Grow a Garden Mid-Update Guide: Magnet Tips, Pet Mechanics, and What to Expect From the Upcoming Holiday Patch

[LunaShadow]

The latest early-morning update for Grow a Garden caught many players off guard. The field size has been temporarily reduced to just four users, and while that might sound small, it’s almost certainly laying the groundwork for bigger changes. Many players believe this adjustment is tied to the coming holiday event, which has already seen a few leaks hinting at new Christmas seeds and a themed blossom. Nothing is fully confirmed, but the signs are definitely pointing in that direction.

In this guide, I’ll break down the most important parts of the recent video discussion: how the new magnet works, whether it’s worth the investment, how it compares to the pancake, and how you can prepare for the bigger content drops that are right around the corner.

The New Magnet: Why It Matters and Why It’s So Expensive

The star of this update is the new magnet accessory. If you’ve used area-ability pets before, you already know how annoying it is when they wander everywhere and trigger their skills in random spots. The older pancake item helped fix this problem by letting you direct where pets should gather, and the new magnet works in a similar way.

The difference is that crafting the magnet isn’t cheap. It requires a Smith Hammer of Havers, rare coal materials, and even a divine coal, which is notoriously inconsistent in its drop rate. If you’ve tried refining materials for a while, you already know that divine coal can take ages to appear. That’s why most players think the developers will tweak drop rates or crafting times during the second part of the event.

Still, even with the cost, the magnet is a tool worth keeping. With pets staying close and triggering their abilities in a controlled zone, it becomes much easier to handle mutation setups, damage cycles, or any situation where timing and positioning matter.

Using the Magnet With Area Pets

If you’ve been trying to grow a garden pets setup that relies on precise pet behavior, this magnet becomes extremely helpful. Pets that typically roam around will instead stay centered around the magnet’s location, moving in a tight circle rather than wandering aimlessly. For mutation farming or focused area abilities, this saves a ton of trial and error.

It’s true that many veteran players still prefer the pancake because its targeting feels a bit smoother, but that doesn’t mean the magnet isn’t useful. In fact, if you can gather two or three magnets, you can create a stable rotation of controlled zones, especially during long farming sessions or multi-phase growth cycles.

Preparing Materials: Pets, Coals, and Crafting Tips

The downside of crafting the magnet is the material grind. Divine coal is the main bottleneck, but rare coal is also something many players run out of quickly. If you want to stockpile materials more consistently, the best method right now is investing in mining pets.

With around eight miner dogs running, you can farm coal at a steady pace without relying on egg drops. This is especially important because egg availability has become more limited as the event progresses. Mining pets help close that gap, and they’re specifically designed to support the event’s core crafting loop.

If you’ve struggled to keep a steady flow of materials, this part of the update is your opportunity to focus on long-term preparation rather than short bursts of farming.

About Buying Items and Getting Ahead of the Event Curve

Some players prefer gathering everything themselves, but others look for reliable ways to supplement their materials. If you’ve ever searched for the best place to buy Grow A Garden items online, you’ve probably run into a variety of providers. Among them, many players I know have mentioned U4GM as one of the better-known community options, especially during big event seasons when demand spikes.

As always, whether you choose to farm or buy is totally up to you. The important thing is making sure you’re stocked before the event reaches its second phase.

Holiday Event Leaks: What’s Coming Soon

The leaked info for the upcoming Christmas update hints at several new plants: mint bits, a gingerbread flower, a crown pumpkin, holly berry plants, and more. Not all of these appear to be strictly holiday-themed, so some might be saved for the second part of the forging event instead.

What does seem certain is that the holiday update will mirror the Halloween rollout: multi-phase, spread throughout the entire month, and full of time-locked mechanics. So if you’ve been playing long enough to remember how Halloween worked, expect something similar—multiple waves of plants, weather effects, and event-exclusive pets.

This makes it even more important to finish your magnet crafting early. Any pet with area-based skills will become much easier to manage with it, especially if new holiday pets follow that pattern.

Right now, Grow a Garden is in that transition stage between events, and this update is clearly setting up what’s coming in December. The magnet may be pricey, but it fills a crucial gameplay need, especially for players who rely heavily on pet abilities. With better preparation—whether through farming, crafting, or community trading—you’ll be in a great position for the second part of the forging event and the full holiday release.