Gardening Essentials? (BG+packs)

I know Jungle adventure has Avocado tree’s and some new vegetables, seasons offers new plants, outdoor retreat offers some herbs you can use for herbalism. Island living offers coconut tree’s and pineapple and a tarot plant I think. Get to Work offers some extra terrestrial plants like the U.F.O. Plant and others. Movie hangout has a popcorn machine, and cool kitchen has an ice cream machine. Eco lifestyle has a bug house that has crickets you can make flour to use in cooking, and I think it has wax plants, it might offer plants too, I’m not sure. Many packs offer new fish and sometimes fish recipe’s. I know outdoor retreat has at least one of these recipe’s. I don’t know if snowy escape offers any new plants, but it does have a hot pot. Cats and dogs has 4 cat plants like catnip, madnip etc. Vampires has a garlic plant, plasma plant, and I think one ir two others. Realm of magics offers some plants for potions I think. Cottage living has several new plants.

I don’t know about the rest of the packs. I’m curious to know if other packs offer any new plants too. Like Get Together, Get Famous, Discover University, Snowy Escape, and Get Together, or Parenthood. I’d like to know which packs have what plants ( and fish ) myself.

"SheriSim57;c-18030539" wrote:


I don’t know about the rest of the packs. I’m curious to know if other packs offer any new plants too. Like Get Together, Get Famous, Discover University, Snowy Escape, and Get Together, or Parenthood. I’d like to know which packs have what plants ( and fish ) myself.

Here are some links to lists of harvestables, fish and food recipes from the game all of which include a column indicating which pack they are from. All the lists appear to be fully updated (i.e. cottage living is included). The only thing missing is the recipes for canning, which for some reason aren't included on the site, even on the page about canning. The lists included sortable headers, so you can sort them by pack.

Plants/Harvestables: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Gardening_(The_Sims_4)#Harvestables

Fish: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Fishing_(The_Sims_4)#List_of_fish

Food/Gourmet Cooking/Grill (and more) recipes: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Cooking_(The_Sims_4)#Recipes

Baking recipes: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Baking?so=search#Oven.2Ffridge_recipes

"Atreya33;c-18030537" wrote:

If you like to unlock recipes, there are a few more packs that add food you can unlock by eating them. There are seafood dishes in cats and dogs, selvadora dishes in jungle adventure and batuu recipes in journey to batuu.

A short cut for those who like mods is the cookbook mod by littlemssam to unlock the recipes. This allows you to learn all the recipes of a pack by reading a cookbook.
https://littlemssam.tumblr.com/post/175405693313/cookbooks-this-mod-adds-new-buyable-cookbooks-into

The experimental recipes are on the menu of the chez llama restaurant that comes with the dine out pack. (the restaurant should be in your library if you have the pack) I was able to add the batuu recipes to an unowned restaurant and my sims learned to make them after tasting them in the restaurant. I have never tried on an owned restaurant.

Something else that hasn't been mentioned in this thread but is closely related to cooking and gardening is the simple living lot challenge. You need cottage living for this one. This challenge makes recipes require ingredients to be able to cook them. You need to buy basic ingredients like flour and sugar on the phone or the cottage living market stall and grow your fruit and veggies.

Oh, wow! Seems there are so many recipes and plants to discover! ? That’s pretty awesome! I’ll have to remember to buy the sugar and flour.

That simple living lot challenge sounds pretty awesome! Reminds me of the older Sims gameplay. ??

"SheriSim57;c-18030539" wrote:
I know Jungle adventure has Avocado tree’s and some new vegetables, seasons offers new plants, outdoor retreat offers some herbs you can use for herbalism. Island living offers coconut tree’s and pineapple and a tarot plant I think. Get to Work offers some extra terrestrial plants like the U.F.O. Plant and others. Movie hangout has a popcorn machine, and cool kitchen has an ice cream machine. Eco lifestyle has a bug house that has crickets you can make flour to use in cooking, and I think it has wax plants, it might offer plants too, I’m not sure. Many packs offer new fish and sometimes fish recipe’s. I know outdoor retreat has at least one of these recipe’s. I don’t know if snowy escape offers any new plants, but it does have a hot pot. Cats and dogs has 4 cat plants like catnip, madnip etc. Vampires has a garlic plant, plasma plant, and I think one ir two others. Realm of magics offers some plants for potions I think. Cottage living has several new plants.

I don’t know about the rest of the packs. I’m curious to know if other packs offer any new plants too. Like Get Together, Get Famous, Discover University, Snowy Escape, and Get Together, or Parenthood. I’d like to know which packs have what plants ( and fish ) myself.

Oh, wow! So many places to find for stuff!
Yeah, I think almost every other pack adds recipes, but I don’t know if every pack adds plant seeds or fish or insects, though. I’m sure there has to be an updated list somewhere online (I hope)! ?

"Stormkeep;c-18030556" wrote:

"SheriSim57;c-18030539" wrote:


I don’t know about the rest of the packs. I’m curious to know if other packs offer any new plants too. Like Get Together, Get Famous, Discover University, Snowy Escape, and Get Together, or Parenthood. I’d like to know which packs have what plants ( and fish ) myself.

Here are some links to lists of harvestables, fish and food recipes from the game all of which include a column indicating which pack they are from. All the lists appear to be fully updated (i.e. cottage living is included). The only thing missing is the recipes for canning, which for some reason aren't included on the site, even on the page about canning. The lists included sortable headers, so you can sort them by pack.

Plants/Harvestables: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Gardening_(The_Sims_4)#Harvestables

Fish: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Fishing_(The_Sims_4)#List_of_fish

Food/Gourmet Cooking/Grill (and more) recipes: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Cooking_(The_Sims_4)#Recipes

Baking recipes: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Baking?so=search#Oven.2Ffridge_recipes

Oooh! Yes, I need lists! There are just too many plants, fish, and recipes to keep track of, heh! ?

I tried googling the canning stuff, so hopefully these two links have everything for the canning basics, if anyone needs them besides me, heh:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-4-cottage-living-guide-canning/amp/

https://simscommunity.info/2021/07/22/the-sims-4-cottage-living-an-introduction-to-canning/

"LatinaBunny;c-18030656" wrote:

Oooh! Yes, I need lists! There are just too many plants, fish, and recipes to keep track of, heh! ?

I tried googling the canning stuff, so hopefully these two links have everything for the canning basics, if anyone needs them besides me, heh:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-4-cottage-living-guide-canning/amp/

https://simscommunity.info/2021/07/22/the-sims-4-cottage-living-an-introduction-to-canning/

Yep, that links looks quite accurate and useful.

I love gardening and cooking in Sims games...every household I play ends up with at least a few garden plants even if it is just some tomatoes growing in a pot on the balcony in an apartment in San Myshuno.

I got Cottage Living for Christmas (yay!) and the new lot trait that makes cooking require ingredients is one I will probably turn on in all of my households as well. I have wanted sims to be required to go grocery shopping (or grow/raise their own) since TS4 first came out, and now I can! I love that lot trait.

BTW, no one has mentioned it, but if you're doing gardening don't forget about Flowers and the Flower Arranging table either (added with Seasons). If that's something that might interest you. And also remember the Bee Box, which is useful for improving the quality of nearby plants, and Patchy who is useful for helping with gardening.
Cottage Living also unlocks an easy-plant-upgrade route you could opt for using golden chickens, golden milk or golden egg omelets which let you instant-upgrade plants to perfect with their super-secret golden pulse power. And the rabbits and birds, which respectively help with weeding and bug removal, from Cottage Living are much more helpful than I at first realized. I can't remember the last time my current household had to weed or spray for bugs themselves now that they have many little friends.

Rare plants are pretty common in Spice Festival of City Living

For me Seasons brought the biggest change to gardening (I do not yet have Cottage Living). Changed how the plants grow, added several items to help with gardening, new career with a work at home option, flower arranging. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch.

About greenhouses. Certain plants will grow only at certain times of the year unless they are sheltered, and in true Sims fashion an unsupported roof just hovering over them counts as shelter. Building a greenhouse just looks better but I don't think it brings any additional gameplay benefit.

"Stormkeep;c-18030669" wrote:

I love gardening and cooking in Sims games...every household I play ends up with at least a few garden plants even if it is just some tomatoes growing in a pot on the balcony in an apartment in San Myshuno.

I got Cottage Living for Christmas (yay!) and the new lot trait that makes cooking require ingredients is one I will probably turn on in all of my households as well. I have wanted sims to be required to go grocery shopping (or grow/raise their own) since TS4 first came out, and now I can! I love that lot trait.

BTW, no one has mentioned it, but if you're doing gardening don't forget about Flowers and the Flower Arranging table either (added with Seasons). If that's something that might interest you. And also remember the Bee Box, which is useful for improving the quality of nearby plants, and Patchy who is useful for helping with gardening.
Cottage Living also unlocks an easy-plant-upgrade route you could opt for using golden chickens, golden milk or golden egg omelets which let you instant-upgrade plants to perfect with their super-secret golden pulse power. And the rabbits and birds, which respectively help with weeding and bug removal, from Cottage Living are much more helpful than I at first realized. I can't remember the last time my current household had to weed or spray for bugs themselves now that they have many little friends.

Yes! I loved having my sims do cooking (and baking) in the past Sims games, too! I’ve only touched the surface of gardening, but it’s something I want to (excuse the pun, hehe) dig into! ??

Oh!!! Flower Arranging is in Seasons, too? Nice! ? I loved doing floral arranging stuff back in… I think Sims 2 or Sims 3, can’t remember which game had that, but I loved that kind of stuff, too! Can’t wait to add that, too! ?

"ChariceZyrus89;c-18030681" wrote:
Rare plants are pretty common in Spice Festival of City Living

Ooh, thanks for letting me know! ?? I’ll be sure to check the festivals more often.

"JustMeAlb;c-18030706" wrote:
For me Seasons brought the biggest change to gardening (I do not yet have Cottage Living). Changed how the plants grow, added several items to help with gardening, new career with a work at home option, flower arranging. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch.

About greenhouses. Certain plants will grow only at certain times of the year unless they are sheltered, and in true Sims fashion an unsupported roof just hovering over them counts as shelter. Building a greenhouse just looks better but I don't think it brings any additional gameplay benefit.

That’s great that making a greenhouse is pretty simple! ?? I was a little intimidated to get deep into gardening and greenhouses, because I thought it would be a full complicated system to make a greenhouse. Good to hear that it’s not, though! ??

Also, sorry to bother, some more questions, if you don’t mind:

1) For Overgrown Crops, does it matter which world I can plant them in? Like, can I plant them outside of the Cottage Living world?

2) Can we plant crops and plants in all worlds, like including Island Living and Strangerville (or whatever is the name of the more drier-looking places)? Do rabbits and foxes show up in various worlds besides the Cottage Living one? Can we raise the farm animals in any world?

I plan to have a greenhouse, regardless, but I wanted to know if I can just plant some stuff in any world’s ground.

3) How long would you suggest to make the seasons, so that the plants and crops and flowers have time to grow?

1. You can plant them anywhere, you just need to buy the oversized garden plot.
2. Yes, the harvestables from specific worlds can be planted anywhere. Other than oversized, they don't require anything special...you can just plant them on the ground if you don't want to use pots and planters. (BTW, the oversized garden plots can be used to grow other things as well. Up to 4 plants or 1 tree can be planted in one instead of an oversized crop)
3. Personally, I make my seasons 21 days long. I need to use a mod to do this though. The game allows for 7, 14 and 28 without mods. I found the setting for 14 days didn't feel long enough and the setting for 28 felt too long so installed a mod that changes the 28 day setting to 21 days.
Just for growing though, 14 days really is perfect. I like 21 so that I have time for a few more holidays in each season without it feeling like it is "always a holiday".

"Stormkeep;c-18030730" wrote:
1. You can plant them anywhere, you just need to buy the oversized garden plot.
2. Yes, the harvestables from specific worlds can be planted anywhere. Other than oversized, they don't require anything special...you can just plant them on the ground if you don't want to use pots and planters. (BTW, the oversized garden plots can be used to grow other things as well. Up to 4 plants or 1 tree can be planted in one instead of an oversized crop)
3. Personally, I make my seasons 21 days long. I need to use a mod to do this though. The game allows for 7, 14 and 28 without mods. I found the setting for 14 days didn't feel long enough and the setting for 28 felt too long so installed a mod that changes the 28 day setting to 21 days.
Just for growing though, 14 days really is perfect. I like 21 so that I have time for a few more holidays in each season without it feeling like it is "always a holiday".

Thanks so much, @Stormkeep ! ?? I am so glad that some aspects of a pack are universal, so I can incorporate them into whichever worlds.

One last question: Do rabbits and foxes only show up with the Fox lot trait, or is it when we have Overgrown crops? I would love to see more animals around, for sure! ?