Best way to earn money gardening?

[cndneh]

I've started a gardener family and at lowest levels I find, though they don't make a lot of money, apples are the way to go.  You can get a ton of fruit off a few trees, not like watermelon (for example) which you get one or two and that's it.  When the gardener reaches level 7 then plant all the other ones people have mentioned.  But love the apples! 

I went crazy with my gardeners (Flora and Fauna Greenthumb!) and bought the biggest property money could buy, built a washroom, they live in a tent and the rest is garden!!

[NeoFelis]

I should mention that with Suave Seller, consignment profits on crops are huge.

You took the words right out of my mouth, er, hands?  I earned over 3k selling just 89 items in one day at the Consignment Store. And that was before I had most of the rare plants. I'm sure it'll be more next time. I just have to have my gardener finish harvesting before the store closes.  Here's a link to a pic of my garden. You can see I'm going to have to make it smaller. 

http://llnw.thesims3.com/sims3_asset/sims3_asset/media/shard000//shard000/488/084/006/00/screenshot_original.jpg

[LlamaMama]

High quality steaks sell really well on consignment too.

[NeoFelis]

High quality steaks sell really well on consignment too.

I'm impatiently waiting for the next opportunity. My cheese and eggs are Perfect quality. I'm working on the trees (and grapes) that I got from other countries and the special plants. The Mysterious Gnomes seem to think they're in charge of the garden; they're in there every time I can't find them. Even the Sculptor's Gnome (not sure if that's what it's called) is hanging out there. Back to gardening; I've been buying Lobster a couple dozen at a time to fertilize my plants, though I'll use bell pepper on things like lettuce and plain grapes. I'd like to keep a couple plants of all the basics for cooking, particularly since I have the Chef reward fridge. That's still a lot of plants, though! Can you consign the death flowers? Can they be sold anywhere? I've got like half a dozen, plus 2 live plants just from planting the special seeds I've found. I had three, but after being revived once or twice (I wish I could remember!) the first is finally dead for real.

I'm rambling, aren't I?  There is the Death Flower question in there, though.

[Pam]

Death Flowers have no value.  The closest they come would be an opportunity to grow one for a Sim in town and get some kind of payment for it.

[NeoFelis]

Death Flowers have no value.  The closest they come would be an opportunity to grow one for a Sim in town and get some kind of payment for it.

That sounds familiar now that you 'say' it. Maybe I read it somewhere. There's no point in growing them, then, and if you saw the size of my garden, then you know that's a good thing.  Thank you for the prompt answer.

[Esther1981]

I had a level 10 gardener take 10 perfect everything and 20 perfect life fruits, plant them then I turned it into a community lot and saved it to my library. Now I don't even have to plant a new garden in a new game, just edit town and put it where I want it! It's a lifesaver!

[LlamaMama]

It just dawned on me: who waters the Community Gardens from Twinbrook?

[Happytime]

It just dawned on me: who waters the Community Gardens from Twinbrook?

LlamaMama, the first thing came to mind was "Free-range Gnomes," but as I was enjoying the idea, it occurred to me: it's most likely the Time Bandits. I know last we saw them, they'd been re-instated by the Supreme Being ...

Supreme Being: I should do something very extroverted and vengeful to you. Honestly, I'm too tired. So, I think I'll transfer you to the undergrowth department, brackens, more shrubs, that sort of thing ... with a 19% cut in salary, backdated to the beginning of time.
Randall: Oh, thank you, sir.
Supreme Being: Yes, well, I am the nice one.

but perhaps they screwed up again, and were assigned to the Department of Digital Plants Maintenance and Upkeep. 

Hempgirl,

I suspect, in order, the best way earn money long-term with the Gardening Skill is

• Feeding an Omni-Plant expensive books (and selling the produce at the Consignment Store),
• Money Trees,
• and Life Fruit / Flame Fruit (sold at the Consignment Store).

But to even find those seeds will take some work. However, I do think a Sim could easily support themselves just by gardening. It might be difficult at the start, but once you've some "Outstanding" or "Excellent" produce to sell (either at the Market or the Consignment Store), I'm sure a Sim wouldn't "starve" (pun intended!).

  -- Happytime

[NeoFelis]

I had a level 10 gardener take 10 perfect everything and 20 perfect life fruits, plant them then I turned it into a community lot and saved it to my library. Now I don't even have to plant a new garden in a new game, just edit town and put it where I want it! It's a lifesaver!

Clever! I might do that when I'm done with Wishmaster's in case I ever need it.

[Esther1981]

Clever! I might do that when I'm done with Wishmaster's in case I ever need it.

Thanks! I have over 40 saved games and it was getting quite boring planting and re-planting. I just wish I would have thought of it sooner!

[John Allen]

Most everything was covered, except for the painful era of poverty that is early gardening.

Cndneh covered one thing- apples.  Apples have higher yields and are the best starter plant

Early on if you are strictly gardening I've found it's important to do nothing but gardening, study gardening, watch garden tv.  At this point its about finding the max volume of plants you can handle.  

In the very beginning I plant an apple orchard (as many trees as are covered in a sprinkler area with some space). A day later, I plant miscellaneous plants and as many as I can work. As skill increases you can work more and more plants. But more importantly your first crop will be larger this way.

Then it's off to uncommon, rare and special, and I trim all regular plants down to 1-2 a piece, work them towards perfect and use them for cooking.  I don't fish until I've hit gardening 10.  Level 7 fishing is enough for deathfish.

That approach made it survivable in the early phases.  And generally I get a tv, a good bed and decorated in the bedroom right away.

[LlamaMama]

I had a level 10 gardener take 10 perfect everything and 20 perfect life fruits, plant them then I turned it into a community lot and saved it to my library. Now I don't even have to plant a new garden in a new game, just edit town and put it where I want it! It's a lifesaver!

I tried to do what you suggested, but I have a couple questions about how you made it work. My gardener planted a bunch of perfect plants on a small lot, plus I added some money trees and omni plants from buydebug. She fertilized and weeded everything, placed sprinklers and upgraded them to auto-water. So at this point they're little sprouts, except for the full-grown buydebug ones. I made it a community lot designated no visitors, so that npcs won't harvest the plants, and then evicted her and saved the lot.

If I choose to add that lot to a town I'm playing, there will be a lot of gardening chores for my sim who may not yet be a gardener. Wouldn't the plants die if not weeded and harvested? Were the sprinklers a necessary addition for plants on a community lot, or would they grow on their own like on other community lots? What have your experiences been when using the premade garden?

[wildredchild]

If I choose to add that lot to a town I'm playing, there will be a lot of gardening chores for my sim who may not yet be a gardener. Wouldn't the plants die if not weeded and harvested? Were the sprinklers a necessary addition for plants on a community lot, or would they grow on their own like on other community lots? What have your experiences been when using the premade garden?

The only gardening chore there will be is to harvest all the plants.  Because it is a community lot, there is no need for watering or weeding and the plants last for a very long time.  I have yet to have any plants die, unless they are death flower plants, when on a community lot.

[LlamaMama]

Oh good. So I set it up right, then?