I really enjoy gardening (in the game - in real life, I have a black thumb). My Sims always have at least one plant for quick snacks between meals, and I try to get a pomegranate for the superfood salad. I don't find it all that difficult to keep a small garden - when you start to expand out to many plants it can get time-consuming, but as your Sim's gardening skill grows, the plants need less attention. (My one quibble is that spraying plants does take a bit of time.) I actually like fertilising the plants - I do wish the inventory were better organised, but I like choosing the fertiliser I want to use for each plant. (I don't think it actually makes a difference, but it makes me happy to think that I'm using the best fertiliser.)
I'm guessing, as mentioned above, that plants won't grow indoors anymore without glass roofs, and maybe we'll get the sprinklers in the patch.