How To Build a Rooftop or Balcony Garden in The Sims 3

So you want a garden on your Sim's roof or balcony, do you? Maybe you're tired of Bridgeport city buildings that have no gardens. Maybe you'd like your Sim's modern home to have a lovely cluster of Flame Fruit bushes on its rooftop! Or maybe you want to have a garden on a small lot but haven't got the room for it in the yard. Whatever your reason for wanting one, you will find it's quite easy to make one!

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Update 10/5/2013: Excellent news for those of you who want a rooftop garden and are buying the Into the Future expansion pack. SimGuruLauren has announced in a recent broadcast that they will have a new item for this. They are called Nature Soil Rugs, or at least that's what she called them during the broadcast. You simply place the rug, which looks like a patch of grass, onto your roof or balcony or anywhere indoors and then you can place any outdoor plant or tree onto it. They will come in 5 different sizes and shapes.

Also, it should be mentioned for those who don't have the Supernatural expansion, it includes planting containers that allow garden plants. That's another option for your roof or balcony garden.

No worries for those of you who don't wish to wait for Into the Future, or who are choosing not to buy it (the same goes for Supernatural). You can still make a lovely balcony garden using the tutorial below. =)

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• Go into Edit Town mode while playing the game.
• Choose the building which you'd like to build your roof top garden. For this tutorial I have chosen the Jones family home, One Leo Center, in Bridgeport. It has a lovely balcony.
• Select the building of your choice, Evict the Sims, then click on Build/Buy. 
• Open the console (hold down Ctrl + Shift + C on your keyboard) and type TestingCheatsEnabled On, then hit Enter. 
• Open the console again and type RestrictBuildBuyInBuildings False. Hit Enter. 
• Terrain Paints will not work in buildings, so you have to get creative here. Go into Build Mode, then Floors & Ceilings, and choose what you'd like to be the "dirt" or "grass" or whatever you choose for your garden. I'm using Tar & Gravel Textured Floor in Miscellaneous. Remember that you can recolor these tiles, so you can have green grass looking tiles if you choose to. If you're skilled enough with mods you may want to search a mods site for better looking tiles for this (I'm sure someone has grass tiles), but it is not necessary at all. 

• Open your console again and type BuyDebug. Press Enter. 
• Go into Buy Mode, then Sort by Function. 
• Click on the  ? button to go into Debug. Then click on Gardening Plants & Seed Spawners. 
• Open your console and type MoveObjects On. 
• Select the plants you want in your garden and place them in the area you've selected. 

• Now that you have your garden, you can use other things to decorate it if you like. 

• Now that your garden looks the way you want it to you can return to Edit Town mode. Be sure to Save! And that's it. Your Sims can now enjoy a lovely rooftop or balcony garden. Have fun!