Guide:Gardening

Gardening is the practice of intentionally spawning resources in a convenient area for harvest. There are several Plants that can be successfully grown in gardens in Terraria.

To grow many items you'll first need to collect seeds. Ordinary grass and corruption spread fairly quickly, though grass requiring mud, like Glowing Mushroom and Jungle, is rather slow. Planting multiple seeds spread throughout the farm is advisable in those cases. Only one tree will grow per acorn planted. All mushrooms grow more abundantly when you trim the weeds often.

You'll then need to prepare the appropriate environment.

Potion and Seed Farm
A well planned seed garden will help cultivate the plants used to create a variety of potions. The individual seeds are listed above including soil type, harvest conditions, and special instructions. A good design can be easily expanded as needed.

The preferable method for growing and harvesting potion plants is through the use of pots. Seeds from all potion plants can be planted and grown in empty Clay Pots. To plant seeds in Clay Pots, click the block above the pot while the seeds are selected. Plants in pots may only be harvested with a Pickaxe. Therefore, specific plants can easily be chosen, leaving immature and non-blooming plants alone. Only Blooming plants drop seeds, whereas immature plants drop nothing, so it is best to wait for the blooming period.

Both methods are viable farming techniques, but each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Growing plants inside pots makes for precise harvesting, but is much slower. Plants on soil can be harvested by simply running through with weapon swinging, but may result in lower yield. Space requirements should also be considered, as plants require 2 blocks of clearance using Clay Pots versus 1 block to grow on soil.

It is recommended to build your Water and Lava containers out of a pickaxe-proof material (Wood or Glass, as shown in the photos) to prevent accidental and potentially damaging spills when harvesting.

To fast harvest your mushrooms and other plants (I do not know yet if this also works for clay pot plants, will check it out asap) you can make a dart trap at the base left part of all the farms and a switch at the start so when you activate it you can instantly outroot all the mushrooms or plants for a very fast harvest.

Trees
A tree farm is usually nothing more than a wide, flat surface where players plant their acorns. If the tree farm sees heavy use, players might level off the area more carefully. It is possible to layer tree farms, much like mushroom farms, but trees require far more height. Trees only grow as many as 15 blocks high, making this an ideal spacing. (Note that trees generated with the map are often much taller.)

Each sapling should have two empty spaces on either side of it; underground markers such as torches may be used to make this easier. This means there will be three spaces between each acorn, as the first tree to grow may fill an additional space on either side of its trunk.

As they have similar requirements, a tree farm may also serve as an arena during Goblin Invasions and Blood Moons.

A surface jungle is much more efficient, since the trees grow automatically. All that is required is a large, flat area of mud one block deep with Jungle Grass on the surface. This is also a great way of obtaining green dye. However, keep in mind that surface jungle monsters such as Jungle Slimes, Bats, and Snatchers may spawn.

Jungle
There are two major resources to gather from a jungle farm, Jungle Grass Seeds and Jungle Spores. Jungles require Mud to grow.


 * Jungle Grass Seeds can be gathered both above ground and underground. The same layered methods used for mushroom farming work well here; be warned that the area will spawn jungle monsters. By creating an open-top area, trees will spontaneously grow, which is good for growing wood but not good for growing grass for seeds.


 * Jungle Spores can only be found underground. Be warned that an underground jungle farm can spawn even more dangerous creatures including Man Eaters and Hornets. Bear in mind that in order to farm Jungle Spores, you need to create your farm in the Cavern layer, not just "below" as glowing mushrooms.

Underground Jungle farms will also occasionally grow Jungle Roses and Nature's Gifts. Additionally, an underwater jungle farm can be created to farm Piranha for Hooks and the rare Robot Hat.

Normal Mushrooms
Normal mushrooms will grow anywhere with normal grass. To make a normal mushroom farm, simply place several layers of dirt with gaps in between. The grass must be naturally lit. Most farms can produce roughly 5-10 mushrooms per screen per harvest.

Note that vines will grow down from strips of grassy dirt, preventing the growth of mushrooms. To combat this, add a layer of stone (or other non-dirt block) under each layer of dirt. Wooden platforms are an excellent option here since the player can walk through them, allowing layers to be packed more tightly.

Glowing Mushrooms
Glowing Mushrooms are perhaps the most worthwhile thing to intentionally grow. A Glowing Mushroom farm unfortunately has to be underground, far enough where the Depth Meter reads 4 feet below the surface or lower. They usually consist of several layers of mud with Mushroom Grass Seeds planted on them. Without the need to weed the farm of normal grass (as is the case with normal mushrooms) the Glowing Mushrooms yield astonishing results. Even a small farm can support a multi-player server with 3-5 players.

A gap tall enough to walk through should be kept between finished rows, for ease of harvesting.

A small garden of this sort goes a long way. One roughly the size of the screen can provide as many as 200 glowing mushrooms in a single harvest - enough for around seven full stacks of potions.

Vile Mushrooms
Vile Mushrooms grow on corrupted grass. Be aware that planted corruption will spawn enemies and spread like natural corruption does, but this spread can be controlled using sunflowers. If it's close enough to your NPCs, the reduction in enemy spawns will keep anything from showing up. Vile mushrooms need to be in an area big enough to dim the sunlight, and they need to be naturally lit as with normal mushrooms above.

A somewhat dangerous project with potential side effects. Corrupting an area with Corrupt Seeds and layering it like a mushroom farm can provide an area for harvesting Vile Mushrooms for the production of Vile Powder. Unfortunately, a large corrupted area also spawns obnoxious corruption monsters, so this project should be undergone with careful placement and consideration.

If your world is in hardmode, you should take extra care to surround your farm in the hallow, or anything else that can't be corrupted.

This area may also serve as an arena for fighting the Eater of Worlds or the Destroyer (see below). Note that an area of wooden platforms is recommended for the actual fight, however he may be summoned from within the farm.

Mushroom Farm Layouts
It is possible to create higher yield mushroom farms by placing multiple mushroom layers between harvesting layers. In this sort of layout mushroom layers are stacked between harvesting layers to create a much more efficient farm. A mushroom layer is a layer of mushroom grass followed by a layer of air for glow mushrooms, and a layer of stone(or any non-dirt block) followed by a layer of grass followed by a layer of air. A harvesting layer is simply a layer of air 3 blocks high in which the player will go though to harvest their mushrooms.

For an efficient mushroom farm, mushroom layers are stacked 2 high, followed by a harvesting layer, followed by another set of mushroom layers. A glowing mushroom farm follows the same layout, but the mushroom layers can be stacked up to 3 high.

To harvest this type of farm a swinging weapon with a longer reach (such as a broadsword or Muramasa) is suggested as they can easily reach and harvest the in-between mushroom layers. There are many other possible layouts for a high-yield mushroom farm.