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Gardening is a skill in The Sims 3. The skill is augmented by the Green Thumb trait, and the Super Green Thumb lifetime reward. It involves the planting, growing and harvesting of various plants that Sims can find within each world. Unlike the previous Sims games, The Sims 3 gardening has been much expanded upon, introducing many real-life plants and several fictional species such as the 'Life Fruit', 'Flame Fruit', and 'Plasma Fruit'.

Some expansion packs include more varieties of plant collections. Some of the plants can be used as ingredients for Nectar Making and Mixology, with the key ingredients for Nectar Making being the grapes from Champs Les Sims. With Ambitions, Sims can register as a self-employed Gardener. Gardening can be profitable by selling the harvested produce from the inventory, supermarket, or consignment store.

Only teens and older can tend the garden. Children cannot learn the Gardening skill, but they can learn the Child Gardening hidden skill. Once a child grows up into a teenager, they will earn Gardening skills at the same level of their Child Gardening and Scouting hidden skills.