Sunpatch
plan a garden by the sun
I move a lot. Every new place means a new garden, and the same question: where does the light actually go?
The story
Hi, I'm Lucia! I'm a former software engineer and casual urban gardener in the Pacific Northwest.
For years, every time I moved somewhere new I'd spend an afternoon hand-sketching the yard: tracing where the fence cast a shadow at noon, guessing how far the roofline would reach in June versus October. It worked, mostly, but it was slow and imprecise, and I had to redo it with every new home.
Sunpatch is the tool I wished I'd had. Set your location, draw a simple 2D map of the obstacles, and let us do the sun math. I built it for myself, and then figured other gardeners might want it too, so here it is.
Since then it's grown a second half: an indoor planner for houseplants. Same question, smaller scale: instead of a fence and a roofline, it's a window and a north-facing wall; instead of "will the tomatoes get enough sun," it's "will this fern survive on that shelf." Draw your room, mark the windows, and Sunpatch estimates how much light reaches each spot and which plants would be happy there.
Get in touch
Questions, feedback, or just want to tell me what you planted? I'd love to hear from you.
Buy me a coffee?
Sunpatch is absolutely free to use, but if you'd like, you can buy me a coffee to say thanks!
Credits
- Map tiles © Stadia Maps © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap
- Map data Address search and building suggestions use OpenStreetMap data, available under the Open Database License
- Hardiness zones USDA Plant Hardiness Zone data via phzmapi.org
- Terrain elevation Hill shade beta uses elevation data via Open Topo Data
- Fonts Merriweather, Plus Jakarta Sans, and DM Mono, licensed under the SIL Open Font License