I would play with whatever other chips you have installed. Mine gardens on her own all the time. However, when I've had other chips installed so there were other things for her to do (like cleaning), I usually had to tell her to go garden. By the same token, she doesn't clean well when she has other tasks to do (like gardening). The only one that seems to always "trump" the others is the nanny chip, and then nothing else gets done.