Urban Farmer
Enjoy growing fruits & vegetables the easy way with Urban Farmer, the organic gardening simulator that lets you plant and harvest crops from your own virtual backyard!
Wishlists are our fertilizer
Comprehensive List of
Core & DLC Features
- Geographically accurate gardening mechanics.
- Helping your grocery budget.
- Selling at the Farmers’ Market.
- Using rainbarrels and other watering systems.
- Improving and maintaining your soil.
- Composting.
- Companion planting.
- Preserving the harvest with recipes.
- Controlling diseases & pests.
- Practicing vertical farming.
- Introducing hydroponics/aquaponics.
- Animal Husbandry (poultry, rabbits, fish)
- Beekeeping.
- Seed saving, sharing, selling.
- Plant breeding via phenotypes.
- Community gardening.
- Working around the municipality’s rules.
Key Aspects
Geography Matters
Think carefully about planting cabbages in sunny Seville, or citrus trees in Toronto. You could make it work, but will it be worth the extra effort and resources?
Mind Your Budget
Budget for your garden and design it the way you want, with trellises, raised beds, and a wide variety of garden accessories, from chicken coops to beehives.
Invite Wildlife
Encourage birds and beneficial insects such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to visit your garden by planting a variety of native flowering plants that provide food for them.
Helpful Equipment
Use rainbarrels to store and feed quality water to your crops. You can customize the nutrition you give your plants every step of the way, especially by composting.
Companion Planting
Your plants need friends too! This method is becoming increasingly popular; when certain types of plants are near each other, resulting in better harvests and pest and disease control.
Feed Your Family
Urban farming is one of the best ways to feed your family healthy food. It also feeds the soul too. You know you’ve signed on the product from the moment you planted the seed.
1. A plot of land
Make the best use of what you have. Big is not always easy to manage.
2. A specific climate
Geographically accurate climate conditions will influence your crops.
3. Dynamic conditions
Adjust for changing light and soil conditions. Tend your garden carefully.
Pick a major city worldwide and see how geographically accurate climate conditions influence your crops. Budget for your garden and design it the way you want, with trellises, raised beds, and a wide variety of garden accessories, from chicken coops to beehives. You can encourage birds and beneficial insects to visit your garden and use compost and natural fertilizers to improve yields.
Once it’s time to harvest, you can enjoy the fruits of your labours to offset grocery costs or make preserves to sell at a farmer’s market. You can even donate surplus food to the local food bank – it’s up to you!
Gameplay
Urban Farmer lets you build a thriving garden full of fruits and vegetables in your own backyard. Start with a simple budget and a patch of garden in one of the dozens of cities worldwide. Wherever you set up your urban farm, it will experience realistic weather conditions according to the elevation and location of the city you’ve chosen. You’ll need to refer to the hardiness zones and heat zones listed for each type of crop you want to grow – that means you’ll need to think carefully about planting cabbages in sunny Seville, or citrus trees in Toronto. You could make it work, but will it be worth the extra effort and resources?
You’ll need to have a degree of luck on your side too because you can’t always rely on good weather. Even before global warming, there were extreme weather conditions like cold spells and droughts to contend with – it’s always been a huge factor in determining the success of the growing season. In Urban Farmer, there are several ways that you can minimize the impact of unseasonable weather – by purchasing certain items like rain barrels or tarps, for example, or by choosing different types of garden layouts that protect against wind damage.
How much will your character have to spend on their garden? You’ll need to consider monthly expenses like rent, utilities, and food. You might choose a place with a bigger backyard to work with, but the higher rent will also cut into your materials budget – things like garden tools, soil improvements, seeds, watering cans, etc. Remember, as your garden grows and requires more water and electricity to keep things going, your monthly utility bill will increase. As you learn how to balance the books, you may make a few miscalculations along the way. No worries! You can choose to take out a loan to cover expenses for a few months.
In the plus column, your newly harvested food will offset some of your grocery costs. If you decide to sell some of your produce, you can recoup even more of your investment and turn a profit. Your character can eventually quit their day job and devote all their energies to running the operation.