Start your farm with Hazel's first garden bed
Your first harvest in Loftia teaches a loop you will keep returning to: plant, water, harvest, and decide what to ship or cook. This Loftia farming guide follows the demo's early farming lessons, including how to expand beyond your first bed. Understanding water, seeds, and building permits helps you resolve the common reasons that loop stalls.
The steps are based on player experience in Z1 Gaming's narrated demo session. They cover the opening version available before Early Access's scheduled November 3, 2026 launch; the official Loftia Steam page provides the game's release information.
Follow the introductory story until Pebble sends you to Hazel. She introduces farming and asks you to place a garden bed on your island and plant lettuce seeds. Put the bed somewhere convenient, with room to move between it and your crafting stations.
You will also need a watering can. Craft it at the project station established during Milo's earlier tutorial, then equip it for the next step.
Equip seeds and keep the crops watered
The narrated demo introduces holding R and hovering over the desired tool to use the tool wheel. Use it to select seeds for planting and switch to the watering can afterward.
Water the planted lettuce and watch the indicators above the crop. Growth time and remaining water are separate concerns: the tutorial explicitly explains that thirsty crops do not grow. If a crop remains unfinished, check its water instead of assuming planting failed.
Refill the watering can at a rain collector when needed. In the narrated session, the player initially tries the neighborhood fountain unsuccessfully, then later uses the rain collector. Go to the demonstrated refill source rather than assuming every visible pool works.
There is another important timing distinction. Hazel's introductory seeds are described as a special breed for new Loftians. Later she asks the player to plant regular seeds, which take longer to grow. A fast first harvest therefore does not establish the growth time of every crop you buy afterward.
Harvest, ship, and turn carrots into soup
Once your lettuce matures, harvest it and return to Hazel. The next lesson uses the shipping bin: the narrated opening objective asks for four crops. Put the required harvest into the bin and confirm the shipment to receive Dew.
Check your active goals before shipping your entire supply. Hazel points out that crops have other uses, and the next cooking lesson makes that immediately relevant.
| What you have | A useful next step |
|---|---|
| Mature lettuce for the opening task | Harvest it and complete Hazel's shipment |
| Carrot seeds for the cooking lesson | Plant, water, and harvest them |
| Carrots and the required station | Make the requested carrot soup |
| More crops than the quest needs | Check upcoming ingredients and objectives before shipping |
The soup lesson asks you to plant carrots and build a cooking station. Gather any missing station materials, craft it at your project station, and place it on your island. Then use your grown carrots to make the soup and deliver it through the shipping bin as directed.
Crafting and cooking consume battery energy. Recharge at your solar panel when you have ingredients but lack the power to use them. Keeping crops growing while you gather station materials is a practical way to combine the two tasks, provided you return to water them when needed.
Add planting space through Amani's permits
After the early crop and soup work, Hazel directs you to Amani. Amani handles the permits that determine how many relevant objects you can place on your island.
Visit her, improve the garden-bed permit, then craft and place your second bed. In the demonstrated demo example, the next 2-by-2 bed requires five clay and ten scrap wood. That is one observed recipe, not a price list for every bed size or a guaranteed Early Access recipe.
Hazel then asks the player to plant eight seeds across the available growing space. Keep the order straight: increasing the permitted capacity and crafting the physical bed are separate actions. Buying the permit does not place the bed for you, and gathering materials does not raise your placement limit.
Before another gathering trip, water the existing plants and check your can. This keeps the first bed productive while you work toward the second instead of letting expansion interrupt the basic farming loop.
FAQ
Why are my crops not growing?
Check whether they need water. The demo tutorial says thirsty crops stop growing. Read the crop's indicators and refill the watering can at a rain collector when needed.
Why do new seeds grow more slowly than my first lettuce?
Hazel explains that the opening seeds are a special introductory breed. The narrated later lesson uses regular crops, which take longer. Do not apply the tutorial's quick growth to every seed.
How do I get more garden beds?
Continue Hazel's early tasks, improve the garden-bed permit with Amani, then craft and place another bed. Both permission and the actual crafted item are needed.
Should I sell every crop immediately?
Keep what your current quests and cooking plans need, then ship the surplus you choose to sell. The opening storyline itself uses crops for both direct shipments and carrot soup.