As we head into summer, one area of your home that deserves special attention is your garden. Whether you have a thriving backyard or are satisfied with a couple of pot plants, our green friends are a huge part of the household. But keeping plants alive can be trickier than you think, which is why smart gardens are a booming business.
If you’re fond of keeping your plants healthy, particularly in the warm summer months, we’ve compiled a list of tips, tricks and gadgets that will help digitise the process for you.
Technology that will keep your garden healthy
Try a smart plant monitor
Smart plant monitors are some of the latest and greatest technology to bless the plant world. They can do a whole range of things like tracking light and humidity levels and monitoring the moisture level and health of your soil.
They’re easy to use and can just be inserted into the soil of your plant and left to do their work. They’ll then flash or change colour when it’s time for watering.
Some smart monitors can even be linked to your watering systems at home which will automatically monitor moisture levels and add more water when needed.
Try the PETSOLA smart plant detector or this watering sensor from IKEA to get started.
Recruit your smart home to help
If your main failing of keeping a garden alive is forgetting to water plant babies, then get your assistant to help you. AI assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google can help set reminders for your daily routine via your phone or smart home hub or speaker.
For example, Alexa enabled devices can set daily reminders to water plants. You can even customise a watering schedule in the Alexa app.
Research has also been performed on the impact music has on plants. Apparently, the vibrations of music between 115Hz and 250Hz are similar to the sounds of nature, which helps plants thrive.
Creating a playlist of jazz or classical music and playing it for your plants could help keep them healthy. You can check out this playlist of plant music and ask Alexa or your virtual assistant to play it while you’re gone.
Invest in a smart garden
If you want to go the whole hog and start a new garden from scratch you should consider a smart garden system.
They’re perfect for growing herbs or small vegetables indoors and need minimal water and attention – just electricity!
Click & Grow is a particularly popular smart garden that uses an innovative light-based system and smart soil to grow plants. iDOO and VegeBox are other hydroponic systems that can get you started.
Use a gardening app
Gardening is a popular hobby so it’s no surprise there are apps for that.
An app like Florish will help you pick the right plant for your indoor space, or there’s Picture This Plant Identifier which will help you put a name to any mystery leafy friends.
SmartPlant can also connect you to an expert gardener, for a fee, who will advise you on the specifics of your plant. It also offers a maintenance calendar for caring for your plants.
We’re well on the way to warmer weather so hopefully one or more of these tech solutions helps keep your garden alive.
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