You’ve no doubt heard about smart homes, but did you know there are ways to make the outdoors smarter, too? Technology makes our lives easier and more beautiful in many ways, and our outdoor spaces are no exception.
Swipe through to learn about smart tech for your yard and garden.
Robotic lawn mowers will allow you to sit on the porch, iced tea in hand, while someone or something mowed the lawn for you. to the rescue. For many of these mowers, you bury a wire to mark the boundaries of your lawn. Some don’t even require a guide wire. You can just set up the charging station and program the mowing schedule, and the robot takes care of the rest.
Photography: Amazon
Believe it or not, there’s also a weeding robot for vegetable gardens. These devices can monitor up to 200 square feet of garden area, using height to determine what’s a weed and what’s a tomato plant, for example.
Photography: Amazon
With smart outdoor lighting, you can add a touch of sophistication to your landscape and even set an automated schedule via a mobile app. Line the driveway, or show off your big oak trees with some uplighting.
Photography: Amazon
Weather geeks might like to have a networked weather monitoring system that offers precise local weather information such as temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, wind chill, heat index, dew point and precipitation. You can see all this information on your smart device.
Photography: Amazon
Gardeners can get a full read on their growing conditions with a sensor that monitors soil moisture, sunlight, temperature and fertilizer levels and then sends the data to your phone or tablet. You’ll find devices that are suited for something as simple as a houseplant, or devices that can be linked together in a system for larger garden areas.
Photography: Amazon
While there’s still no magic bullet for mosquitos and other pests, you might consider a device that uses heat to vaporize mosquito repellent, spewing it into the air in a targeted area such as your patio or deck, for example. These devices are often rechargeable.