We can’t fault The Sims in any way. This game has been making strides since the original Sims. Every version has been bigger and better than the last. There are so many ways to live your imaginary life including careers, amazing skills, and beautiful towns to explore.

Normally even the most veteran of players can't do it all before the next Sims comes out. One of the more popular career paths, believe it or not, is the gardening career. Yea, apparently planting stuff is way more fun when you don’t actually have to leave your house. Dirt may not be everyone's thing, but being a good gardener takes skill and few secrets. So, naturally, we have some of those gardening secrets.

10 10. Get As Many Expansion Packs As Possible

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The more expansion packs the better. EA is so detailed that they can’t even name all the cool things about every expansion pack. We would end up with a laundry list of things that no one has the attention span for, were we able to list it all. But think about it, almost every trait, career, and personality gets a little something new. New plants and produce are snuck into every expansion packs. So the more you buy, the more options you have at upping your garden game. It’s exciting to find out what your Sim will come up with next.

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9 9. Use Traits To Your Advantage

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Picking traits are one of the best parts about playing Sims. Starting with the original Sims, it was always exciting to see how those traits play out on your uniquely created Sim. Now, it’s even more advanced – you can change traits depending on what you want to do. So if you know you want to tackle the gardening skill, use as many traits as you can to your advantage.

Some of the traits we recommend include; “love the outdoors,” for obvious reasons, and “genius” because you learn faster and stay focused for longer. One of the more obvious traits is “green thumb.” “Angler” is great as well because the better your fish quality, the better your fertilizer.

8 8. Take It Easy On The Cutting

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Level five is a pretty important level in your gardening progress because you get to use the cutting ability. Cutting is simply that: cutting or trimming your plants to make them look beautiful. However, there is a trick to cutting.

Sometimes the option to cut a plant is whether it needs to be cut or not. This is kind of tricky on the Sims creator's part because if you cut your plant too much, it'll die. This may not seem like a big deal, of course, all you have to do is replant it, right? Well, think of what happens when you cut a rare plant too much and it dies. Some gamers have even reported on forums that they used the “cut” option two Sim days in a row and their plant died.

We are not quite sure what the limit is for each plant, but play it safe by cutting maybe once every few days.

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7 7. Graft Like Crazy

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Another bonus about reaching level five in the gardening skill is you pick up the ability to graft. Grafting is simply splicing two plants, planting them together, and forming another plant. Maybe you’re thinking "why not just buy those seeds?”. Obviously, because a lot of the produce you get from splicing is something that is extremely rare. There is actually a one in 600 chance that you will receive a fruit, vegetable, or magical plant that you just can’t pluck from any old open field. So, the more you graft the better your chances are of finding rare plants and produce.

A lot of the rare plants and produce you find can go towards making some amazing things and even casting a few spells.

6 6. Maybe Don’t Get The Seasons Expansion Pack

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So, yes, we previously said to get every expansion pack, but maybe hold off on Seasons. This expansion pack is great if you want to experience all the festivals that the different seasons give you, but if you are gardening, it can be a bummer. You now have to worry about planting things that are in season. This means that when it isn’t in season, it won’t grow. You will have to wait around for strawberry season, or certain plants won’t grow because it needs optimum sunlight.

The beauty about The Sims is how real it can be, but when it gets too real, it just becomes an annoyance. Unfortunately, you have a hard decision to make because with new expansion packs comes new produce and plants. But is it worth the tradeoff of having to wait to see those plants and produce come to life?

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5 5. Become Best Friends With Your Neighbour

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Having good relationships in The Sims is always best — especially in Sims 3's expansion pack Apartment Living. You could ask your neighbor to babysit for you or even pick up your mail. So, in Sims 4, it’s just as important, seeing as you can ask your neighbor to help you with your garden. While they do the back-breaking work, you can actually go to sleep or go to work. It’s kind of tricky to do but if you have a good enough relationship and you invite them over regularly without even asking, they sometimes see your Sim doing it and automatically join in. That's what friends are for right?

4 4. Tend To Your Garden Every day

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Make sure you make your Sim tend to their gardener at least once a day. Sometimes your Sim will do it on their own if their aspirations and traits allow them to, though. Whether told to or not, make sure it gets done. All the different types of plants and produce die or wither at different rates, and this can cause a bad Moodlet for your Sim. And honestly, all the work that was put into it just to see it die is quite upsetting for human and Sim alike. It can sometimes be overwhelming depending on how big the garden has become; but if you have help great, then do it in intervals.

RELATED: The Sims 4: 10 Must-Have Mods For Better Gameplay

3 3. Make A Gardening Group

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Personally, groups are annoying. It's the constant calling to hang out or going to a party that your Sim is too tired to participate in. But you can make a group for just about anything, and this includes a gardening group.

A gardening group will help you tend, fertilize, and water your plants. It's basically the best of both worlds; you are making friends and you're also getting things done. But please, watch out for thieving Sims in your gardening group. Basically, all of the Sims in your group will harvest your plants in addition to fertilizing, watering, and tending to them. It’s annoying and ridiculous but there is a way to get ahead of them. Harvest all your stuff then invite the group over. They can’t steal anything if there isn’t anything to steal.

2 2. Enter A Corresponding Career

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Some Sims don’t have the luxury of living off of their produce (yet), so they have to hold down a job. There is a gardening career path but that is a little too hard to maintain along with your own gardening career.

So if you want to make Simoleons and master the gardening skill at the same time, you simply have to join a corresponding career. Like the Astronaut career, you have the ability to drink energy juice and use that energy to tend to your garden. The Culinary career can be used for obvious reasons, and in the Critic career, you can branch into a food critic, meaning you need to know your produce. The Scientist career is great for splicing and making new produce. Last but not least, the Floral Design career again for obvious reasons.

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1 1. Cheat

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Because, why not? A little cheat code here and there isn’t going to make a huge difference in your game. Gardening is time-consuming and tiring — especially if it is not your career path. Coming home after work to tend to a whole garden is problematic. Would you rather have a grumpy Sim or a Sim who used an energy boost cheat (or a cheat that ups their skill level)? There are no specific cheats for your actual garden. However, there are cheats to make your Sim better in an area that will directly affect your garden.

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