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What Is Smart Gardening?

Learn how to make a smart garden

  • Plan for financial and space constraints
  • Start planting
  • Use gadgets and apps to keep your plants happy and healthy
  • Harvest at the right time
  • Store your food and flowers appropriately

Gardening can offer a rewarding, relaxing and productive way to spend your time, and smart gardening devices make that even easier. It involves using specialized digital technology and gadgets to assist with planting, caring and harvesting for indoor and outdoor gardening. Depending on the size of your garden and what you want to grow, there are an array of tools to help you streamline the process. Use this guide to assess what’s needed to cut down on time and effort, then find the right tools to create a successful smart garden.

Plan for financial and space constraints

To start planning a smart garden, first figure out how much money and space you've got to work with. If you live in an apartment, or have limited outdoor space, there are still indoor gardening options for you. Check to see how much space you have for specialized planters. Keep in mind there are wall-hanging models if you have minimal floor space. Some indoor planters fully automate the gardening process if you are away from home for periods of time. Figure out just how much you want to automate before you buy, especially if you enjoy the watering and nurturing process.

Outdoor gardens need completely different smart gardening ideas than their indoor counterparts. Plot your garden with an app on your phone or computer to get a realistic idea of how large your garden should be before you plant. If you want to build above-ground smart planters outdoors, determine where to place them for optimal sunlight and temperatures.

Start planting

Knowing the best time to plant certain fruits and vegetables and how to plant them can be a challenge. Fortunately, some smart gardening apps make it much easier. They can tell you what time of year to plant, how far apart from each other and, how deep to plant and what sort of soil works best for your needs. Some apps figure out what ornamental or produce plants survive best in your climate and with your water restrictions. To make your environment more conducive to growing, consider getting a soil tester before seeds go in the ground.

If you’d rather not dig up your yard to put plants in the ground, look for expandable pots that grow as your seedlings do. That way you can get large plants without needing in-ground yard space. Indoor gardening planters may not expand, but they do sometimes adjust soil and watering conditions for maximum plant growth. Some of these automated planters require little work after planting, so all that’s left to do is wait patiently to reap the rewards.

Keep your plants happy and healthy

Once your seeds are in the ground, they must receive the water, nutrients and care they need to thrive. Automatic watering devices for indoor and outdoor gardens ensure you never miss a day. Some models even measure soil dampness so nothing gets overwatered. Plus, you can control some automatic sprinklers and irrigation devices from an app on your phone.

Perhaps you prefer a more hands-on approach. You can set up your smartphone to remind you when you should weed or water. Select indoor planters come with a reminder alarm to help you check on them regularly so you can then adjust the soil or watering levels. You may want to set up a smart plant sensor that gives you full soil and growth stats from time to time, just so you know things are on the right track.

Harvest at the right time

Once your produce reaches maturity, use growing apps or alerts on your smart planter to tell you when it’s time to harvest. This works for collecting flowers and herbs as well. Besides your backyard garden, consider an automatic lawn mower that knows when your grass needs cutting. Ornamental gardens work well with pots or apps that remind you when to prune leaves back with garden tools, so your plants always look great and grow well. If you intend to transplant your seedlings from smart planters kept inside into the ground outdoors, get a pot that tells you when it's time so you're sure to get it right.

Store your food and flowers appropriately

One of the best parts of having a garden is harvest time. If you have plenty of fruit and veggies, don't worry. There are smart devices to help you store your produce as well as grow it. Consider dehydrators to preserve your food and canning gadgets that set the correct temperature and pressure so you can keep fruits and veggies sealed in jars for months. Another popular way to store fresh produce long-term is by placing it in a deep freezer. Certain apps track how long your food is good for, so you can remember to eat it in time.

Smart gardening takes much of the guesswork out of planting, caring and harvesting, which keeps gardening enjoyable. Simply figure out what sort of garden you want, check out helpful, smart gardening technology, then sit back, be patient and watch your garden grow.