gardens
GARDEN PARTY
4 smart gadgets that will transform your garden this year
BY RACHEL MURPHY, REVIEWED
We’re all spending a lot more time at home these days.
And as the days get warmer, you may be thinking about planting a garden in your backyard.
While you’ll still need all of the outdoor essentials like gardening gloves and string trimmers
to prep your outdoor garden space, there are a few tech gadgets that can help make
planting a feast of vegetables and herbs in your yard a little easier.
1
THE BEST ECHO
SPEAKER TO HELP
YOU CARE FOR
YOUR GARDEN
Gardens require regular
care in order to keep
plants in tip-top shape.
While you probably
won’t forget to check in
on your garden every so often, our favorite
Echo speaker, the Echo (third-generation),
can help you remember to do basic
gardening tasks like watering and pulling
weeds. For example, to set a reminder
saying, “Alexa, remind me every day at
3 p.m. to water my garden.”
And if you’re new to gardening, Alexa can
give you step-by-step tips to create your
first garden when you enable the Beginners
Gardening skill. The Echo (third-generation)
can help you set reminders to check in on
your garden and give you gardening tips. •
Available at Kohl’s, Target, and Amazon
3
2
A WEED-EATING ROBOT TO
MAINTAIN YOUR GARDEN
SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO
DO IT YOURSELF
If picking weeds is one of your most
dreaded outside chores, then consider let-
ting a robot do the work for you. Much like
a robot vacuum, the Tertill weed-eating-
robot moves around your yard, chopping
weeds from the ground thanks to a built-in
weed detecting sensor. The Tertill is most at
home in a small garden bed. • Available on
franklinrobotics.com
A WIFI-ENABLED PROBE THAT KEEPS TABS ON YOUR GARDEN
SOIL’S MOISTURE LEVELS
Ecowitt’s Soil Moisture Sensor monitors the moisture in the ground and lets
you know whether the soil surrounding your plants is too saturated or too dry.
Maintaining adequate levels of soil moisture in your garden can help your plants get
a steady supply of nutrients and the right amount of water to flourish. When using
the WS View app, you can view a data graph based on your soil’s moisture and
adjust your watering schedule accordingly. Ecowitt also makes a self-emptying rain
collector sensor that can be used to measure daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rain-
fall amounts in your backyard. However, Ecowitt’s GW1000 WiFi gateway is required
in order to connect both sensors to the internet and access data within the app. The Ecowitt
sensor claims to be able to measure soil moisture within 72 seconds. • Available on Amazon
4
THE BEST SMART SPRINKLER
SYSTEM SO YOU NEVER FORGET
TO WATER YOUR PLANTS
Watering your lawn and garden doesn’t
have to be a headache with the help of
the best smart sprinkler controller.
The Rachio 3 comes with an impressive list
of features to customize your watering
schedule. It has Weather Intelligence, which
enables the ability to automatically skip a
session if rain or excessive wind is under-
way; and Smart Cycle, which splits watering
times into shorter, more frequent cycles to
prevent runoff.
You can also use your Amazon Echo
(third-generation) speaker to control
the Rachio 3 by saying commands like,
“Alexa, ask Rachio to stop watering.”
Or, if your garden is in a specific water-
ing zone of your yard, you can say,
“Alexa, water zone number (zone num-
ber) for (run-time duration).” • Available at
Best Buy, Home Depot, and Amazon ■
WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2020
39