The Zen Update was released to Grow a Garden on July 19, 2025. With plenty of tranquil-themed cosmetics to buy, new pets to roam around in your garden, and a special Zen Event to participate in, there’s a lot to check out. To help you stay zen about everything new that’s been added to the update, I’ve put together a round-up of all the key information you’ll need, so you can have the best start to this fresh week of content.
Before the Zen Update Launched
At this stage, those who regularly drop by for the weekly updates know that before an update is launched, there’s a whole pre-show or “admin abuse” as it’s commonly referred to in the community. This takes place the hour before the update launches, and sees Jandel unleash a variety of admin-triggered weather events for players to enjoy.
Before the Zen Update, we saw some familiar weather events, including the Disco, Blackhole, and the JandelZombie Brains… event.
But we also saw some new experiences, one of which included the Jandel monkey avatar slamming a hammer down, and Master Sprinkler being restocked at the same time. In addition to this, the Radioactive Carrot was introduced.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to send that carrot rocket into space, but I hope you managed to give it enough fuel to get the Radioactive Mutation that comes with it!
What’s New in the Zen Update
Taking center stage of the Zen Update is the Zen Channeller and the friendly little Tanuki to his left.
Every hour, a Zen Event begins. For 10 minutes, your fruits have the chance to receive the Tranquil Mutation. You can then submit your Tranquil fruit to the Zen Channeller, and this will grow the Zen tree. There are a total of five stages to the tree that should be completed.
If you submit your Tranquil Plants to the Tanuki pet running the Zen Shop on the left, then you’ll receive Chi that you can spend in the shop. By growing the Zen Tree, you’ll unlock more rewards and items to purchase in the Zen Shop.
New Cosmetics
If you’re big on the aesthetics of Grow a Garden and you’ve been wanting to make yourself a little Japanese-inspired garden, then this update is made for you.
In the Zen Shop, you can purchase new cosmetics that include the Hot Spring and Zen Sand. But there’s also a Zen Crate, where you can get the following items:
- Temple Lamp – 24.1% chance
- Bamboo Fence – 24.1% chance
- Bamboo Tech – 18.07% chance
- Japanese Gong – 18.07% chance
- Buddha Statue – 6.02% chance
- Zen Bridge – 6.02% chance
- Zen Waterfall – 3.61% chance
Sounds like we’ll be able to make the tranquility gardens of our dreams!
Brand New Pets Added
I have no more inventory space to take on any more pets, but I’m going to have to make some tough decisions because these new animals look adorable.
In the Zen Shop that’s run by the small pet on the left near the Zen Channeller, you can directly buy a Koi. Or, you can purchase a Zen Egg, and this gives you the chance to obtain six new pets.
These are:
- Shiba Inu – 40% chance
- Nihonzaru – 31% chance
- Tanuki – 20.82% chance
- Tanchōzuru – 4.6% chance
- Kappa – 3.5% chance
- Kitsune 0.08% chance
New Seeds and Crops
It seems we’ll be back and forth between the Zen Shop regularly, as it’s also giving us multiple opportunities to get new seeds and crops.
You can buy the Soft Sunshine, Zenflare, and Spiked Mango directly from the shop. Alternatively, you can buy the Zen Seed Pack, which gives you the chance to get:
- Monoblooma -40% chance
- Serenity – 25% chance
- Taro Flower – 20% chance
- Zen Rocks – 10% chance
- Hinomai – 4.5% chance
- Maple Apple – 0.5% chance
Garden Save Slots
The biggest change comes in the form of Garden Save Slots, though fair warning, they are expensive! You may have noticed that a mailbox has appeared next to your garden.
If you interact with this mailbox, you can see the new save slots that have been introduced to the game. Save slots give you the chance to switch between different states of your garden.
New Tools and Weather
With new weather comes new mutations, but we’re also seeing new gear being introduced that will help us with those mutations. Seems like we’ll be spending a lot of time getting to know all the new mutations and multipliers.
Some of the new weather events we’ll see include:
- Armageddon
- Crystal Beam
- Zen Aura
- Radioactive Carrot
In addition to this, there will be new mutation sprays and a Spray Merchant. There’s also a Tranquil Pet Mutation Shard. This can be used on your pet to give it the new Tranquil Mutation, which goes along with the rest of the Pet Mutations.
That’s just an overview of the most important changes and features that have been introduced as part of the Zen Update to Grow a Garden. The best way to stay on top of all the new items, seeds, gear, and pets is to explore the rest of our GaG guide.
