Sheltered gardens experiments

[Joria]

I really hate Seasons.  I want ALL my fruits and veggies to be plantable and harvestable all the time no matter the season.  I first started with plants out in the yard and some in the house on the third floor.  The housed/sheltered plants grew and thrived, all be it more slowly than they would if in season outside, while the outside plants only thrived when in season.  The all season plants , like sage, just looked icky most of the time and were less likely to produce in colder, wetter weather or be ready to evolve as quickly as they did in warmer, sunnier weather.  (makes sense).  However, the sheltered ones were bright green and growing and doing all they should regularly.  Then I read you just need a roof, no walls needed.  I disagree!  I built a "greenhouse" that was just glass roof and I may as well not have bothered.  Any green thriving plants from inside the house, when brought out there,  immediately started to change color, for the worst, and fail even though technically they were still "sheltered".  I then decided to add "walls", all windows and glass doors.  No improvement whatsoever.  I then decided to add a thermostat to the enclosure and made it warm.  Slight improvement but still not as healthy and thriving as the in house plants.  Greener, more likely to be ready to evolve, but not as lush as the in house ones.  Conclusion:  if I don't mind shifting plants in and out of the house according to the season they grow in and want them to always be at peak color/performance, then that is what I would have to do.  If I don't want the bother of doing that, and I don't, patience and perseverance at the slower growth rate while in the house is the way to go.  I am now going to dedicate and entire level of my five level house just to being a garden and see how it looks.  Oh, and they like having the "focus" lights or aura giving items around them.
Bees like being in shelter too but haven't tried them in the house.  Gives me the creeps thinking about bees in my house!  Patchy also appreciated his shelter from the weather.  Have not tried him in house.  One other thought.  If you start your spring plants inside during the winter, when spring actually arrives you can put them outside and they will grow faster having had a head start.  Just like in RL!

[Playalot]

Technically sheltered plants do not need walls. When they are under a roof and their title says 'sheltered' then that is all they need. Yes, they may turn that revolting brown mess of a color but if they are sheltered then they will grow and produce harvestables at the 'sheltered' rate which is 3 times as slower as plants outside in their growing season.

As for the colors, I too absolutely hate that. I really dislike the changes to gardening that the patch before seasons brought and the changes that the DLC brought. I just don't even bother with gardening anymore which is a huge loss to me as every sim I played had a garden.

If you persevere with your sheltered plants you will find that in the next 'years' cycle your sheltered plants will stay green. Not sure if this is a bug or if it is intended but all my year 2 sheltered plants are green despite being 'out of season'.

Putting bees in your greenhouses will speed up evolution and also seems to have the effect of speeding up the rate of each plant producing harvestables in the second 'year'.

[scoed]

I am loving the changes now I am used to them and understand them. It is now my go to way to make my sims money. Being made to rotate plants for max yield in and out if greenhouses feels more real. My grandfather was big into gardening and orchids and had his own greenhouse he build. I remember helping him with moving plants in and out of said greenhouse based on weather and season. It brings back happy memories. It has been years but I still miss helping him with his plants. Though his plants never slowed by a third indoors. I think it is a balancing thing.

Anyway Playalot is correct no walls are needed to "shelter" a plant just a roof. Window don't matter nor does lights or greenhouse roofs. I make greenhouses because again for me it brings back memories and is more realistic.

And gardening without bees inside or outdoors slows progress of said plants. Plants need bees in nature and in sims it seems.

I like the change in colors. It is as it is in nature. In Utah where I live some plants green in spring brown the rest of the year a few green up in summer then brown. I think it adds realism. But I like the changes even if the seasons are way out of wack for many plants.

I wasn't overjoyed when I heard they were releasing season but I love the pack and the gardening changes outside of the grafting nerf. I hate that change as it kills the usefulness oh grafting. I really wish they would change the weighting of plants.

[Playalot]

It's interesting you speak of realism @scoed  where I live all the trees are evergreen and so I never see autumn colors unless I travel, probably why I particularly hate the browns in my game now! 

Nice to hear you have come to enjoy the changes.

[wa-wa-world]

I'm not sure how relevant this is but I found out that you can shift click plants with testingcheats on and you can set their maturity and quality even when they're out of season so if you want your plants all alive you might be able to to it through cheats

[Highlander]

I've been a gardener since Sims 3. Seasons has brought a huge change, but I have dedicated the last month and a half to making this work. I finally have a decent strategy, which is good because the new World of Warcraft xpac opens in 10 days. I won't have much time for this after that.

I start in Spring, although I could make an argument for starting in Fall to take advantage of the Gnomes at Harvestfest. First thing I do is go to Granite Falls (1st day Vacation, lol) so I can harvest the wild plants there and buy some Growfruit. When I get home, I start planting everything I can get my hands on whether it's in season or not. Search Patchy for seeds as often as possible. Put down a beehive in a central location and start arranging the plants around it. Trees on the outside - plants on the inside. Usually I can graft a snapdragon/strawberry early on in the vain hope I'll get a dragon fruit.

I build a greenhouse slowly because I usually don't have a lot of money early. I use medium high walls to accommodate the trees. But by the end of the week, I can have a greenhouse big enough to house the Spring plants that are about to go out of season. The timing on this is tricky because you need to move them inside before midnight on Saturday or they will go dormant. They will come back, but you lose some production. After midnight, you can move the next season's plants outdoors. Plants inside will stay nice and green. Sheltered plants that are outside will look like whatever season it is.

I graft all the herbs to a Sage plant and all the catnips together since they are all season. Trees go under the eaves of the greenhouse when out of season. For everything else, I use the cheat sheet below to group plants by season. I basically copy/pasted what Carl has in the gardening guide and just rearranged it. This helps because you can group plants in garden boxes to make the change of season shuffle a little easier. It's kind of long, so I apologize for that..

SPRING

Green Peas   Common   Spring   $6   24h
Strawberry   Uncommon   Spring   $8   24h
Daisy   Common   Spring   $3   24h
Tulip   Uncommon   Spring   $11   36h
Fang Flower (Tentacle Tree)   No Rarity   Spring   $50   120h

SPRING, SUMMER

Parsley   Common   Spring, Summer   $5   24h
Fireleaf   Uncommon   Spring, Summer   $13   18h
Poison Fireleaf   Uncommon   Spring, Summer   $11   18h
Blue Bells   Common   Spring, Summer   $11   3
Bird of Paradise   Rare   Spring, Summer   $10   36h
Morel Mushroom   Rare   Spring, Summer   $17   24h
False Morel Mushroom   Rare   Spring, Summer   $19   24h

SUMMER

Cherry   Uncommon   Summer   $15   60h
Plantain   Common   Summer   $16   72h
Chamomile   Common   Summer   $14   24h
Toxic Chamomile   Common   Summer   $15   24h
Bell Pepper   Common   Summer   $12   96h
Tomato   Uncommon   Summer   $12   24h
Lily   Uncommon   Summer   $18   36h
Blackberry   Rare   Summer   $55   96h
Quill Fruit   No Rarity   Summer   $100   80h

SUMMER, FALL

Basil   Common   Summer, Fall   $3   24h
Chrysanthemum   Common   Summer, Fall   $11   36h
Begonias   Uncommon   Summer, Fall   $66   60h
Elderberry   Common   Summer, Fall   $6   18h
Noxious Elderberry   Common   Summer, Fall   $7   18h
Huckleberry   Uncommon   Summer, Fall   $8   18h
Muckleberry   Uncommon   Summer, Fall   $9   18h
Black Beans   Uncommon   Summer, Fall   $6   36h
Green Beans   Uncommon   Summer, Fall   $18   12-24h

FALL

Apple   Common   Fall   $13   36h
Grapes   Common   Fall   $33   48h
DragonFruit   Rare   Fall   $80   96h
Dahlia   Uncommon   Fall   $48   36h
U.F.O.   Rare   Fall   $120   112h

FALL, WINTER

Pear   Uncommon   Fall, Winter   $14   60h
Holly   Common   Fall, Winter   $9   36h
Onion   Uncommon   Fall, Winter   $14   48h

WINTER

Pomegranate   Rare   Winter   $18   72h
Spinach   Common   Winter   $3   24h
Potato   Uncommon   Winter   $10   24h
Christmas Rose   Uncommon   Winter   $42   36h
Snowdrop   Uncommon   Winter   $12   36h
Death Flower   Rare   Winter   $1   48h
Glow Orb   No Rarity   Winter   $100   100h

WINTER, SPRING

Crocus   Uncommon   Spring, Winter   $27   36h
Orchid   Rare   Spring, Winter   $22   36h

SPRING, FALL

Carrot   Common   Spring, Fall   $8   24h
Mushroom   Common   Spring, Fall   $4   24h
Snapdragon   Common   Spring, Fall   $13   36h
Rose   Uncommon   Spring, Fall   $18   48h

YEAR ROUND

Growfruit   Rare   All Year   $90+   80h
Avocado   Uncommon   All   $45   96h
Emotion Berries   Rare   All   $24   ??
Money Tree   Rare   All Year   $1,000+   120h
Lemon   Common   All Year?   $12   60h
Sage   Common   All Year?   $5   24h
Garlic   Uncommon   All   $12   24h
Plasma Fruit   Uncommon   All   $18   96h
Wolfsbane      All   $18   36h
Bonsai Buds   Rare   All Year   $10   24h
Cow Berry   Rare   All Year   N/A   24h
Trash Fruit   Rare   All Year   $4   24h
Sixam Mosquito Trap   No Rarity   All   $66   h
Catnips (Four Types)   No Rarity   All   $6   36h

[Playalot]

You are putting me to shame with your attention to detail @Highlander  I basically graft every thing to a year long in-season plant such a sage or lemon and simply leave it at that.  If I'm feeling it (which tbh I'm usually not) I throw a glass roof over them with some posts for 'support' ( a nod to some sort of realism) and then moan about how much I hate the changes! 

[scoed]

If you are going to splice everything to a evergreen plant Make sure to at least match up rarities.  Rares on commons kills production of the more valuable produce.

@Highlander Great list. Thank you.

[Playalot]

Good point @scoed for those who are still trying to find their way through the changes to splicing. However I find that once my sims have the rares I rarely harvest them. 

[Tynynounours]

I tried splicing lemon, but it didn't made much good. Avocado as it's rarer and makes good money, seems a better choice.

I'm not sure if the changes are making it ridiculously easier to make lot of money(with flowers to sell), or much harder to enjoy gardening.

[Playalot]

@Tynynounours  tbh a bit of both. The game play has changed completely and it is also now way too easy to make loads of cash. It's very unbalanced now which is a shame.

[oshizu]

Don't even get me started on Outdoor Enthusiast! *black smoke and flames emerge from ears and nose

[Playalot]

lol @oshizu  I know, right. It's now even more frustrating to complete. In my current game there was a glitch that allowed me to harvest at least one of every type of herb in the campsite area even though it was winter and a blizzard. I didn't know if I should be annoyed or just grateful!

[oshizu]

wow, all 10 herb types at the campsite area during a winter blizzard?
Haha, I think your game is worried that you'll disable Seasons altogether. It took me four seasons to get that done (because I rolled Outdoor Enthusiast in the fall).
I began by wanting to enjoy "natural seasons with random weather," but I'm tired of all the bad weather. Constantly.
The time has come to start abusing that weather machine!
"

[scoed]

Well You can identify all ten wild in the summer as they are in season then. Kinda like in real life most people camp in the summer, they game designers made it the best time to do so in game. Though in real life there is not a season I haven't went camping in. But I never tried to collect plants mid winter ether in real life as just like sims they just aren't very available in the wild.