Smart Gardens: Everything You Need to Know about the Tech-enabled Gardens

When you think of Smart Garden, think of technology-based garden. Believe it or not, you can now implement technology into your gardening. In a simple definition, Smart Garden is an indoor plant or garden that has inbuilt-tech to take care of itself.

This innovation called “Smart Garden” is starting to see surge in popularity, with tech that makes it develop indoor by itself. Analysts have cited that garden development and maintenance will depends heavily on automation in the next century.

Imagine growing peppers, tomatoes, onions, salads, herbs, and spinach in a small plastic box (pod) that has inbuilt technology (such as irrigation systems and lights that eliminate the need for direct sun light) to grow the plants for you with zero or minimal effort from you – that’s exactly what Smart Garden is.

Example of Smart Garden

Smart Garden can also be seen as urban farming; it is a way of utilizing modern technology to grow fresh green leafs inside or outside your house. Smart gardening is the perfect solution for people who don’t have time to water their plants or give them the kind of nurturing they need to survival. But with Smart Garden, only a bit of your input is needed.

In this article, I will explain everything you need to know about Smart Garden and its implementations. I will also talk about smart features and devices that make Gardens look flourish and smart. In addition, I will also review some best indoor smart gardens to buy for your home or office.

Smart Garden: The Ultimate Definitions

Smart Garden or Gardening is all about using modern technology to carryout gardening chores. E.g, implementing technology to automated irrigation and nutrient systems, using apps and lightings to monitor and eliminate the need for direct sun lights, eliminating space with hydroponic vertical gardening and more.

The interesting part of this innovation is that it also works for urban farming. It is called “Smart Farming”. Likewise Smart Gardening, it’s all about using advance technology to carryout farming activities such as mowing or watering.

Large scare urban farmer implementing technology (smart farming) to plants

According to Amal Mathew, director of operations at Ela Sustainable Solutions, “Smart Farming techniques like automated irrigation systems and automated nutrient systems, give a hassle-free growing experience for people with busy schedules.”

Overall, Smart Gardening is a technology-enabled garden or indoor gardening systems that uses sensors, actuators, and software to automate tasks (like watering, lighting, and nutrient delivery) for your plants.

While Smart Farming, on the other hand, is a sustainable gardening techniques that promote environmental responsibility and resource conversation such as using technology to integrate pest management (IPM) on Farm.

How does a Smart Garden works?

Smart Garden consist of indoor plants, plastic box (a vessel), inbuilt technologies, and growing medium such as soil or hydroponics water – all together called a “Smart Garden Pod”. This actually works in the sense that you pour water into the water chamber of the pod so that it can automatically wet the plant while it grow, and the integrated LED lights will provide will gives the plants enough lights it needs to survive.

However, some Smart Gardens don’t uses Soil. They just rely on water-hydroponics or growing medium to nurture your plants. But the new models mostly all uses soil as their growing means. Of course, Smart Garden needs to be connected to a power source and WiFI to work perfectly as expected.

Connecting a Smart Garden to a power source is crucial for it operation, enabling it to work perfectly and function well which wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Meanwhile, connecting it to a WiFi, on the other hand, will let you control the Smart Garden through mobile app, and monitor your garden’s status, adjust settings, and receive alerts remotely.

For example, you can get alert when the water is low, or when the hydroponics water or growing mediums are getting low.

In addition, some advanced Smart Gardens use Solar Panels as a mean of power. This is a suitable option and eliminates the need for a nearby AC outlet. More so, you will also find batteries in some Smart Gardens. These batteries are rechargeable and a good option for homes with no stable electricity.

Overall, connecting your smart garden to a power source is essential for it to work properly and unlocks its full potential for automated plant care, data-driven insights, and a convenient gardening experience.

Smart Garden Pod

Smart Garden Pod is the vessel or plastic box containing all the Smart Garden elements. Well, there are many varying sizes of Smart Garden Pods for sales. But the common ones are the “Click and Grow Smart Gardens.”

However, while choosing a Smart Garden for your home, go for the one that its POD will accept your plants’ roots. Obviously, you would prefer vegetables, salads or herbs that little to no root. Unlike Crop plants that take too much space for it root alone.

In other words, Smart Garden Pod is a Smart Garden container that comprises of soil, tech, growing media, seeds, water basin, and more. In simple term, Smart Garden Pods are the Smart Garden Kits in your home for growing green leafs and plants.

Choosing a Smart Garden Pod should depend heavily on the type of plant you want to grow in your Smart Garden. While some Smart Gardens come plants, other might come seeds, or you might need to choose the seed you’d prefer to grow in your Smart Garden Pod.

Hence, you can buy a Smart Garden Combo Kits that’s compactible with most plants and seeds you want to grow in your home, or you can always subscribe for pods once your initial Smart Garden Pod runs out.

Features of a Smart Garden Pod

Before a Garden or Smart Garden Pod is considered “SMART”, there are certain flourishing and automated features and benefits you must look into. Some Smart Garden Pod features includes:

1. Automated Watering System: Smart Garden Pod (SGP) have sensors to monitor soil moisture and automatically trigger irrigation when needed.
2. Controlled Lighting Systems: Smart Garden Pod consist of LED lights to adjust intensity and duration based on plant’s needs and the natural light available.
3. Nutrient Delivery System: Smart Garden Pod uses this feature to dispense Fertilizers through automated drip irrigation or integrate it into the growing medium.
4. Climate Control System: This is use to adjust temperature and humidity through fans, heaters or misters.
5. Monitoring and Data Analysis: The sensors implemented in the Smart Garden Pod also works for tracking temperature, humidity and soil moisture, providing data for you to optimize plant growth.
6. Mobile App: Many Smart Garden Pod possesses a mobile application or software for controlling settings, monitoring data and receiving alerts about your plants, even if you’re around the house.

Smart Garden App

Many Smart Garden Pods work with App. With it, you can actually click to grow your plants using smartphone. You can also get alerts via the app when your garden needs attention; it’s more like guide on how to care for your plants.

Smart Garden Apps are apps designed to help you manage your indoor or outdoor garden more efficiently and effectively. They typically allows you to control your Smart Garden’s lighting, watering, fertilizing, and monitor plants health.

Some popular examples of Smart Garden Apps are the “Click and Grow Apps“, the “AeroGarden Apps“, and the “SmartThings Garden Apps“. However, you will have to connect your Smart Garden Pod to the App via WiFI (or Bluetooth for some Smart Gardens) for it to work and function. In general, Smart Garden Apps are the remote control of your Garden.

Outdoor Smart Gardens

Here are some smart features and devices that can make your outdoor gardens flourish and also make your gardening a laid-back activity.

1. PolyHouse Technology

Polyhousing is a type innovation that implement greenhouse effect to grow plants in full or partial weather conditions.

The Polyhouse technology in Smart Garden is a form of using specified polythene sheets to cover plants. This actually helps you to control pests, temperature, humidity and other environmental factors.

2. Self-watering Smart Pot

The self-watering pot has been in existence for ages. However, the “SMART” is a new innovation in the world of Agriculture and green lives. With Self-watering Smart Pot, you can nurture your smart gardens with little or no effort.

The old way of automating watering to plants

The plants automatically take the needed water from the smart pot. The science of self-watering depends on the potting mix,” says Mani HK, partner, Greenopia Bengaluru.

3. Outdoor Smart Garden Lighting

A Outdoor Smart Garden Lighting is a device designed for outdoor lighting fixture. The outdoor smart garden can be managed and controlled over the wireless network, using a Smart Garden App on your phone or a Smart Home Assistant.

Depending on your budget for Smart Garden, you can also opt-in for solar-powered lights. It’s effective and efficient in power. However, garden design should be considered while choosing a lighting for smart gardening innovation.

4. Automatic Lawn Mower and Smart Sprinklers

Gone are the days of backbreaking yard work and guesstimating your lawn’s watering needs. Thanks to smart technology, both watering and mowing have become effortless endeavors.

Smart sprinklers, controlled via your smartphone, deliver the exact amount of water each plant needs. Drip irrigation technology ensures every drop goes directly to the roots, minimizing waste and saving water.

This internet-connected marvel eliminates the need for manual adjustments and guesswork, leaving you with a lush, healthy garden effortlessly.

Mowing on autopilot: Ditch the gas cans and dusty blades. Robotic lawnmowers take the grunt work out of lawn care. Connect your robotic assistant to your phone or computer and set a personalized mowing schedule. Sit back and relax as the mower navigates your yard with sophisticated mapping and GPS technology, ensuring every inch is neatly trimmed. No more weekend mornings spent pushing a heavy mower – your lawn will be perfectly manicured while you enjoy your newfound free time.

In summary, smart gardening technology has transformed yard work from a chore to a convenience. With smart sprinklers delivering precise hydration and robotic mowers keeping your lawn pristine, you can spend less time tending to your garden and more time enjoying its beauty.