Aspirations inThe Sims 4are a great way to guide gameplay and develop your Sim’s personality through Bonus and Reward traits. The Freelance Botanist Aspiration is particularly useful for learning the ropes for key gardening mechanics like grafting, fertilising, and evolving plants.

The Freelance Botanist Aspiration is one of the Nature aspirations provided in base game, so green-fingered simmers are especially likely to enjoy this gentle challenge. It’s also a good choice for anyone who wants to play with a cowplant, as your Sim will have to grow the bovine beastie in the aspiration’s final level.

An overview of the Freelance Botanist Aspiration, showing the list of tasks, under the Nature menu.

Starting with this aspiration is a good idea if you want toplay with a PlantSim. Unless you play the Plant-a-Sim scenario, you’re able to only become a PlantSim by growing Forbidden Fruit of the PlantSim, which you need level 10 of the gardening skill for.

Freelance Botanist Aspiration Guide

Throughout the aspiration, you’llhone your Sim’s gardening skilland improve the quality of plants in their garden. It takes a while, but you’ll earn 4,825 aspiration points, giving you plenty of points forunlocking Reward Traitsand bonuseslike the Potion of Youth or Money Tree.

Playing on a Lot with theGreat Soil traitfrom The Sims 4: City Living will make this aspiration easier to complete.

A PlantSim in The Sims 4 is standing in his garden talking to his plants.

Reward: Naturalist Trait

Sims with theNaturalist trait are protected from fireand can extinguish it much more easily than others. This is especially useful when playing on Lots with cheap appliances, fireplaces, or bonfires.

Reward: Green Thumb Achievement

At the end of the aspiration, your Sim will have maxed out their gardening skill. If this is the first Sim to achieve this in your save file, you’ll unlock the Green Thumb Achievement.

Reward: Grow An Excellent Quality Garden

Most levels of this aspiration focus on plant care, which willimprove the quality of plants with time. Much like in real life, plants in The Sims 4 thrive in good conditions: being well-watered, fertilised, and getting enough sun.Better quality plants lead to higher quality harvestableswhich can sell for more Simoleons and make higher quality food.

Once your Sim has reached level 2 gardening skill, they’ll also be able to use theEvolve interaction on plants that are close to the next level of quality. Each quality level for a plant is known as the evolution level, which can be:

A PlantSim is playing with a cowplant with his arms outstretched in the garden.

Selling harvestables can be an efficient way ofmaking money in The Sims 4, especially in Rags to Riches and Legacy challenges. It gives your Sims a relatively passive stream of income that can easily be passed from one generation to another.

All Aspiration Levels And Tasks

TheFreelance Botanist Aspiration has four stagesthat all focus onbuilding the gardening skill to unlock interactionsand grow the perfect garden. Plants grow slowly, so completing the aspiration can take a while.

Even though it can be a little slow, it’s still worthwhile as it’s easy to complete in the background while your Sim focuses on building their career or growing their family.Gardening is also more lucrative than most low-level careers, so it can give a real boost at the start of a new save.

Naturewalker

Plant something three times

You can find harvestables to plant in your gardenorbuy seedsfrom a computer, phone, or planter. If you have The Sims 4: Cottage Living, verify you aren’t choosing the oversized crops.

Weed or water plant three times

Plants will dry out and grow weeds with time. If you cover them with a roof or move your planters indoors, then the rain is less likely to do your job for you.

Garden Variety

Achieve level 4 gardening skill

The gardening skill can be levelled up bymaintaining plantsorreading gardening skill books. You can buy books directly from the bookshelf.

Evolve five different plants

At gardening skill level 2, your Sim can evolve well-looked-after plants. Look out forsparklesin your plot or hover over plants to see their progress.

Nature Nurturer

Achieve level 6 gardening skill

The more plants you have, and the more tending they need, the more chance your Sim will have to level their skill. You can alsopurchase medium and high-level skill booksto help out.

Graft onto three plants

The Sims 4 has a grafting system that allows you to grow rare or unique plants. At gardening skill level 5, you’ll unlock the option toTake Cuttingsfrom plants. Once yourSim has a cuttingin their inventory, theGraft interactionshould appear when you select another plant.

Fertilise five plants

You unlock fertiliser at gardening skill level 3. Buy fertiliser by clicking on a planter, or use some harvestables from your garden to save cash.

Freelance Botanist

Achieve level 10 gardening skill

Keep grindingin the fields to max out the gardening skill. At level 10, you’ll be able to buy Rare Seeds to start the journey to becoming a PlantSim.

Grow a cowplant

To grow a cowplant, you need tofind or graft a cowplant berry. You can fish them up in Oasis Springs and San Sequoia. If you aren’t in a rush, you can also try grafting snapdragons and dragon fruit plants together. Once you have your cowplant berry (which looks exactly like you might expect), you canplant it like any other harvestable.

Evolve ten Excellent plants

A plant needs toevolve three timesfor it to reachExcellent quality. Water, weed, and fertilise your plant to increase its quality. You’ll get a head start if youkeep evolving the same plantsyou levelled during the Garden Variety milestone.

Tips For Completing The Freelance Botanist Aspiration Guide

This aspiration can be slow to finish. Here are some tips for speeding it up: