Hold a cooked meal before speaking to an NPC like Sam to reveal the Feed option. Feeding once per 24 hours grants friendship points that eventually open extra shop tabs with items not found in the standard rotation.

Prerequisite: Make food with the Cooking Kit

Certain NPCs only accept cooked meals, not raw crops. You’ll need the Cooking Kit (earned from Garden Guide achievements) placed in your garden to prepare food.

Step 1: Unlock a Cooking Kit via the Garden Guide by completing the required achievement tier. This cosmetic enables meal crafting needed for the Feed feature.

Step 2: Place the Cooking Kit in your garden from your cosmetics inventory. Position it where you can easily access it during play.

Step 3: Add up to five crops as ingredients to the Kit. Different ingredient combinations produce different meal types with varying rarities.

Step 4: Start cooking by pressing the Kit’s green button. Cooking time increases when you use heavily mutated crops, so plan for longer timers with high‑mutation ingredients.

Step 5: Collect the finished meal when the timer completes. The result appears in your inventory as a food item you can equip and hold.

Feed Sam (Seed Stall) to unlock the Friendship shop

Sam at the Seed Stall accepts one meal per 24 hours. Feeding adds friendship points; hitting milestones opens a dedicated tab with exclusive seeds purchased using Garden Coins.

Step 1: Equip a cooked meal so your character is holding it. Raw crops won’t trigger the Feed prompt at NPC stalls.

Step 2: Walk up to Sam with the meal in hand. When you are close enough, the interaction changes from the shop to a Feed option.

Step 3: Use the Feed prompt to hand over the meal (for example, hold E on PC). A friendship bar appears above Sam showing the points gained.

Step 4: Check your current progress by simply holding a meal near Sam to reveal the friendship bar. This helps you decide what rarity to bring next time.

Step 5: Wait 24 hours before feeding again. Higher‑rarity meals award more points, reducing the total days needed to reach each milestone.

What unlocks: Sam’s Friendship tab grants access to a separate seed lineup that refreshes on a regular cadence, and purchases use Garden Coins. Seeds reported in this tab include Broccoli, Potato, Brussels Sprout, and Cocomango.

Friendship points by meal rarity

Meal rarity directly determines the points you earn per feed. Using better meals speeds up progress under the once‑per‑day limit.

  • Common recipe: 1 point.
  • Uncommon recipe: 2 points.
  • Rare recipe: 3 points.
  • Legendary recipe: 4 points.
  • Mythical recipe: 5 points.
  • Divine recipe: 6 points.
  • Prismatic recipe: 7 points.
  • Transcendent recipe: 8 points.

Other NPCs and how feeding works

Feeding behavior and rewards vary by character, and some NPCs are event‑specific or birthday‑only.

  • Raphael (Pet Stall): Supports friendship progression similar to Sam, unlocking a second pet‑shop tab with additional items.
  • Eloise (Gear Stall): Currently no friendship track, but can be fed Cake on her birthday for a reward.
  • The Giant (Beanstalk event): Accepted any food to raise friendship and unlock items in the Goliath’s Goods tab during the event.
  • Chris P. (Cooking event): Accepted cooked meals with rewards that scaled by meal rarity; some periods featured rotating cravings.
  • Rat Connoisseur (Kitchen Storm update): Accepted mutated food and let you choose a reward from several options; no friendship track.
  • Not feedable right now: Steven (crop buyer) and Orson (Garden Ascension) do not have a Feed option.

Birthdays and feeding Cake

NPC birthdays allow a one‑day Cake interaction for a free reward. Some characters only accept Cake on their birthday.

Step 1: Watch the top‑right HUD for the current in‑game date and the next birthday countdown. Use it to plan your Cake prep.

Step 2: Bake a Cake with the Cooking Kit ahead of the listed date. Cake is a specific recipe, so ensure you have the ingredients ready.

Step 3: On the day, equip Cake and interact with the birthday NPC to feed it. If you hold other food, the Feed option may be unavailable for them.

Step 4: The once‑per‑day feeding limit still applies on birthdays. If you already fed that NPC, you’ll need to return the next day in‑game.

Notes: In‑game time advances faster than real time, so displayed dates won’t match the real calendar. Known birthday example: Eloise (March 4); others are still being established in‑game.

Troubleshooting

Step 1: Seed Shop opens instead of Feed. Make sure you are holding a cooked meal, not a crop or other item.

Step 2: Feed prompt missing. Confirm that 24 hours have passed since your last feed; the cooldown prevents a second feed within that window.

Step 3: No bar appears. Move closer to the NPC while holding a meal until the friendship bar displays above their head.

Step 4: Feeding not supported. Verify the character is one that accepts food at this time; for example, Steven and Orson currently do not.

Planning tips

Step 1: Prioritize higher‑rarity meals for the NPC you’re focusing on. This cuts the number of days needed under the daily limit.

Step 2: Keep Garden Coins on hand before a milestone. The Friendship tab uses Garden Coins for purchases as soon as it unlocks.

Step 3: Check the Friendship tab periodically after unlocking. Stock rotates on a schedule, so revisit to catch items you’re targeting.

Feed once per day, use the highest‑rarity meals you can craft, and you’ll open NPC shop tabs steadily without wasting days.