I understand the housing space limit is there to help load times and not crash the game but should plots count towards the limit they can't be that intensive to render and I feel like it's an artificial way to force players to buy the housing limit extender from the crown shop.
It doesn't really matter how hard/easy something is to render. Items and their locations have to be recorded either way. They still take up a place in the database. There has to be some limitation.
One possible way to help with this (if you are able to get to Polaris) is to farm for the triple plots. The small and medium triple plots are dropped at the Borealis Peaks battles and by Baba Yaga. These plots can hold three plants, but only take up a single housing space slot. By using these, I was able to easily double the size of my garden and still keep the same number of spaces.
These plots can also be bought for crowns from the crown shop if you do not want to farm for them. There is no level limit needed to use them. Obviously, you have to be high enough level to fight in Polaris though, if you intend to farm for them. They drop pretty frequently. I usually got one every time I did the Borealis Peaks battle. Baba Yaga drops them a lot less frequently. Still, in the course of a month of farming, I was able to get almost a hundred of them - small, medium, enchanted, unenchanted.
They can stack but you have to be a little creative to do it. Still, you can arrange them such that you can get 45 total plants using the medium ones to be within a single large circle spell, and 66 total plants using the small ones.
I understand the housing space limit is there to help load times and not crash the game but should plots count towards the limit they can't be that intensive to render and I feel like it's an artificial way to force players to buy the housing limit extender from the crown shop.
Imagine if the red barn farm didnt need any plots at all on the outside. Imagine if you could plant seeds right into the ground. While I HATE that a plant takes 2 slots, it actually makes sense. I can see issues cropping up with alignment and spells. The plots make the layout predictable.
While it is true that the triple plots take up only one housing slot, each seed planted still takes up a housing slot as well.
So if you have a triple plot and plant 3 seeds in it, it takes up a total of: 1 + 3 = 4 spots. This is still better than the 6 spots that would be taken up by 3 individual plots and 3 seeds. Sorry if I did not clarify this earlier. It is still a great way to expand your garden and maximize your space.