VeggieCrush v1.7 is out now, and it is a big one. Our headline feature, Sun & Shadows, brings the light in your garden to life inside the Garden Planner, so you can see exactly where the sun falls before you plant a thing. Alongside it are two little touches that make the app friendlier from the very first tap: passwordless sign-in and a live tally for your shopping list.
What’s new
Follow the sun around your garden with Sun & Shadows
Every gardener knows the quiet frustration of a bed that never quite gets going, only to realise months later that it sits in shade for half the day. Sun & Shadows takes the guesswork out of it.
Switch it on from the Garden Planner menu, and VeggieCrush shows the shadows your beds, pots and structures cast right across your layout, so you can see at a glance which corners bask in sun and which sit in shade.
A gentle setup gets you going, and it only takes a minute. We confirm where your garden is, then help you line it up to true north, either by holding up your phone and letting the compass do the work, or by nudging a dial around by hand until it matches your actual bed layout. From there, VeggieCrush knows exactly how the sun travels over your patch.
Here is the lovely part: the shadows are height-aware, and they move. A tall trellis throws a longer shadow than a low pot, and a raised-bed can quietly steal the light from the one beside it. Reach for the floating sun control, drag the time-of-day dial from sunrise to sunset, and watch the shadows swing across your garden. Spin the season dial and see how the very same spot changes from the long, low shadows of winter to the short, high ones of midsummer.
So before you plant, you can check. Pop your sun-loving tomatoes and chillies where the light lingers longest, tuck your leafy, shade-tolerant greens into the cooler corners, and spot an overshadowed bed before it quietly costs you a season. It is a bit like walking your garden at every hour of every month, without ever leaving the couch.
Say goodbye to passwords
You can now sign up or log in with nothing more than your email address. Pop in your email, we send you a magic link, you tap it, and you are in. No password to dream up, no password to forget, and no “forgot password” dance three months down the track when you fancy checking on your beds.
It is the same trusty VeggieCrush account you already have, just an easier, calmer way to reach it. And for new gardeners, getting started now takes moments: enter your email, tap the link we send, and your patch is ready and waiting.
A running tally for your shopping
Your Shopping tab now wears a neat little badge showing exactly how many items you still need. It counts live, so as you tick things off the number ticks down with you, and the moment you add something new to the list, it pops straight back up.
A quick glance tells you whether you are all sorted or still have a few bits to gather, no need to open the list and count by hand. Fewer forgotten seed packets, fewer second trips.
Update now
Head to the App Store or Google Play, update to v1.7, and switch on Sun & Shadows to see where the light falls across your beds.
Know it, grow it.
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