Sunday, May 25, 2008

How Go Grow A Wishing Well


Hello everyone, it is me Professor Sprout. I am taking a summer sabbatical from Hogwarts to teach you Muggles how to get a magical wishing well for your Sims. I understand it is a tiny bit of a struggle for some of you, and, your Sims need as much magical help as possible. It doesn't take a wand to get it, just some good old fashioned hard work. Ehm. Now I won't be doing this by myself. I have invited one of my magical witch friends here to help. Hum...where did she run off to??


Ah, there she is...oh Sam! Samantha! SAMANTHA STEVENS!!!




Prof Sprout: Samantha, the Muggles are here.

Samantha: Hi everybody. I am glad to be working with Professor Sprout to show you how to get a Wishing Well. (editor: This is Samantha Stevens from the 1960's sitcom, Bewitched).

Prof Sprout:
I think the first thing we should do is show the Muggles around the place.

Samantha: Good idea, Professor.


Samantha: Here as a picture of Professor Sprout's vacation home. As you can see, there is plenty of garden space, which is needed for a large vegetable garden. (editor: This house came with the stuff pack Kitchen And Bath).


Professor Sprout: Here is another view of where we plan to lay out the garden. You can't put out only half a dozen plots or so. The Garden Club will reject you in a minute telling you you need to put out more plants.


Samantha: This is a beautiful side patio off Professor Sprout's bedroom. We do plan to use this.


Professor Sprout: And here is a nice large area that where Samantha and I will remove the trees and use the space for something the Garden Club really enjoys seeing on a lot besides the garden itself.


Professor Sprout: Well no time like the present to get started. Firstly, you should fertilize your garden.

Samantha: Yes, fertilizing keeps your plants healthy and strong, and helps them to grow quickly.


Samantha: I should mention for statical reasons, Professor Sprout and I have none of your Muggle garden badges or skills. Ehm.

Professor Sprout: That is right. Now. Samantha and I have put out 24 plots. Had we had the badges, that would give us four plants each of all the vegetables Sims can grow. Tomatos, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, pole beans and strawberries. But being that we have no badges, we are putting out 24 tomato plants. It really doesn't matter as far as the Garden Club is concerned what kind of vegetables you plant.



Professor Sprout: Errrm...Sam...did you invite anyone over?

Samantha: No, I didn't Professor Sprout.

Professor Sprout: It is a couple of Muggles. Boy they look familiar...


Muggle: Oh my what a catastrophe it was! I caught that lyin' cheating so and so with my man....

Professor Sprout: Oh my. I am so sorry for you dear.

(Editor: You have just met 3 of the Bachlorettes from ASimWen's Bachelor Challenge. Stay tuned for a Bachelor Challenge blog from ASimWen in the near future).


Samantha: You can place a four plot sprinkler on every plot if you like; the watering will be done automatically. But not placing automatic water has it's merits.

Professor Sprout: Yes it does. Firstly, the weeds don't occur as often. And your Sim will spend their gardening time watering instead of weeding. You can get away with watering once every other day. The flip side is, if you have the sprinklers, you get the weeds, and spend alot of time weeding, thus putting time toward earning the gardening badges. It is up to you how you want to handle that.

Samantha: Professor Sprout and I will not be using the sprinklers. We love getting out in the garden and doing that ourselves.


Samantha: GAHHHhh! Fire!

Professor Sprout: Dear, what are you doing?

Samantha: I just wanted to fix a TV dinner for supper!

Professor Sprout: Sam, you don't have any cooking skills. Best to make a sandwich.


Samantha: Calling Dr. Bombay! Calling Dr. Bombay!


Professor Sprout: After all that excitement, I think you and I should take some time away from the cottage.

Samantha: I agree, Professor Sprout. Time to boogie!


Samantha: *shouting* Can you play something just a little bit slower? There is a n old lady trying to dance....


Samantha finds the vampire Komei Tellerman and thinks he's hot. One of her turn ons is Vampires. They have a two bolt attraction.


That was a long day. First the two planted a garden, then they went out on the town. Time now to get some shut eye. But you know how it goes with elders, they are almost as bad as toddlers. They never sleep through the night.


Professor Sprout: Almost always, your garden will weed up over night. If you can, you should weed immediately. The longer the weeds sit on the plants, the sicklier they become.


Professor Sprout: You should put plenty of lights in the garden. Put them all around the lot. The are a big help to see your garden at night.


The next morning...

Professor Sprout:
Samantha! Where are you going?

Samantha: That job I wanted in Intelligence came up today. I am going to work.

Professor Sprout: You go ahead dear. We can show the Muggles it is possible to work outside the home and earn a wishing well at the same time!


Samantha: I am home from work Professor Sprout. These plants look like they are almost ready for the Garden Club.

Professor Sprout: Yes indeedy Samantha. They do not have to have full growth for Garden Club inspection. But they cannot be seedlings.


Professor Sprout: If you have not done it already, call the Gardener to come the day before you plan to have the Garden Club inspection. Make the call late in the day so the Gardener will say someone will come tomorrow morning, that way he or she will be there while the Garden Club is doing their inspection. That Gardener will stick to the vegetable garden and pluck out any weeds as they come up. As long as there is someone in the garden working on it, the Club will not give you any points off for weeds. If you already have the Gardener coming to your house, schedule your Garden Club Inspection for a day when the Gardener is scheduled to visit.


Samantha: I will get these leaves raked up really quick. The Garden Club doesn't like a mess like this on the lot when they come to do the inspection. You will get points taken off your end score. Hum. Now I need a logic point for my job. I think I will stargaze a while.




Professor Sprout: Samantha, you are such a show off.


Samantha:
Now it is the special day. We are going to call the Garden Club to come take a look at our garden and our landscaping. Here are the preparations you must make before you call the Garden Club.

Professor Sprout: First let me say this. The Garden Club rates your garden and landscaping on a point system. You must have particular things from particular categories in your yard. If you can afford the most expensive item from the necessary categories, the higher your score will be.

Samantha: That is right. Let's start with the garden itself.



Not needed, but noticed by the Garden Club: If you don't already have them out, plant 1 each of the orchard trees and give them lady bug houses.

Place lady bug houses in the garden. It would be your luck the nasty white bugs would appear when the Garden Club came. Lady bugs love to eat them. The Garden Club will zero in on that one unhealthy plant!


Samantha: Professor Sprout and I have removed some trees and put in a pond with cattails and lilly pads. The Garden Club loves to see this in your landscaping. It is very ornamental. They say it is not needed but I fail getting the Wishing Well if I don't have this in my yard. It really does give a tremendous boost to your score.


Category: Potted Plants. The Garden Club looks for potted plants. You need to spend at least $334 on one plant. Here we have used two Layers of Loveliness which are $400 apeice. These will give us 5 points each.


Category: Trees. You need to spend at least $429. These magnificent pine trees came with Seasons, and are bought for $600. They will give us 15 points. We also have 3 SimCity Midbiscus at a cost of $155 each good for 5 points each, two Easy Shade trees costing $275 good for 9 points each. You can get by with less number of trees if you cannot afford so many. But the more you have, the better you chances are of getting the Wishing Well.


Samantha: Category: Flowers. It might be wise to put these out at last minute right before you call the Garden Club. It is hard to tell when these need to be watered and when they don't. If you get paranoid and water them, they could be over watered and that would cost you. Being underwatered will cost as well. At any rate, you get 10 points for each plot of flowers. You will notice there are some bushes in our landscaping. We uprooted all the cheaper bushes and put in the more expensive ones.


Category: Shrubs. These are the Literal Roses at $100 each, good for 7 points each. We used four. We also have 6 Boxy Ladies at $150 each, good for 8 points each. If you use any of the topiarys at a cost of $200, you get 10 points each.


Professor Sprout: Category: Fountains. Yes, the Garden Club likes fountains. I do not like them in my landscape. So I stuck this one on temporarily on the patio. It is the Fountain of Opulence for $1000, it is good for 20 points. If you spend the maximum of at least $1150, your fountain will get you 25 points. That is a slot in your plan to get the Wishing Well that you don't want to leave unfilled!


Samantha: Category: Sculptures. Yes, the Garden Club spots those sculptures. The maximum to spend is $1150. This is the Immobile Chimes Mobile In Steel sculpture for $1500. This will net you 25 points. Notice Professor Sprout is picking up the old newspapers. Just as the Garden Club will give you points off for dead leaves in the yard, so they will for old newspapers.

If you are lucky enough to have a Cow Plant in your yard, you get 10 points for it if it has the cake out. You get 15 if the cake is in.

Professor Sprout: That covers it. We are now ready to call the Garden Club....let me wrap it up for you:

Trees, flowers, bushes, sculpture, fountain, potted plants, pond and some orchard trees. Put out lady bug houses and pick up the messes. That is all you need. One last thing you do before you call the Garden Club....



SAVE.


The Gardener has arrived right on time. And, she has made a beeline for the vegetable garden. The Garden Club has been called and is on it's way.


Professor Sprout: Be cordial to the President of the Garden Club. It is up to him whether or not you get the Wishing Well. Ask him for a membership to the Garden Club. He will then call other members of the club to come to your house to do the inspection.


Samantha: They appear almost instantly at your house. Now it is too late to try to fix anything you left unattended.





The Garden Club pays a great deal of attention to the vegetable garden. You must keep it under wraps whilst the Club is there.






Professor Sprout: The President notices the lights I put out so I could see to tend the garden at night.



Vegetable garden........


More vegetable garden inspection. I can't stress this enough.














Altogether we received 5 observations about the lights I put in the yard. The Garden Club really likes them. Plus, they help you to work at night. I did not spot any of the Garden Club members looking at my fountain our my pond, but rest assured, they did make points. I guess I was busy doing something else whilst the Club was here....


I was so low in Social need I had to get on the phone and talk to someone. I had put so much time into the garden and the landscaping I couldn't hold out a few more minutes until the inspection was over. Samantha came in the house and got on the computer to chat during the last leg of the inspection. After all, the Gardener was out there holding down the fort.


After the inspection was over, they left the Wishing Well on my lot. Good! Now you know how to get a Wishing Well. Do not over compensate in one area and leave out one the other categories. Such as, spending $15,000 on Bon Voyage's Temple of Jumbok IV, and then not put out any flowers or bushes. That won't cut it.

If you have some tips you like to use to get the Wishing Well, be sure to leave it in the comments so other Muggles can know about it too!

Toodle-loo!



Credits

Samantha Stevens - Made by Veri Marina    (no longer available for download)
Professor Sprout - Made By Eddie Riso - Linky





9 comments:

Bubbs said...

HA-HA! Loved the how to get into the garden club! The only thing I noticed you did not have was the compost bin. It should have at least one item composted or they won't notice it.

Loved all the muggle comments. :)

ASimWen said...

Heh, guess that goes to show you don't have to have a compost bin. I usually have a couple of those though. *smile*

Unknown said...

Love the tute, Wen! Thanks so much for the tips. I have gotten in the Garden Club, but never gotten the wishing well. As soon as I finish Uni and/or get back to the Greek House I'll give this a shot. Thanks, again!

Infinity-Nevermore said...

That was very helpful. Now I see why I can get in but not get the wishing well. I never use fountains. Iwill have to use this when I re-install Seasons.
...Did you just say Bachelor Challenge? And I'm a bachelorette? Cool! I'll be keeping an eye out for that.

Kerry said...

Thanks, Wen! I plan to try it--I've got the well a couple of times, other times not, and never really systematically looked at it to figure out why.

Roo said...

you clevah woman you .. now i get it.. hmmm balance, must have balance! thanks for taking the time to create this for us! And look, its muggle me! Heh!

Felicia said...

Interesting - there are a couple of things here I didn't know about. Thanks!

I should add, though, that it's not just old newspapers they don't like. Brand new papers get complaints, too, as do garden gnomes and flamingoes.

And you can get away with a lot less statuary/flowers/shrubs if your plants are thriving...

Ziese52 said...

Thanks SO much for this Wen! It completely rocks! I'm very excited to try it out and share it with the listeners!

Twoflower said...

I just found your tutorial, and learned a lot of new things. I have it bookmarked for the next time I try to get the wishing well. I also think there is a category for indoor plants, like you get points if you have at least 10 indoor plants in one room. I don't remember off the top of my head how many points you get, though. Thank you for all the tips! :)