To garden in The Sims 3, put seeds or store-bought produce in your Sim’s inventory, click one and choose Plant (or Plant Many), place the mound on open ground on your home lot, then keep it watered, weeded and harvested with Tend Garden. Gardening is a base-game skill for teens and older, and it earns money, feeds your Sims and supplies ingredients for other skills. Below we cover where to get seeds, the planting routine, what each skill level unlocks, the fastest ways to level up, and what the expansion packs change.
Where to Get Seeds
- The grocery store. Player guides note that the fruit and vegetables sold at the supermarket can be planted, so a Sim can shop for their first garden rather than hunt for seed packets.
- The ground. Seeds spawn around town, especially in parks. Click one to pick it up. Some are marked unknown and grow into something random when planted.
- Wild plants. Harvesting a wild plant around town gives you produce you can replant at home.
- Opportunities and fishing. The rarest seeds, such as the money tree, come from skill opportunities, fishing and other rewards, per the community wiki.
Planting and Tending
- Open the Sim’s inventory, click a seed or piece of produce and choose Plant. If you have several, Plant Many lets you place a row at once.
- Place the dirt mound on outdoor ground on the home lot, the same way you place an object. Plants need open ground, not flooring.
- The Sim digs in and plants it. The mound grows through several stages over the following days.
- Click a plant and choose Tend Garden. The Sim works through the lot, watering, weeding and harvesting whatever needs it. You can also pick Water, Weed and Harvest on individual plants.
- Once a plant has produce, harvested items land in the Sim’s inventory. From there they can be eaten, cooked, replanted, used as fertilizer or sold.
A sprinkler from Buy Mode waters every plant in a 5×5 area. The community wiki notes it can be upgraded with Handiness to water automatically in the early morning, which saves a lot of tending.
What Each Skill Level Unlocks
The community wiki lists these Gardening abilities:
| Level | Ability |
|---|---|
| 0 | Plant common seeds |
| 2 | Weed the garden |
| 3 | Fertilize the garden |
| 5 | Plant uncommon seeds |
| 6 | Revive plants (with the Green Thumb trait) |
| 7 | Plant rare and special seeds |
| 8 to 10 | Cheese, egg, steak, burger patty and Omni Plant seeds, each unlocked through skill opportunities |
Common plants include tomatoes, lettuce, apples and grapes; watermelons, onions and potatoes are uncommon. Watermelons and apples matter for pregnant Sims too, which is covered in our guides to having a boy and having a girl. Quality runs from horrifying up to perfect, and better plants yield better produce.
Three skill challenges reward long-term gardeners, per the community wiki: Master Planter (plant many different species, then weeds grow much less), Botanical Boss (harvest 75 perfect items, then plants almost never die from neglect) and Master Farmer (harvest 650 items, then water and fertilizer last longer).
Leveling Gardening Faster
- Green Thumb trait: boosts gardening and improves the quality of what a Sim plants and harvests.
- Skill books: Gardening books from the bookstore teach the skill without a garden.
- Classes: player guides say a Gardening class at the science facility raises the skill by close to a full level for a fee.
- Super Green Thumb: a lifetime reward that, per the community wiki, makes plants grow one quality level above the seed they came from, and harvests one level above the plant.
- Plant, tend and harvest every day: skill gain comes from doing the work, so a large garden levels faster than a small one.
If you want a Sim to max everything instantly, our Sims 3 skill cheat guide explains what does and does not work.
Selling Produce and What Expansions Change
Sell harvests from the inventory, or at the supermarket, where the community wiki says produce is worth about 10% more. Gardening can also become a job:
- Ambitions: register as a self-employed Gardener at City Hall and sell at the consignment store. Our Gardener career guide covers it.
- Seasons: outdoor plants go dormant around winter and cannot be tended until spring. Plants indoors stay active.
- Supernatural: adds mushrooms for alchemy and planter bowls for indoor gardens. Player reports describe a known bug in this pack where plants can get stuck in their harvestable state for Sims with a collecting history.
- University Life: a higher Science skill boosts harvest size and produce quality.
- Pets: horse stalls produce fertilizer.
- Into the Future: soil rugs allow indoor planting.
Our Alchemy career guide shows where Supernatural ingredients fit in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can my Sim not plant a seed? Either the Sim’s Gardening skill is too low for that seed’s rarity, or the spot is not open outdoor ground on the home lot. Uncommon seeds need level 5 and rare ones level 7, per the community wiki.
Can children garden in The Sims 3? Not with the main skill. Only teens and older can tend gardens, although the community wiki notes that Generations gives children a hidden gardening skill.
Does fertilizer improve quality? No. The community wiki says fertilizer only speeds growth; quality comes from the seed, the gardener and their traits.
Can I garden indoors? Yes, with Supernatural planter bowls or Into the Future soil rugs. Per the community wiki, indoor plants also stay active through a Seasons winter.
What is the most valuable plant? The money tree, which grows money bags, is the standout, but its seed only comes from special sources. More Sims 3 guides are on the Sims hub.