If there’s one thing that’s even better than a garden, it’s a smart garden. Similar to a smart home, a smart garden uses elements of automation, internet-connected devices, and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the garden and make it easier to manage. By leaning on technology, you can have a garden that’s beautiful and easy to take care of.
Here are a few ways to get your smart garden started, including useful apps and tech gadgets.
Tech Gadgets to Make Your Garden Smart
The main benefit of a smart garden is that it helps simplify your efforts. The following are high-tech gadgets that take care of various tasks while helping your smart garden thrive.
Netro Whisper: The Smart Plant Sensor
The solar-powered Netro Whisperer Smart Plant Sensor tracks three of the most important components of your smart garden’s health:
- Sunlight
- Soil moisture
- Temperature
The solar-powered Netro Whisperer also connects to Wi-Fi, so you can use the accompanying smartphone app to view the data, which Netro records and charts over time via three sensors.
If the Netro Whisperer tells you that your soil is a little on the dry side, you may benefit from the next gadget on our list as well.
Automate Your Watering With the Rainpoint Smart Watering Timer
One of the easiest ways to water your garden is by using a sprinkler. However, if you’re not always home at watering time or you just want an easier way to water, then the Rainpoint Smart Watering Timer can take care of watering for you.
This smart garden device connects directly to your water spigot, then your hose connects to the device’s output. So, you can leave the spigot on and control the water flow using the timer instead.
You can also use the timer’s app to manually begin watering or set the watering schedule you want.
Netatmo Weather Station Gives You Hyper-local Climate Measurements
While you can certainly use weather apps to get the basic weather in your area, the data you get from the Netatmo Weather Station is more in-depth and more relevant to your precise location. After all, you really need the specific conditions right in your garden, not at a weather station miles away.
You can put the Netatmo Weather Station anywhere in your garden to measure:
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Barometric pressure
Netatmo also offers additional accessories to pair with your weather station, including a smart rain gauge to help assess how much water your plants are getting.
Apps to Keep Your Smart Garden on Track
There are apps for virtually anything, and gardening is no exception. So, here are just a few apps available on iOS and Android to help with your smart garden.
Use Garden Journal for an In-depth Understanding of Your Garden
Garden Journal does exactly what you would expect: it allows you to journal and record everything about your smart garden.
When you use the web-based app to record the progress—or lack of progress—your plants are making, you create a record that you can reference later. Having these records to refer back to is a great way to learn from your successes and failures, and then to make adjustments as needed.
You can also include photos and log information such as date of planting and how often you water. The app also includes a pest database to help identify issues and provides optimal planting time suggestions based on your climate.
SmartPlant Helps Keep You on Top of Your Garden Care
The SmartPlant gardening app is packed with features to help you care for your smart garden.
As you plant your garden, you add your plants into the app. Based on the recommendations for each plant, you’ll receive care reminders. This will ensure that you know when your tomato plants need to be pruned and your bell peppers need to be watered.
The pest and disease database in SmartPlant also helps you identify what’s harming your plants should you notice they aren’t looking healthy.
You Won’t Forget to Care for Your Plants With Smart Plant Home
Smart Plant Home is a smart garden app with basic yet useful functionality. You can load each of your plants into your digital garden, and Smart Plant Home will create custom calendar notifications reminding you when to care for each of your plants.
Smart Plant Home has a massive library of plants with expert care recommendations for each of them, so it’s a great app for troubleshooting your garden, too.
Combine Software With Gadgets for the Ultimate Smart Garden
We’ve just scratched the surface on the options that are available to create your smart garden. But the apps and gadgets we looked at offer a strong base to start with. A healthy combination of gardening apps, monitoring sensors, and watering devices is a sure way to make your garden smart.
