How to Farm in Minecraft – Pumpkins, Wheat, Planting Tips

This feature provides farming tips for Minecraft.  We’ll tell you how to clear the land, plant seeds and harvest crops like wheat, sugar cane and pumpkins in order to create a source of food. Additionally, we offer hints to make plants grow and protect them from Creepers. 

Inevitably your character’s hunger bar will deplete and you’ll need to eat food. Meat seems like the perfect solution, except it’s easy to hunt and kill all of the nearby animals, forcing you to search for more. By all means, explore the world looking for critters, but we suggest learning how to farm. Doing this is relatively simple and you create a stable food source. Follow these tips and you’ll have plenty of crops to nibble. 

Building a Farm 

First you need to set up a field. At the most basic level, farming involves planting seeds in wet dirt with lots of sunshine to make them grow. The easiest way to do this is to build a farm near the sea, the shoreline near a lake or you can collect water in a bucket, then surround the damp earth with some blocks.  In fact, one block of water will dampen four dirt blocks. 

How this water reaches dirt is up to you. Build a trench, dig a pit or even use a waterfall if you feel especially creative. So long as the water interacts with the dirt and the latter remains damp, you’re ready to farm! 

Planting Tips 

Before planting you need to work the soil with a Hoe; a Wood or Stone Hoe will get the job done. Use the Hoe to transform the dirt into Farmland blocks. If the blocks turn dark brown they’re damp and ready for planting! If the blocks fade, you probably need to put some water nearby.

How much water do you need? One block of water will dampen a 9×9 farm. If you want to build a wall around the farm, make an 11×11 group of walls and then put the water block in the middle of the area. 

Tip: Avoid jumping around on tilled land, otherwise it’ll revert back to plain old dirt.

The sun will make plants grow, but add a few torches to the farm so your crops continue growing at night. This also prevents monsters from spawning into the farm and/or stomping your precious food. Creepers will explode and wipe out huge chunks of land. Because of this, you may want to build high walls to keep them away, then top this off with a glass roof so sunlight gets in; you can also hang out in the garden at night, while the roof keeps Spiders and Skeletons at bay. 

Side note, because of torches, you have the ability to create farms underground.

How to Make Plants Grow Faster 

If good old-fashioned sunlight is too slow for you, make plants grow faster by adding Bone Meal; break down Bones to produce this resource. Outside of a farm, Bone Beal will make tree Saplings and Mushrooms grow quicker than usual. Adding some to Grass, meanwhile, makes flowers grow. 

Types of Crops

Wheat 

Wheat is the staple of any farm in Minecraft because it has so many uses, but first you need to find Wheat Seeds. 

Get some by chopping tall grass. If you don’t see any nearby, go in search of plains. Keep in mind that not every piece of grass yields Wheat Seeds, but you’re bound to find some. Thankfully, harvested Wheat produces more than one Seed, allowing you to then replant this Seed for more Wheat. It’s the circle of life! 

Ripe Wheat is golden brown. Harvest and gather one piece of Wheat and anywhere from zero to three Seeds. Do not harvest prematurely, or else you’ll only have the Seeds.

Wheat Seeds do more than grow in the dirt. You can use them to lure Chickens back to your farm. Get enough Chickens in the same area and they’ll breed. Additionally, you can lure Cows and Sheep with Ripe Wheat, or feed it to two Cows or two Sheep so they breed. Combine three Wheat to make bread, or nine to create a bale of hay for a horse.

Carrots 

This may sound weird, but Zombies drop Carrots from time to time; you’ll also find some growing on other farms. From there, plant one Carrot and you may wind up with up to four. If you see a cluster growing in the ground, it’s time to harvest! 

Now that you have Carrots on hand, replant to grow more or eat them. On top of that, you can use Carrots to lure Pigs and Rabbits for breeding. Finally (and if you have a Saddle), put a Carrot on a Stick to ride a Pig. Dangle the Carrot and the animal will go in the desired direction. 

Potatoes 

Similar to Carrots, you’ll see Potatoes on other farms. A Zombie may drop a Potato but this rarely happens.

Plant a raw Potato and it will produce several. If you see tops appearing from the ground, these Potatoes are ready to be harvested. Gobble them up or replant to get more. Even better, put some in your Furnace to make Baked Potatoes, which satisfy your hunger more than raw ones.

A word of warning, beware the Poison Potato! While the odds are slim, there’s a chance you’ll discover a Poison Potato after a harvest. These cannot be planted or cooked. We also advise against eating one. 

Watermelons 

To find Watermelons, head to the jungle biomes, crack some fruit open and collect the seeds.  You’re able to trade for Watermelon Seeds with a Farmer Villager, or find some inside chests while exploring a mineshaft, oddly enough. 

Plant a Watermelon Seed and a Stem appears. Over time this Stem will grow a Watermelon, but you need to have a free space on the farm for it to grow. Harvest the Watermelon but leave the Stem alone so it produces more fruit. 

Tip: Combine Melon Slices with Gold Nuggets to create Glistering Melons. Use these to make health potions. 

Pumpkins 

You’ll stumble across Pumpkins while exploring grasslands, and they’re similar to Watermelons in the sense that planted seeds produce Stems which in turn make Pumpkins. You will also need to make sure there’s one free block for the Pumpkin to grow. Harvest a ripe Pumpkin but leave the Stem so another Pumpkin grows. Combine Pumpkin with Sugar and Eggs to make Pumpkin Pie. 

Ready to harvest? Use an Axe to break a Pumpkin or Watermelon’s hard exterior.

Tip: Pumpkins have a few uses that go beyond a source of food. A Pumpkin Helm will prevent Endermen from attacking if you look directly at these creatures. In addition, a Jack o’ Lantern shines brighter than a torch and works underwater. Finally, you can plop a Pumpkin onto Snow or Iron Blocks to create a defensive Golem.

Sugar Cane 

Unlike other crops you can’t devour Sugar Cane after harvesting it, but you should have a supply on hand. 

Look for Sugar Cane plants near rivers and deserts. A full-sized plant yields three pieces of Sugar Cane. Planting it is tricky because Sugar Cane requires more water than other crops to grow. Block off a line of dirt or sand, then dig a ditch next to it. Fill the ditch with water and when it’s time to harvest, leave the base of the plant alone so it regrows. 

Cocoa Beans 

If you thought Sugar Cane was tough, wait until you attempt to grow Cocoa Beans. The plants appear in jungle biomes on trees (ripe beans are golden brown). To grow them outside of the jungle, you will need to harvest both the beans and trees in the area.

Bring everything back to your farm. Place the wood at the desired location and then put the beans on top of it. The result is an orchard of Cocoa Beans!

Tip: One Cocoa Bean and two pieces of Wheat create eight Cookies. You can also dye things brown with Cocoa Beans. 

Flooding the Farm 

This trick only works if you surround the farm will walls on each side. 

If all of your crops ripen at once, use a Bucket of Water to flood the farm. Now collect the original Water source and all of the crops get pushed against the walls, making them easier to harvest. 

Unfortunately, flooding will instantly uproot Seeds, so you should only do this when everything is ripe. 

Now that you know how to farm in Minecraft, we’ll tell you how to defeat The Ender Dragon!