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Gardening is a staple of simulation games, andThe Sims 2is no exception. You can grow your own harvest of tasty cucumbers, strawberries, and more to freshen up your fridge or as a green money-making scheme thanks to Build Mode’s packed garden centre.
The gardening mechanic also gives an interesting insight into the game’s talent badge and hobbies systems, making it a great way of getting to grips with a lot of what the game has to offer. Learn while you earn by building a bumper orangery, apple orchard, or the tiny greenhouse of your dreams.
How To Build A Garden
You’llneed dirt patches and/or fruit treesto start growing your own fruits and vegetables.Enter Build Mode and select the watering canicon to go into the Garden Centre. Then,click the plant poton the right.
Everything you need is on this menu.Select the dirt tool and drag it across the areayou wish to plant your garden on. This tool functions largely the same as other flooring tools. You’ll be able to interact with this in Live Mode to buy plants.
If you wantto grow fruit trees, you’ll need to buy them separatelyin Build Mode’s garden centre, rather than directly from the dirt plot. You can get three different kinds of fruit trees in the same section: apples, oranges, and lemons.
Some optional items that canmake your life easierwhile growing a garden include:
Spending time maintaining your garden also increases yourSim’s enthusiasm for the Nature hobby.
How To Build A Greenhouse
You canshelter your garden patch by building a greenhouse. This works similarly tobuilding a house, but instead of the normal wall tool, you have to select one of the three colours ofgreenhouse wall that are in Build Mode’s garden centre.
Select the greenhouse wallitem anddrag it across the areawhere you want to construct a wall. It functions the same as the regular wall tool.Rinse and repeatuntil you have a fully enclosed area that is ideally rectangular or square.
You’ll still need to spread a dirt plot inside the greenhouse too.
Next, you’ll need toadd a greenhouse door. There are three of these to match the wall colours.Place it on a greenhouse walllike you would a normal door or window. Finally,select the corresponding roof toolfrom the same section anddrag it across the top of the wallsto finish constructing your greenhouse.
While The Sims 2 wasn’t the first game to introduce gardening, it was the first to introduce fully functional greenhouses.
How To Plant Crops
Select the dirt patchyou built, and you will see the option toplant tomatoes. At first, this is the only thing you’ll be able to grow, but your options will expand with time and a little effort.Your Sim will pay for the seedsand the plant will start to grow.
If you place any fruit trees, they will automatically start growing fruit. They can grow apples, oranges, or lemons, depending on which one you choose.
How To Unlock New Plants
The Sims 2 relies onthe talent badge systemfrom Open For Business instead of a gardening skill system, which wasn’t introduced until The Sims 3. However, the talent badge system operates in largely the same way:the longer you spend gardening, the betteryou get.
you may only grow fruits, berries, and legumes. There aren’t any vegetables or herbs.
As yourSims get their badges, they’ll unlock new crops, as well as having everything from the previous levels available:
The best way to perfect gardening in the least amount of time is by playing with a PlantSim. This is because PlantSims automatically have a gold talent badge in gardening.
How Much Do Crops Sell For?
Once your harvestables have grown, you cansell them by clicking the plant and using the Sell Produce interaction. Crops of the highest quality sell for:
132
170
204
Bean poles
216
306
Eggplants
400
Watch out, as harvestablesdecrease in value if they’re lower quality. The higher the harvest quality, the more Simoleons you’ll make from selling them.
How To Sell Fruit For More Money
You can alsorun your own grocery storeand sell your fresh produce using the Open For Business community lot mechanics. Eitheropen a home business or buy a community lot, a DecraChill Display by Refrigifreeze, and a cash register, and you’re good to go.
With theDecraChill Display by Refrigifreezeplaced in your business,select it and stock itwith your freshly harvested goods. From there, you may choose toprice up your produceto make more money from it.
This method takes longer than selling the crops directly, and there are much higher overheads for getting set up, but you can make much more money from it in the long run.
Tips For Growing A Good Garden
Now that you know the basics of growing your own food, you can focus on perfecting it. This way, you cangrow more efficientlywith seasonal change in mind andstart growing the best quality harvestablespossible.
Pay Attention To Your Plant’s Harvest Quality
You might have noticed that your crops have a Harvest Quality attached to them. Thisreflects how much love and carethe plants have received while growing. Harvest quality ismeasured on a three-point scale, from worst to best:
If your plant says it is thriving, then you’re well on your way to harvesting some high-quality fruit.
To get the best quality crops you can,verify your plants are well watered, tended to, and get plenty of sunlight, whether it’s in a greenhouse or outdoors. You canwater them manually, get help from a gardener or servo, or buy sprinklers.
Alreadygot a gold gardening talent badgefor your Sim? That means you’ve unlocked some new interactions. Selecting your plants will reveal thenew Talk To interaction, which will help your plants thrive in no time.
Fertilise Plants Frequently
You should alsofertilise your plants regularly. You don’t have to do this to keep your plants alive, but it’s the easiest way of improving them. You canbuy fertiliser for 10 Simoleonsby clicking on the garden plot directly andusing Fertilise. Or, you canmake your own with a compost bin.
You can buy the Composting Apparatus by Apparati Aplenty bin from Build Mode’s garden centre, along with the other gardening gear.
If you’redone with the plants you havein your dirt patch, you canuse the Compost interactionto add them to your compost bin. This willgive you more to fertilise your gardenwith.
Join The Garden Club
When you started up your new household, you probably had a visit from the local gardening club. You canjoin them at any timeto getdiscounted prices on seeds and fertiliser.
The catch is,you have to have a nice, well-maintained gardenalready to be admitted into the club.Invite a member of the clubto your lot andask for an invitation to join. They’llstart inspecting your garden, and if they think it’s up to scratch, you’ll be a new member.
6
9
14
15
Fertiliser
7
There are a number of townies who are members of the garden club. Your Sim probably already knows one from when they invited themselves around when you first moved in. Try looking out for Tiffany Zarubin or Armando Cox.
Plant With The Seasons
Plants go dormant andwon’t grow during the winterunless they’re covered up in a greenhouse.Wait to sow your seeds in spring, and be ready to harvest well throughout the year until the elements get too tough for them.
There’s no way of stopping fruit trees from going dormant because they won’t fit properly in greenhouses.
Take Care Of Other Plants
Unlike in later iterations of The Sims,shrubs and flowers planted around your Sim’s garden also need to be taken care of. you may do this by watering, weeding, and tending to them.
Keep an eye out for weedsand overgrown, leafy-looking shrubs in your flower beds and be ready towater anything you plant. Flowers that are in desperate need of a drink will look wilted and brown.
Interacting with plants around your property opens up every interaction you need to keep your garden looking neat and tidy. you’re able to alsohire a gardener over the phoneor craft a servo to do the work for you.
You don’t have to do anything to tend to trees, so if you want a low-maintenance garden, lean towards getting them instead. Maybe a few classic pink lawn flamingos, too. But don’t let the garden club see that!
