce from your harvest as fertilizer. The higher the quality of the fertilizer, the bigger the boost it gives your plant. It’s a great way to reach “Perfect” quality more quickly.
How do you get rare plants like the Death Flower?
You get most rare plants through splicing (grafting). For example, to get a Death Flower, you need to graft a Pomegranate onto an Orchid. You unlock the ability to take cuttings and graft at level 5 of the gardening skill.
Can I garden indoors?
Yes, you absolutely can! Simply place garden pots or planter boxes inside your house. Indoor plants are considered “sheltered,” which means they are protected from bad weather and can grow in any season, even winter.
Why are my plants not growing?
If your plants aren’t growing, check a few things. First, do they need water or weeding? Neglected plants grow slowly or die. Second, if you have the Seasons expansion, make sure the plant is in season or sheltered indoors. An outdoor plant in the wrong season will go dormant and stop growing.
What’s the fastest way to level up the gardening skill?
The fastest way is to simply garden a lot! Plant many different things and tend to them daily. Every interaction—planting, watering, weeding, harvesting—gives you skill experience. Once you reach level 2, use a computer to “Research Gardening” for an extra skill boost.
Your Garden Awaits
And there you have it! Everything you need to know to become a master gardener in The Sims 4. We started with a simple seed and learned how to plant, water, and weed. We explored how to level up your Sim’s skill to unlock amazing new abilities like splicing plants to create incredible hybrids.
Remember, gardening is a journey. Start small with a single planter box. Enjoy the simple, peaceful moments of caring for your plants each day. Before you know it, you will have a thriving garden that is not only beautiful but also a great source of income and fun for your Sims.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different plants and splicing combinations. The most wonderful discoveries are often happy accidents. Now, go on and create the garden of your dreams. Happy planting!