How To Improve Gardening Skill Sims 3

*Gardening*
Icon:
Type:	Physical
Age Range:	Teen+
Species:	Human
Expansion:	Base Game

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A major element in The Sims 3 (base game) is the ability to plant and grow a variety of produce items with various effects.

It is also a skill career, so your sims can register as a Self-Employed gardeners, earning special rewards for selling their work.

1 Skill Levels
2 Plants & Produce
- 2.1 Edible Plants
- 2.2 Mushrooms & Fungus
  - 2.2.1 Mushroom Related Challenges
- 2.3 Inedible Plants
3 Quality
- 3.1 Degrees of Quality
- 3.2 Perfect Produce
4 Fertilizer
5 Helpful Tips
6 Challenges
7 Related Pages

Skill Levels

There are 10 skill levels your sims can have in Gardening. Most levels have their own abilities and perks which are unlocked as your sim gains skill.

Level	Abilities
0	Can plant Common seeds and water plants
1	Lettuce, apple, grape, and tomato seeds added to inventory
2	Can weed plants
3	Can plant Fertilize plants
4
5	Can plant Uncommon seeds
6	Can Revive plants (with Green Thumb trait)
7	Can plant Rare and Special seeds
8	Can plant Cheese and Eggplant (with Skill Opportunity)
9	Can plant Burger Patty and Steak plants (with Skill Opportunity)
10	Can plant Omni Plant seeds (with Skill Opportunity)

Plants & Produce

These are all the plants available in The Sims 3 as well as what produce they bear, and details about them.

Edible Plants

These are the edible plants available in the game. They can be purchased either from the store or found as seeds in the various worlds.

Icon	Plant	Produce	Skill	Rarity	Value	Experience**	Weed Chance	Max Produce***	Produce Per Harvest	Additional Info
	Apple Tree	Apple	0	Common	4	175/125	10%	40	3-5	Apples eaten during pregnancy increase the chance of having boys.
	Grapevine	Grapes	0	Common	4	175/125	20%	15	2-4
	Lettuce Plant	Lettuce	0	Common	3	175/125	20%	15	1-3
	Tomato Plant	Tomato	0	Common	3	175/125	20%	20	2-4
	Lime Tree	Lime	5	Uncommon	9	225/175	25%	40	3-5
	Onion Plant	Onion	5	Uncommon	7	225/175	5%	25	1-3
	Potato Vine	Potato	5	Uncommon	7	225/175	5%	15	1-3
	Pumpkin Vine	Pumpkin
	Watermelon Vine	Watermelon	5	Uncommon	9	225/175	25%	10	1-2	Watermelon eaten during pregnancy increases the chance of having girls.
	Bell Pepper Plant	Bell Pepper	7	Rare	12	325/250	20%	15	2-4
	Garlic Plant	Garlic	7	Rare	15		10%	30	3-5
	Life Plant	Life Fruit	7	Special	25	375/300	25%	12	1-3	Life fruits increase the time to next age by 1 day. Life fruit will not de-age your sim. For more information, see: Life Fruit
	Death Flower Plant	Death Flower	7	Special	0	375/300	2.5%	2	1	If a death flower is in a sim's inventory when they die, the Grim Reaper will take the flower instead of the sim. Death flower bushes flower just once before dying. A sim with the Green Thumb trait has a chance of reviving the plant to bear one more flower before it goes barren. For more information, see: Death Flower.
	Flame Fruit Bush	Flame Fruit	7	Special	18	375/300	25%	12	1-3	Provides a +5 "Cozy Fire" moodlet when in a sim's inventory. For more information, see: Flame Fruit.
	Money Tree	Money Bag	7	Special	100-200/bag	375/300	25%	10000	2-5	Produces money bags instead of produce. Unlike other produce, money bags cannot be planted as if they were seeds. Instead, if an empty square is next to it when it reaches Perfect quality, it will drop a Normal quality seed.
	Cheese Plant	Cheese	8	Special	5	150/100	25%	15	2-5	The ability to plant cheeses is given as part of a Skill Opportunity from the Bistro.
	Eggplant	Egg	8	Special	7	150/100	25%	15	2-5	The ability to plant eggs is given as part of a Skill Opportunity from the Bistro.
	Burger Patty Plant	Patty	9	Special	16	150/100	25%	15	2-5	The ability to plant burger patties is given as part of a Skill Opportunity from the Bistro. You must complete the cheese/eggplant opportunity first.
	Steak Plant	Steak	9	Special	20	150/100	25%	15	2-5	The ability to plant steaks is given as part of a Skill Opportunity from the Bistro. You must complete the cheese/eggplant opportunity first.
	Omni Plant	Whatever it has been fed	10	Special	Varies	400/300	15%	25	2-5	The ability to order Omni Plant seeds is given as part of a Skill Opportunity from the Bistro. You must complete the burger patty/steak opportunity first. Plantable only via seeds which can be purchased through the mail. Requires feeding to create produce, and will grow whatever it's fed. For more information, see: Omni Plant.
	Avornalino Grapevine	Avornalino Grapes	0	Common	4	175/125	10%	30	2-4	Can be purchased in Champs Les Sims with 20 ancient coins at Visa level 1.
	Gralladina Fran Grapevine	Gralladina Fran Grapes	0	Common	4	175/500	10%	30	2-4	Can be purchased in Champs Les Sims with 40 ancient coins at Visa level 3.
	Cherimola Blan Grapevine	Cherimola Blan Grapes	5	Uncommon	7	225/500	10%	30	2-3	Exclusive to France, these grapes can be harvested at the Champs Les Sims Nectary.
	Cranerlet Nuala Grapevine	Cranerlet Nuala Grapes	5	Uncommon	8	225-500	20%	30	2-3	Can be purchased in Champs Les Sims with 50 ancient coins at Visa level 3.
	Meloire Grapevine	Meloire Grapes	7	Rare	10	325/500	20%	30	2	Can be purchased in Champs Les Sims with 25 ancient coins at Visa level 2.
	Renoit Grapevine	Renoit Grapes	7	Rare	13	325/500	30%	30	2	Exclusive to France, these grapes can be harvested at the Champs Les Sims Nectary.
	Pomegranate Tree	Pomegranate	5	Uncommon	8	225/500	10%	50	2-3	Exclusive to Egypt and France, these grapes can be harvested at The Garden House in Champs Les Sims or purchased from the market in Al Simhara.
	Plum Tree	Plum	5	Uncommon	7	225/500	10%	50	2-3	Exclusive to China, these grapes can be harvested in Shang Simla.
	Pomelo Tree	Pomelo	7	Rare	15	500/500	20%	50	2	Exclusive to China, these grapes can be harvested in Shang Simla.
	Cherry Tree	Cherries	7	Rare	12	500/500	20%	50	2-5	Exclusive to China and Egypt, these grapes can be harvested in Shang Simla and Al Simhara.
	Plasma Fruit Bush	Plasma Fruit	7	Special	20	375/300	2.5%	2	1	Plasma Fruit are unique in that they improve a vampire's thirst motive. They also make non-vampires ill. For more information, see: Flame Fruit.
	Carrot Plant	Carrot	5	Uncommon	7	225/172	5%	20	1-3	Horses will get a "Mmm...Carrots!" moodlet from eating it.
	Banana Tree	Banana	7	Rare	7	500/500	20%	50	2-5
	Ghost Chili Bush	Ghost Chili	7	Rare	22	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Ghost Chili are extremely spicy and have a special effect on Sims that eat them. For more information, see: Ghost Chili
File:KonaBean.png	Kona Bean Plant	Kona Bean	0	Common	9	175/125	20%	20	2-4	Grants Coffee Breath and Kona Lift moodlets.
File:BlackBean.png	Midnight Bean Plant	Midnight Bean	0	Common	12	175/125	20%	20	2-4	Grants Coffee Breath and Midnight Buzz moodlets.
File:ElderSwan.png	Cortado Bean Plant	Cortado Bean	5	Uncommon	22	175/125	20%	20	2-4	Grants Coffee Breath and Cortado Buzz moodlets.
File:ExpensiveBerry.png	Red Berry Bean Plant	Red Berry Bean	5	Uncommon	50	175/125	20%	20	2-4	Grants Coffee Breath and Red Rocket Buzz moodlets.
File:MauiBean.png	Maui Bean Plant	Maui Bean	0	Common	11	175/125	20%	20	2-4	Grants Coffee Breath and Maui Slappucino moodlets.
File:Basil.png	Basil	Basil	0	Common	15	175/125	20%	15	2-4	Increases career performance and promotion chance.
File:Ginseng.png	Ginseng	Ginseng	0	Common	13	175/125	20%	15	2-4
File:Cinnamon.png	Cinnamon	Cinnamon	0	Common	16	325/250	20%	15	2-4
File:Lavender.png	Lavender	Lavender	0	Common	17	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Increases Energy gain while sleeping.
File:Peppermint.png	Peppermint	Peppermint	0	Common	12	175/125	20%	15	2-4
File:SweetGrass.png	Sweet Grass	Sweet Grass	0	Common	9	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Cures nausea.
File:Buzzberry.png	Buzzberry	Buzzberry	5	Uncommon	18	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Makes Sims gain Athletic skill faster.
File:Licorice.png	Licorice	Licorice	5	Uncommon	18	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Slows down hunger decay.
File:Greenleaf.png	Greenleaf	Greenleaf	5	Uncommon	19	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Makes weight loss easier.
File:Wonderpetal.png	Wonderpetal	Wonderpetal	5	Uncommon	12	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Increases study rate.
File:Bumbleleaf.png	Bumbleleaf	Bumbleleaf	7	Rare	26	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Improves a Sim's fire resistance.
File:Chamomile.png	Chamomile	Chamomile	7	Rare	29	325/250	20%	15	2-4	Makes Sims gain influence on any social group faster.
File:ForbiddenFruit.png	Forbidden Fruit Tree	Forbidden Fruit	10	Special	0	325/250	20%	1	1	Can turn a Sim into a Plant Sim if eaten.

Mushrooms & Fungus

The Supernatural expansion pack added a new type of edible plant that functions just like the previously released plants, with a slightly different growth cycle. For all of you who love mushrooms, now your Sims can grow their own.

Mushroom	Skill	Rarity	Value	Experience**	Weed Chance	Max Produce***	Produce Per Harvest	Additional Info
White Caps	0	Common	5	175/125	25%	30	1-3
Porcinis	0	Common	10	175/125	25%	30	1-3
Red Toadstool	0	Common	20	175/125	25%	30	1-3
Mycenas	5	Uncommon	33	225/175	25%	15	1-3
Spotlight Mushroom	5	Uncommon	38	225/175	25%	15	1-3	Spotlight Mushrooms glow very brightly and they are often visible from a distance, and even from map view.
Truffles	7	Rare	42	325/500	25%	30	1-3
Glow Orbs	7	Rare	64	325/500	25%	30	1-3

Challenge	Description
Mushroom Collector	Find 7 unique mushrooms, and the quality of mushrooms grown will increase.

Inedible Plants

These plants can be grown like the ones above but are not edible. They are used as ingredients for the Alchemy skill.

Plant	Produce	Rarity	Value	Experience**	Weed Chance	Max Produce***	Produce Per Harvest
Red Valerian	Red Valerian Root	Common	6	175/125	20%	20	2-4
Mandrake	Mandrake Root	Common	6	175/125	20%	20	2-4
Wolfsbane	Wolfsbane Flower	Common	13	175/125	20%	20	2-4

* Value: Numbers given above are the base values for Normal quality produce. For higher quality produce, multipliers are as follows:

Normal: 100%
Nice: 110%
Very Nice: 150%
Great: 200%
Excellent: 250%
Outstanding: 300%
Perfect: 400%

Produce sold to the grocery store sells for 10% higher than selling it through your inventory.

** Experience: Numbers given are [experience for planting/experience for harvesting].

*** Max Produce: This is the maximum amount of produce that a plant will bear before it is barren.

Quality

Each plant (and its produce) has varying levels of quality.

Degrees of Quality

These are listed in order of worst quality to best quality.

Horrifying
Putrid
Foul
Bad
Normal
Nice
Very Nice
Great
Excellent
Outstanding
Perfect

The quality of the plants that your sims plant will determine the quality of the food (harvestable) that it produces. A Very Nice Apple Tree will produce Very Nice Apples.

If your sim has purchased the "Super Green Thumb" Lifetime Reward, whatever your sim plants will have one level of quality higher than the seed or fruit they planted.

Perfect Produce

Always plant the highest quality seeds or produce that you have available. Care well for your plants to ensure a higher quality harvest. Once you've harvested the produce, dispose of the harvested plant, and replant with the higher-quality seeds/produce from the harvest. Repeat until you have perfect plants (and thus perfect produce).

Fertilizer

Plants can be fertilized to speed their growth. Fertilizer has no effect on harvestable quality.

Fertilizer value below means how much it speeds the growth. This is likely not a multiplier - exact details still need to be sorted out. Days is the number of days the fertilizer is good for.

In addition to using various plants for fertilizer the Pets expansion pack added two new types of fertilizer: Horse Fertilizer and Unicorn Fertilizer. These fertilizers are obtained from cleaning the horse box out when either a Horse or Unicorn have used it to satisfy their bladder motive.

Value	Days	Fertilizer Item
25	6	Lifefruit
25	4	Angelfish, Sea Sludge (LN)
25	3	Vampire Fish, Mummy Fish (WA), Dragon Fish (WA)
20	4	Shark, Plasma Fruit (LN)
20	3	Lobster
15	6	Garlic
15	4	Steak, Bell Pepper, Flame Fruit, Blowfish, Piranha, Red Herring, Siamese catfish, Tragic Clownfish, Cherries (WA)
15	3	Meloire Grapes (WA), Renoit Grapes (WA), Sewer Trilobite (LN), Unicorn Fertilizer** (Pets)
12	3	Black Goldfish, Salmon, Swordfish
12	5	Pomelo (WA)
10	5	Watermelon
10	4	Jellyfish, Minnow
10	3	Tuna, Cherimola Blan Grapes (WA), Cranerlet Nuala Grapes (WA), Horse Fertilizer (Pets)
8	3	Rainbow Trout, Plum (WA)
7	3	Pomegranate (WA)
5	6	Lime, Onion
5	5	Potato
5	4	Burger Patty, Cheese, Egg, Apple, Lettuce, Tomato
5	3	Grapes, Alley Catfish, Anchovy, Goldfish, Avornalino Grapes (WA), Gralladina Fran Grapes (WA), Crocodile (WA), Crawfish (WA), Frog (WA), Snails (WA), Tancho Koi (WA), Ochiba Koi (WA), Kawarimono Koi (WA), Doitsu Koi (WA), Kissing Gourami (LN)
-200	4	Deathfish

**Be advised people have reported using Unicorn Fertilizer on your plants can cause the plant to transform into a life fruit plant. Can anyone confirm this?

Fertilizer value also has a multiplier, based on the above numbers. So a Perfect quality Life Fruit would give a fertilizer value of 50 (25 base value x 2.0 perfect quality multiplier).

Quality	Multiplier
Horrifying	0.6
Putrid	0.7
Foul	0.8
Bad	0.9
Normal	1.0
Nice	1.1
Very Nice	1.2
Great	1.4
Excellent	1.6
Outstanding	1.8
Perfect	2

Helpful Tips

Good mood for gardeners: Upgrade your home stereo to reroute the speakers through the entire house. This lets your sims hear music no matter where they are on the lot, even when gardening. They'll get a +30 moodlet if it's playing their favorite style of music. You can also put a Flame Fruit in their inventory for an additional +5 moodlet.

Watering plants: Available in the Appliances section in Buy Mode, the "Schprinkler" can water a 5x5 plot of plants, eliminating the need to do so yourself. You can turn it on and off at a distance, and the sprinkler can be upgraded to water automatically.

Dead vs. Barren: The Green Thumb trait will allow sims to revive Dead plants. You have to seriously neglect plants before they die, so this is of limited usefulness except in the case of the Death Flower Plant, which can be revived to bear one more flower. Barren plants, though they look the same as dead plants, cannot be revived and can only be disposed or deleted.

Talk to Plant: The Talk to Plant interaction that you get for having the Green Thumb trait does not do anything for plant or produce quality and only raises the sim's social value. This makes it useful if you have a single sim gardening all the time with suffering social.

Master Farmer: Sims who have completed the Master Farmer Skill Challenge (harvested at least 650 produce items) will have any fertilizer they use last 2 days longer than normal.

Challenges

There are three different challenges for the gardening skill.

Challenge	Description
Master Planter	A Master Planter must plant 19 types of plant that can be planted in the game. Once you have mastered the varieties, you can reduce weed growth significantly on future plants.
Botanical Boss	Botanical Bosses must harvest at least 75 perfect fruits and vegetables. The plants of Botanical Bosses almost never die from neglect.
Master Farmer	Master Farmers have harvested at least 650 fruits and vegetables. The plants of Master Farmers remain watered and fertilized longer, meaning their gardens are more efficient.

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Life Fruit
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