PLANT LIST, FERTILIZER, AND GRAFTING PLANTS
Gardening allows you to grow and harvest Plants
Gardening Overview
The Sims 4's Gardening Skill offers you a means of growing plants to make money or make your own ingredients for meals, boosting their quality while pursuing completion of the Plants Collection. You can also use produce as bait. This Guide to Gardening will teach you about fertilizer, evolving plants, quality levels, cuttings and grafts, and how you can grow a big garden at home while still giving your Sims an active life.
The Sims 4's Gardening Skill offers you a means of growing plants to make money or make your own ingredients for meals, boosting their quality while pursuing completion of the Plants Collection. You can also use produce as bait. This Guide to Gardening will teach you about fertilizer, evolving plants, quality levels, cuttings and grafts, and how you can grow a big garden at home while still giving your Sims an active life.
If you like, you can jump to the Plant List. If you want info only on grafting combinations, head to the Grafting & Take Cutting Guide.
Good Traits & Aspirations for Gardeners
- The Loves Outdoors Trait will give your Sim a happiness boost when they're outside, which will help keep mood positive and synergize with the next:
- Genius Trait - helps Sims get Focused - this Emotion is very helpful when Gardening and can help you gain skill faster, as demonstrated by the Research Gardening Interaction on the Computer.
- ???? - all kinds of other traits could work for Gardening, but maybe save your third slot for a little personality!
- Freelance Botanist Aspiration - This is a natural choice, since you can gain loads of Satisfaction for the purchase of Rewards by completing the objectives of this Aspiration. The Collector Trait that comes with it will likely help you find more rare plants out in the world.
You can Graft to produce a Death Flower Plant
Starting Gardening & Skill Level Unlocks
The Four basic skills of Gardening are Plant, Water, Weed, and Harvest. All these are self-explanatory, but necessary to help your plants to grow. These are the skills you get at the beginning, and starting is a simple matter of buying seeds or harvesting plants from the wild. You may also read Gardening skill books to raise your level. As you gain levels in Gardening, you'll unlock new abilities:
The Four basic skills of Gardening are Plant, Water, Weed, and Harvest. All these are self-explanatory, but necessary to help your plants to grow. These are the skills you get at the beginning, and starting is a simple matter of buying seeds or harvesting plants from the wild. You may also read Gardening skill books to raise your level. As you gain levels in Gardening, you'll unlock new abilities:
- Level 2 - Research Gardening at Computer (Web > Research Gardening). Do this to get Focused, which will help you gain more Gardening Experience.
- Level 3 - Your Gardener may now Fertilize Plants. This will help them to Evolve faster.
- Level 4 - Talk to Plants. This will allow you to talk to Plants to fill your Sim's Social Need, while also granting Gardening Skill experience!
- Level 5 - Take Cutting and Graft abilities unlock, which allow you to get otherwise unattainable plants.
- Level 6 - Other Sims may Compliment your Garden.
- Level 7 - Sim has a Green Thumb, which evidently means they get the Tend Garden ability, allowing them to Water and Weed the Garden by clicking a single plant. This is a big bonus, as tending many plants and finding what ones need watered/weeded can be a chore. You still need to choose when to harvest and fertilize, however.
- Level 8 - Get the ability to spend $50 to re-grow a Bonsai Tree in order to re-shape it.
- Level 9 - More efficient gardening interactions - Sims water plants and weed faster.
- Level 10 - Nothing of note happens, aside from the ability to buy Farmer's Seed Packets from the Computer/Gardening Pot that contain a mixture of seed types. It's very random, but you may get plants for your collection that you don't yet have. Buying a number of them is wise.
Buy Seeds from the computer or a Garden Pot to get started
Buying Seeds
The only way I found to Buy Seeds is by either purchasing them on the Computer (under the Order Menu) or by clicking on Gardening Pots. These are found in Build Mode, Objects by Function > Hobbies & Skills > Miscellaneous. Garden Pots cost $50 while holding only one plant, while Garden Planter Boxes cost $200 and hold either 4 plants or one tree. These aren't necessary for your budding Gardener, as you are able to drag plants to the ground to plant them on your lot. However, both forms of these planters will let you grow plants indoors.
The only way I found to Buy Seeds is by either purchasing them on the Computer (under the Order Menu) or by clicking on Gardening Pots. These are found in Build Mode, Objects by Function > Hobbies & Skills > Miscellaneous. Garden Pots cost $50 while holding only one plant, while Garden Planter Boxes cost $200 and hold either 4 plants or one tree. These aren't necessary for your budding Gardener, as you are able to drag plants to the ground to plant them on your lot. However, both forms of these planters will let you grow plants indoors.
When you Order Seeds, you get to choose from 4 packets. Each will give you a variety of plants of that type. You're able to choose from Starter Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, or Vegetables. These will give you random common items from each category, so buying more can increase the diversity of your yield.
Planting
Drag fruits/vegetables/herbs/flowers from your inventory to the ground or a gardening pot/planter box. Lay it out the way you want, as many plants as you want, then select one and choose Plant. Your Sim will go about planting all of the seeds, which you can then water and gain loads of experience doing so. Later, they'll grow weeds so look out for that by clicking plants here and there. Find one with weeds and the Sim will take care of all Weeds, same with Watering. Keep taking care of your garden and plants will eventually be able to evolve to a higher quality level.
Drag fruits/vegetables/herbs/flowers from your inventory to the ground or a gardening pot/planter box. Lay it out the way you want, as many plants as you want, then select one and choose Plant. Your Sim will go about planting all of the seeds, which you can then water and gain loads of experience doing so. Later, they'll grow weeds so look out for that by clicking plants here and there. Find one with weeds and the Sim will take care of all Weeds, same with Watering. Keep taking care of your garden and plants will eventually be able to evolve to a higher quality level.
Eating Produce
Raw produce may be eaten directly from your Sim's inventory as of the Patch that came with Outdoor Retreat. That's great news for all players, regardless of whether they own the game pack. Eating Perfect plants may give your Sim a +3 Happy moodlet for 4h, so it's very much worth keeping some plants on you for a quick bite to eat and a pick me up in terms of mood. This can help your Sim to become Very Focused for their Gardening, further boosting Skill gains, even when you eat a 'Very Nice' or other medium-quality Plant.
Raw produce may be eaten directly from your Sim's inventory as of the Patch that came with Outdoor Retreat. That's great news for all players, regardless of whether they own the game pack. Eating Perfect plants may give your Sim a +3 Happy moodlet for 4h, so it's very much worth keeping some plants on you for a quick bite to eat and a pick me up in terms of mood. This can help your Sim to become Very Focused for their Gardening, further boosting Skill gains, even when you eat a 'Very Nice' or other medium-quality Plant.
Plant Mood
Plants with weeds around them or who go without water a while will have their mood drop. If it drops too low too long, the plant will die. Keeping your plants in a good 'mood' will allow you to evolve them. There is a certain time a plant must be happy, reduced by fertilizer, before it can evolve.
Plants with weeds around them or who go without water a while will have their mood drop. If it drops too low too long, the plant will die. Keeping your plants in a good 'mood' will allow you to evolve them. There is a certain time a plant must be happy, reduced by fertilizer, before it can evolve.
Evolving Plants
After taking good care of your plants for a few days, you'll start to see them sparkle. This is when the Evolve option comes up. Evolving a plant will result in higher-quality produce from that plant in the future. It will go up one level when you select Evolve, resulting in higher value harvestables that can be replanted or sold.
After taking good care of your plants for a few days, you'll start to see them sparkle. This is when the Evolve option comes up. Evolving a plant will result in higher-quality produce from that plant in the future. It will go up one level when you select Evolve, resulting in higher value harvestables that can be replanted or sold.
There is no point waiting to harvest until after you've evolved a plant. The harvestables' quality will be based on where the plant was when they grew. It's better to harvest them to get ready for the next evolution, so you can start getting profitable Superb-quality Plants.
Fertilizing Plants (Gardening Skill Level 3)
Other plants can be used as Fertilizer, but the best Fertilizer seems to be Fish. The rarer the catch, the better a fertilizer it is - so The Sims 4's Fishing Skill works very well with Gardening. Plants that are Fertilized will not grow faster necessarily, but jump in quality faster. Getting to Perfect Quality Plants quickly means using Fertilize as often as it is available.
Other plants can be used as Fertilizer, but the best Fertilizer seems to be Fish. The rarer the catch, the better a fertilizer it is - so The Sims 4's Fishing Skill works very well with Gardening. Plants that are Fertilized will not grow faster necessarily, but jump in quality faster. Getting to Perfect Quality Plants quickly means using Fertilize as often as it is available.
Plant Quality
Plants come in the following quality levels: Normal, Nice, Very Nice, Good, Great, Excellent, Superb, Magnificent, Pristine, Perfect.
Plants come in the following quality levels: Normal, Nice, Very Nice, Good, Great, Excellent, Superb, Magnificent, Pristine, Perfect.
Bonsai Trees
Bonsai Trees are decor that regrow but allow for a continual source of Gardening experience. However, talking to plants or reading about Gardening is a better means of gaining experience. You can trim them into multiple designs once you've gained some levels. These may serve as unique indoor decorations. You can change the color of the stand by clicking on it.
Bonsai Trees are decor that regrow but allow for a continual source of Gardening experience. However, talking to plants or reading about Gardening is a better means of gaining experience. You can trim them into multiple designs once you've gained some levels. These may serve as unique indoor decorations. You can change the color of the stand by clicking on it.
Collect Microscope Sample
You can make money with Gardening another way if you're willing to invest in a Microscope (which is massive and costs $1630). Clicking a Plant and selecting to take a Microscope Sample will give you the ability to analyze it with the Microscope. This often yields a painting that can be worth hundreds of Simoleons or work as decor for a geek's paradise. This will, in turn, raise your Sim's Logic Skill.
You can make money with Gardening another way if you're willing to invest in a Microscope (which is massive and costs $1630). Clicking a Plant and selecting to take a Microscope Sample will give you the ability to analyze it with the Microscope. This often yields a painting that can be worth hundreds of Simoleons or work as decor for a geek's paradise. This will, in turn, raise your Sim's Logic Skill.
Taking Care of your Garden: Tending Garden and Harvest Yields
There is no magical set time of day for plants to grow, need watering, or weeding. These appear throughout the day. Don't fret, however, as it doesn't mean you need to tend your garden constantly. A plant will only grow unhappy if it is neglected for a time. It's safe to come back and deal with your garden once a day, so that all the plants need water/weeding. Plants will gradually grow up to their maximum of 10 harvestables. Waiting is good as plants will provide more harvestables the longer you wait and harvesting immediately will yield fewer fruit, while resetting the timer, causing it to take longer for them to produce fruit again. Keep an eye on fertilizing, however, and try to keep that effect active on your favorite plants, so they can evolve quickly.
There is no magical set time of day for plants to grow, need watering, or weeding. These appear throughout the day. Don't fret, however, as it doesn't mean you need to tend your garden constantly. A plant will only grow unhappy if it is neglected for a time. It's safe to come back and deal with your garden once a day, so that all the plants need water/weeding. Plants will gradually grow up to their maximum of 10 harvestables. Waiting is good as plants will provide more harvestables the longer you wait and harvesting immediately will yield fewer fruit, while resetting the timer, causing it to take longer for them to produce fruit again. Keep an eye on fertilizing, however, and try to keep that effect active on your favorite plants, so they can evolve quickly.
Take Cutting Ability (Gardening Level 5)
Plants must have grown a bit to use this ability. Using it two times in a row can kill a plant, resulting in a fee to revive it, else you dispose of the dead plant. Cuttings are used with the Graft ability, which is unlocked once you have some Plant Cuttings in your inventory. These all go into one stack. If you try to Take Cutting from a plant that has many others grafted on it, the original is the cutting you will get (the first on the list is the original plant type).
Plants must have grown a bit to use this ability. Using it two times in a row can kill a plant, resulting in a fee to revive it, else you dispose of the dead plant. Cuttings are used with the Graft ability, which is unlocked once you have some Plant Cuttings in your inventory. These all go into one stack. If you try to Take Cutting from a plant that has many others grafted on it, the original is the cutting you will get (the first on the list is the original plant type).
Graft Ability - Combine Plants (Level 5)
See the table below for special grafting combos to unlock plants you haven't yet found. This will start a plant over at its same level of quality, but adding the ability to also grow the plant whose cutting you grafted onto it. You can use this option a number of times on a single plant to make it give you a mixture of produce. The plant must grow a bit again before the Graft option will reappear. This is a good ability that allows you to minimize the work your Sim needs to maintain your garden, allowing you to eliminate some plants if you like. If you're going for maximum profit, you'd likely be better off having high-price plants that are NOT grafted in your garden, while grafting plants to condense the size of your garden and simultaneously cut back on the amount of fertilizing and garden tending you need to do.
See the table below for special grafting combos to unlock plants you haven't yet found. This will start a plant over at its same level of quality, but adding the ability to also grow the plant whose cutting you grafted onto it. You can use this option a number of times on a single plant to make it give you a mixture of produce. The plant must grow a bit again before the Graft option will reappear. This is a good ability that allows you to minimize the work your Sim needs to maintain your garden, allowing you to eliminate some plants if you like. If you're going for maximum profit, you'd likely be better off having high-price plants that are NOT grafted in your garden, while grafting plants to condense the size of your garden and simultaneously cut back on the amount of fertilizing and garden tending you need to do.
The Grafting option is very good for busy Sims that like to cook meals with good ingredients. However, remember that you get only 8-10 harvestables out of a plant and grafting too many to one plant will result in a mixture - 1 of a few of them, 2 of another, and maybe 0 of another kind on a particular harvest. It's totally random and doesn't really increase your yields. Best use of grafting is to do 2-3 type of plants, maximum, so you're sure to pick up a few of each when you harvest. Also note that harvesting right away will yield you few fruit, while waiting to harvest a grafted plant several hours after it first shows fruit (like normal plants) will give it time to make a larger variety of produce, and thus a better yield.
Mushrooms are the main type that can't be cut/grafted. They tend to grow faster than other plants, so this may be part of the reason. Trees grow more slowly so they are not great picks for grafting other plants to. Graft your slow-growing plants onto faster growing types using the Plant List below.
Wild Plants & Growth
In order to find Uncommon and Rare plants that do not come from seed packets and neighborhood gardens, you must look for plants in the Wild. Below, I've listed where I found plants but we have a much more thorough plant locations guide that can help you to find plants. Plants are not always harvestable, as they are not ready. Know that plants only grow in the neighborhood your active Sim is visiting. So if you want one to grow in another area, you need to hang out there a while. Plants grow fairly fast, so find a way to spend some time in that area while you wait for them to grow - make some friends, collect, and fish for fertilizer.
In order to find Uncommon and Rare plants that do not come from seed packets and neighborhood gardens, you must look for plants in the Wild. Below, I've listed where I found plants but we have a much more thorough plant locations guide that can help you to find plants. Plants are not always harvestable, as they are not ready. Know that plants only grow in the neighborhood your active Sim is visiting. So if you want one to grow in another area, you need to hang out there a while. Plants grow fairly fast, so find a way to spend some time in that area while you wait for them to grow - make some friends, collect, and fish for fertilizer.
Sometimes they aren't even ready for you to Take Cutting. The trick is to stay in the area long enough for them to grow a tad (Plants grow fast in TS4) so you can take a cutting, then graft it onto one of your own plants. Your Plant will then produce that type of fruit/vegetable and allow you to plant one once that type has been harvested. I have never seen seeds on the ground in this game - it's all about finding plants in the wild and combining with existing plants to get the fruit you need to put in the ground to make your own. You will sometimes find wild plants harvestable, it's just not as efficient to collect them that way given they will usually start at normal quality and you'd be better off skipping all that evolving.
Making Perfect Plants Faster
Keep the plants you start with, and gradually evolve them by taking care of them and clicking Evolve each time it comes available. It's easier to see sparkles on game speed 2/3. When you later find a rare plant in the wild and take a sample, then graft it to your high-quality plant, you'll get a high-quality result and be able to plant it. This will let you skip leveling a plant at normal quality (assuming you harvest it in the wild) and is the fastest way to get a Perfect Blackberry bush or Dragonfruit.
Keep the plants you start with, and gradually evolve them by taking care of them and clicking Evolve each time it comes available. It's easier to see sparkles on game speed 2/3. When you later find a rare plant in the wild and take a sample, then graft it to your high-quality plant, you'll get a high-quality result and be able to plant it. This will let you skip leveling a plant at normal quality (assuming you harvest it in the wild) and is the fastest way to get a Perfect Blackberry bush or Dragonfruit.
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