Gardening

Overview

Gardening is a skill that lets Zois grow crops, prune bonsai trees, and sell produce for Meow. Plants are placed through Build Mode and require daily care (watering, fertilizing) to reach maturity. The skill scales from level 0 to level 10, with new crops and bonsai designs unlocking at each tier.

Plant categories

Plants in inZOI fall into three distinct categories, each with different purposes and price ranges:

Flowerpots (8-270 Meow)

Decorative indoor plants like heart hoya, aloe, and variegated monstera. They can be watered to stay fresh but don't grow, don't produce anything, and don't interact with the gardening skill. Purely aesthetic.

Flowers and flowerbeds (10-120 Meow)

Outdoor decorations including grass patches, marigolds, rose shrubs, and flower arches. These grow automatically without any player intervention and are visual-only. No watering needed, no harvest possible.

Growing Plants (5-25 Meow)

The only plants that actually interact with the gardening skill. These grow over time, require daily care, and produce harvestable crops. All gardening skill progression comes from working with these plants. Find them in Build Mode under Furniture > Outdoor > Growing Plants.

Available crops

The current roster of growable crops:

• Vegetables - lettuce, tomatoes, premium tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, eggplants, carrots.

• Fruits - blueberries, apple saplings, orange saplings.

• Indoor - lettuce hydroponics (unlocks at level 6), allowing gardening without outdoor space.

Each crop has different growth times and Meow values at harvest. Premium tomatoes (unlocked at level 2) produce higher-value harvests than regular tomatoes.

Gardening skill unlocks

The gardening skill determines which plants you can grow and which bonsai designs you can create:

• Level 0 - tomato, lettuce, blueberry, and sweet potato seedlings. Enough to start a basic garden immediately.

• Level 2 - corn, eggplant, potato, and carrot seedlings. Premium tomato seedling. Bonsai pot stand (unlocks bonsai pruning).

• Level 4 - bonsai designs: Perfect Form, Nature's Cradle, Winter Fantasy.

• Level 6 - apple seedling for fruit trees. Lettuce hydroponic system for indoor growing. Bonsai designs: Layers of Hope, Graceful Breath, Curves of Time.

• Level 8 - bonsai designs: Dance of the Wind, Everlasting Love.

• Level 10 - bonsai designs: Serene Balance, Direction of Life. Full mastery of all gardening content.

Growth and daily care

Plants take roughly 2 or more in-game days to reach maturity, depending on the crop type. Shorter day-length settings in the game options mean faster real-time growth. Daily maintenance involves two actions:

• Watering - click the plant and select "Water." Unwatered plants grow slower and produce lower-quality harvests.

• Fertilizing - click the plant and select "Fertilize." Improves quality alongside watering. Both actions together give the best results.

When the plant is fully grown, a visual indicator appears. Click it and select "Harvest" to collect the produce. Each good-quality harvest earns approximately 500 Meow. The produce goes into the Zoi's inventory and can be used for cooking or sold.

Harvested produce

Crops harvested from the garden do not spoil while in the Zoi's inventory. This means you can stockpile ingredients for cooking without time pressure. Produce can also be sold outright for Meow through the Pocket Market on the smartphone.

Bonsai

Bonsai trees are a secondary gardening activity that becomes available at skill level 2 with the bonsai pot stand. Place the stand via Build Mode, then interact with it to start pruning.

Each pruning session shapes the bonsai into a design selected from the skill-unlocked list. Higher gardening skill produces cleaner, more precise shapes. Finished bonsai can be kept as decorative furniture or sold through the Pocket Market app for Meow. Selling bonsai is one of the better passive income sources, especially at higher skill levels where the designs are more valuable.

How to level up

Four methods raise the gardening skill:

• Watering plants - small skill gain per plant watered.

• Fertilizing plants - small skill gain per plant fertilized.

• Harvesting crops - moderate skill gain when collecting mature plants.

• Reading gardening books - find gardening books at libraries or on bookshelves. Reading them gives passive skill experience.

Farm Helper service

For Zois who don't have time for daily garden maintenance, the Farm Helper service is available through the Pocket Market app on the smartphone. Hiring a Farm Helper provides 4 hours of automated crop care: the helper waters and fertilizes all plants on the property. Useful for busy Zois with full career schedules.

Tips

• Start with tomatoes and lettuce at level 0. They're cheap (5-25 Meow each) and provide early skill experience.

• Water and fertilize every day. Skipping a day noticeably reduces harvest quality and Meow value.

• Once you hit level 2, start pruning bonsai alongside your crops. Bonsai sell well and give good skill experience.

• At level 6, the lettuce hydroponic system lets you grow crops indoors, which is helpful for apartments without yard space.

• Pair gardening with cooking. Homegrown ingredients save you the Meow cost of buying them through the Pocket Market.