When Graveyard Keeper players aren't putting bodies in the ground and extracting organs for their nefarious plans, there's no shortage of other activities to engage in - from cooking food of food of varying quality to fishing and bringing science to the medieval era, there are several wonderful ways to pass the time when players aren't dealing with the strange townsfolk.

One of the most important hobbies that players can engage in is farming. While some crops can be purchased from the farmer, others must be grown by the player themselves. To get the carrots that attract the corpse-delivering donkey to their graveyard, a farm should be up and running ASAP. With that in mind, this guide will help new players to unlock farming in Graveyard Keeper.

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How to Unlock Farming in Graveyard Keeper

Graveyard Keeper garden bench in ruins, players are prompted to speak to tavern owner Horadric

When players start a new game of Graveyard Keeper, it's important to unlock farming as soon as possible so that the titular graveyard doesn't get neglected due to a lack of body deliveries.

To begin the quest that unlocks farming, players first need to check the gardening bench in the bottom-right section of their homestead, above the path that leads into town. They'll find it destroyed, and inspecting the wreckage gives the player a prompt to go talk to Horadric.

Talking to Horadric, the owner of the local 'dead horse' tavern, gives a new talking prompt: Ask about the Garden to receive the Garden certificate. This will also begin a quest that has players speaking to the Merchant, but progressing it is not required to begin farming.

This certificate allows players to return to the gardening bench and repair it, an act that unlocks the empty garden bed recipe.

How to farm

graveyard keeper garden farm crops zombies

The garden bench unlocks farming, but actually putting seeds in the ground requires an empty garden bed. For this, players simply need to place it anywhere on the farm, approach it, and hold a button to prepare the soil for seeds.

Seeds can be purchased from the farmer NPC, who can be found by taking the path south through the cornfield. Carrot seeds can be purchased at a starting price of 9 copper each.

Planting crops in Graveyard Keeper requires at least four seeds, and, unlike in similar games, they don't need to be watered or maintained, meaning that players can simply plant 'em and forget 'em. After a few days, they'll have grown noticeably and can be harvested by holding a button, yielding a random number of crops, and giving some seeds back. Players will also be rewarded with some crop waste that is used in some potion recipes.

As players get more advanced, they'll unlock:

  • New things to craft and place on the farm
  • Fertilizers that can increase crop growth speed
  • Fertilizers that increase crop quality and give more seeds per harvest
  • Higher quality seeds that provide bronze or silver harvests by default
  • Automated zombie farms that harvest and re-plant seeds in bulk

Graveyard Keeper is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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