Gardening in the Sims 4 can be a full-time job to get all the plant starts from various neighborhoods, cutting and grafting, watering, weeding, spraying for bugs and fertilizing, along with the daily harvest. The situation is compounded in the Seasons, because certain plants do not grow in all seasons, and when they do, they produce considerably less during the growing season. Because of the seasonal limitations, there is less time available to get certain plants necessary to graft and grow new plant species. There are times where I have gone an entire year without getting that valuable orchid, or pomegranate from the spliced plants.
If gardening is your passion, the best season to start the game for a new Sim family is Fall. Fall has the most plants available for harvest, and this is also the season for the holiday, Fall's Harvestfest. Harvestfest brings three new gnomes to the household, for the day, to pop around depositing seasonal seed packets. One type of seed is granted per packet. Your Sim can still plant all the seeds in Fall, but may not be able to plant them, once Winter settles in. The ground appears frozen in the Winter, even for winter plants.
Vegetables, Flowers & Herbs All Year
The best way to ensure that your Sims' plants will keep producing all year is to build a Glass Roof over a large section of the Sim Property. You can build a greenhouse with walls, windows and doors, but that is not necessary. A roof over some pillars/columns will accomplish the same thing. Another way to do this is to have a large roof overhang from the house. The Roof option is free so size is not an expense problem for new start-ups. Plus, if you don't add walls, you won't have a floor to contend with. Your Sim can still plant in the ground, Spring, Summer and Fall. If you want to plant in the Winter, you may need to start with a planter box until Spring rolls around. It depends.
Below is a list of plants, by season, that can be freely collected (or caught by fishing) from surrounding neighborhoods. # = All Season plants. (U) = Uncommon plants. * = Fishing rewards that can be caught any season at select fishing locations.
| Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon # Sage # Apple Basil Carrot Chrysanthemum Grape Mushroom Snapdragon Onion (U) Pear (U) Rose (U) | Lemon # Sage # Onion (U) Pear (U) Potato (U) | Lemon # Sage # Bluebell Carrot Daisy Mushroom Parsley
Snapdragon
Strawberry (U)Tulip (U) | Lemon # Sage # Basil Bluebell Chrysanthemum Parsley Blackberry (U) Cherry (U) Lily (U) Tomato (U) | *Apple *Daisy *Lemon # *Snapdragon *Pear (U) *Rose (U) *Strawberry (U) *Cowplant *Dragon Fruit *Pomegranate |
Foraging for Plants
Each neighborhood will have a variety of five or six (or more) plants that can be foraged by walking around the neighborhood after being there for a day. If your Sim does not live in the neighborhood, it helps to have them spend the night for at least eight hours, sleeping on the couch, or even a park bench will do the trick. The plants are typically ready to fully harvest by 6 a.m. (Sim time) during the season the plant grows. It should be noted that most plant locations vary from one game to the next, so it is impossible to describe exactly where to find all the plants, with the exception of Community Gardens, and a select few plants that always grow in the same locations.
When traveling to a neighborhood, the first visit will take about one Sim hour for the plants to start germinating sprouts. Regardless of the season, they will all start to sprout during that first visit. However, the plants that are not in season will eventually vanish leaving only a lump of soil to represent that plant, until the correct season allows the plant to sprout again. It should also be noted that, on occasion, a wild plant will be removed by one of the neighbors, even when it is in season. Then your Sim will need to come back on the next day, or two, in order to harvest that plant.
Community Gardens
As mentioned earlier, there are several Community Gardens in the base game in select neighborhoods. All of these have trees that are already close to mature. Since some plants take longer to grow than others, it might take several trips to the garden and spending a lot of time there to get a cutting. Cherry starts and Pear starts, for example take several days and trips unless your Sim lives in the neighborhood. Once the plant is full size, if you would rather harvest the plant, you might consider camping out on a neighbor's sofa, or a park bench, to get that first seasonal harvest so that you can plant the produce back home.
1) Behind BFF's House - Willow Creek
There's a small community garden with Apples, Strawberries, Potatoes, Chrysanthemums, Bluebells, and Snapdragons. Four planter boxes. Near and around the neighborhood, wild mushrooms can also be found along with a few wild versions of some of the seasonal flowers.
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2) Behind Umbrage Manor - Willow Creek
A rather large community garden with Apples, Pears, Bluebells, Snapdragons, Roses, Lilies, and Strawberries or near the garden. Seven planter boxes loaded with plants. Some of these plants can also found around the paths of the neighborhood along with some wild mushrooms in the Spring and Fall.
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3) Next to Agave Adobe and Across the Street from Zest - Oasis Springs
Another small community garden with Lemons, Carrots, Sage, Tomatoes, Chrysanthemums and Daises. Three planter boxes. Down the path, next to the river fishing spot, there will be a wild onion plant in the Fall and Winter seasons, and wild strawberries in the Spring.
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Other wild plant locations for the base game are as follows:
Newcrest
Basil, Strawberries, Snapdragons, Mushrooms, Bluebells & Lilies - near Tranquil Crescent Lot
Strawberries, Onions, Mushrooms & Roses - near Midtown Meadows Lot
Strawberries, Lilies, Snapdragons & Apples - near Optimists Outlook Lot
Oasis Springs
Lemons, Daisies, Sage, Carrots & Chrysanthemums - near Commercial/Businesses
Blackberries, Sage, Lemons, Carrots, Daisies & Chrysanthemums - in/near Desert Bloom Park
Cherries, Tulips, Daisies, Carrots, Lemons & Sage - near Landgraab/Affluista Mansion
Cherries, Onions, Carrots, Sage, Strawberries & Chrysanthemums - near Dusty Turf Lot
Blackberries, Cherries, Tulips, Onions & Lemons - near Arid Ridge Lot
Willow Creek
Pears, Lilies, Onions, Snapdragons, Bluebells, & Strawberries - near Commercial/Businesses
Pears, Lilies, Apples, Snapdragons & Strawberries - in/near Magnolia Blossom ParkRoses, Onions, Mushrooms, Snapdragons & Strawberries - near Potters Splay Lot
Pears, Basil, Onions, Lilies, Apples, Snapdragons & Strawberries - near Oakenstead Home
Hidden Locations
Sylvan Glade - Willow Creek, has many of the same plants and they can only be harvested in season.
Forgotten Grotto - Oasis Springs, has a few plants and they can only be harvested in season.
Seed Packets
Some general seed packets can be purchased that will contain a few plants (not really seeds). The Starters options are Flowers, Fruits, Herbs and Vegetables. These packets will contain one or two common plants that grow quickly. These Starter seed packets are the same whether you have Seasons, or only the base game.
In Seasons, more Season seed options become available at Gardening Skill Levels 4 and 5. Each Seasonal packet will only contain one type of plant and they are not cheap. You can obtain the majority of the plants in the local neighborhoods, with the exception of a few new Season Plants, such as Green Peas, Bell Peppers, Crocus, Christmas Rose, Holly, Begonia, Snowdrop, etc. Based on what I has seen to this point, grafting of these Seasons plants will not create new plant species. However, if you splice a winter with a summer, or generally, two different seasons, you can cut back on the number of plants in your garden and still get annual produce year round. (You will get these free during Fall Harvestfest in Seasons. The seeds in these Seasonal Packets are Common and Uncommon plants.)
Back to the base game options, more seed packets become available at the Gardening Skill Level 7. The Farmer Plant options are Flowers & Fruit or Vegetables & Herbs. Although these packets cost the same as the Seasons, there are more plant varieties per packet. There will be four to six different plants in each packet and if you have Seasons, the Farmer packets may also include some Season Varieties. These seeds (plants) will typically be common.
The other seed packet available at skill level 7 is the Uncommon Plants. These are even more expensive, and you will only receive one type of plant per packet. These will be the plants, like, Tulips, Blackberries, Pears, Tomatoes, Potatoes, etc.
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| Patchy |
The Rare Plant Seed Packets are available to Sims that have reached Gardening Skill Level 10. These are the most expensive of all. Most of the Rare Plants are the species that result from grafting/spicing together specific plants. These are the Dragonberries, the Cowplant Berries, Orchids, Bird of Paradise, etc. The Rare Plant packets may also include some strange seeds/plants like Magic Beans and GrowFruit.
If you have Seasons, you can get the rare plants from Patchy the Strawman, once per day per Sim. Children and Teens can also gather rare seeds from Patchy's pocket.
If you have Seasons, you can get the rare plants from Patchy the Strawman, once per day per Sim. Children and Teens can also gather rare seeds from Patchy's pocket.
There is only one rare plant available in Seasons that cannot be purchased with Simoleans. It is the Money Tree that is an Aspiration Reward. The Money Tree is currently 5,000 points in the Aspiration Reward Store. It is not seasonal, and will provide plenty of money for any Sim Family to vacation and buy a lot of luxury items.
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