One of the first tasks you’ll need to knock out in your quest to escape the authoritarian government in Mr. Prepper is getting an underground garden up and running. After all, you’re going to need a source of sustenance now that you’re not earning a livable wage. Getting it going isn’t too hard, but there are a few steps you can take to ensure it’s running efficiently from the jump.
The basics of gardening
The first thing you need to do is go ahead and add a second level to your underground bunker. The first level is a great place to have your initial crafting table, but you need some space for your green thumb. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t make it very easy in the early game to get the metal you need to build that second ladder.
The simplest way we’ve found to get more metal is to buy metal boxes from the trading post. Sure, you could break down items in your house, but that could mean bringing down the wrath of the Agency and being throw in jail. Instead, go to your mailbox and find the merchant selling those precious metal boxes. Then, break them down at your crafting table and build the ladder.
From there, it’s just about digging out enough space to build your dream garden. However, your work doesn’t end here. Yes, you can just start tossing out seeds to get started, but there’s one important thing to do first.
As you can see in the screenshot above, we’ve placed several wall lights in our garden. These make your crops grow faster, making them important additions. In the early game, you can’t just place a ton of them as you only have so much electricity at your disposal. Those problems go away with time, but early on, we’d recommend getting around two lights on each plot. Your crops won’t grow at a ridiculous rate, but it’s sustainable.
From there, it’s just about slowly building out your garden as you acquire new items to build. It’ll take some work to get there, but soon you’ll have the best garden in your dystopian town.
