Game Help:Sims 3 Skills/Gardening

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

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.

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
	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 reduce the time to next age by 1 day. Life fruit will not de-age your sim. For more information, see: Game Help: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: Game Help: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.
	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	Burger 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: Game Help:Omni Plant

* 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.

Value	Days	Fertilizer Item
25	6	Lifefruit
25	4	Angelfish
25	3	Vampire fish
20	4	Shark
20	3	Lobster
15	6	Garlic
15	4	Steak, Bell Pepper, Flame Fruit, Blowfish, Piranha, Red Herring, Siamese catfish, Tragic Clownfish
12	3	Black Goldfish, Salmon, Swordfish
10	5	Watermelon
10	4	Jellyfish, Minnow
10	3	Tuna
8	3	Rainbow Trout
5	6	Lime, Onion
5	5	Potato
5	4	Burger Patty, Cheese, Egg, Apple, Lettuce, Tomato
5	3	Grapes, Alley Catfish, Anchovy, Goldfish
-200	4	Deathfish

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 every type of plant available. 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.