11 green-fingered gadgets for gardeners

Muddy-kneed shrub-lovers deserve as much tech as the rest of us. But, once you’ve filled your shed with all the spades, rakes and hoes on the market, what’s left to get? Lots, actually. From plant projects to robo-mowers, there’s plenty here to upgrade your weed-filled yard into a smart patch o’ grass.

GREENIQ SMART GARDEN HUB (£200)

The GreenIQ Smart Garden Hub is the ultimate in garden automation: it connects to Wi-Fi and controls your watering and lighting schedules based on information from the nearest weather station, including sunrise/sunset times – so you’ll never find your sprinklers on in the rain again.

LUMINOODLE (£29)

Give your golden leylandii the gift of glow with Luminoodle. A flexible strip of LEDs that’s impervious to rain, its noodle loops mean you can attach the shining string to just about anything – including branches – for some tasteful uplighting. And, if you decide to crazy pave the lot, it doubles up as an extra set of festive lights.

PARROT SMART POT (£130)

Perennial plant-murderer? Put an end to your killing streak and let Parrot’s Smart Pot do the gardening. Equipped with a suite of sensors that monitors light, temperature, moisture and fertiliser levels, brim the Pot’s 2.2l tank and it’ll auto-water your house plants for up to a month.

FLYMO 1200R ROBOT LAWNMOWER (£510)

It’s the 21st century, and, while we may not have robot butlers yet, we do have robot gardeners. This automated mower will cover up to 500 square metres of grass, trundling across your lawn and slashing the foliage with purposeful intent.

NESTBOX FEEDER CAMERA (£145)

This versatile high-quality mini-cam can be put in a nestbox during the warmer months, then placed above the bird feeder in winter – so you can spy on your feathered friends up close all year round. It also has a built-in microphone, adjustable focus lens and infrared night vision, so you can always catch some birdie action from your TV or computer.

BLACK+DECKER STRIMMER WITH DECK ATTACHMENT (£49)

With urban gardens getting smaller and smaller, who has room for a full-sized lawnmower? This handy gadget does triple duty as a strimmer, edger and – with the help of a clip-on wheeled base – a mini-lawnmower. If you’ve already got a Black & Decker strimmer, you can also buy the base unit on its own to convert it into a wheeled wonder.

JBL FLIP 3 (£60)

Being knee-deep in weeds all weekend might get your green-fingered friend’s pulse racing, but 10 hours at the potting station is enough to drive anyone herb crazy. Banish back-garden boredom by flinging a plant-themed playlist at this powerful Bluetooth speaker from JBL. Connect a clutch of them together and you’ll have a lawn-filling party that even the rain can’t stop (thanks to a splashproof build).

NETATMO WEATHER STATION (£110)

This twin-sensor setup lets you track air quality, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure both indoors and outdoors, sending the data it gathers to an iOS or Android app. Work out what the weather’s going to be like, and quantify the health of your garden – dead handy in a greenhouse.

MIPOW PLAYBULB GARDEN (£36)

These solar-powered bulbs are definitely not for the indecisive, as you can choose from more than 16 million colours and five different modes with a tap of your smartphone. They can also cope with inclement weather and have inbuilt sensors that detect when night has fallen, turning themselves off and on automatically. Snazzy.

SMART HERB GARDEN (£48)

For many soil pokers, growing green stuff is about more than making a pretty patch. Pick the right plants and you’ll save yourself a lifetime of herb bills. Thing is, keeping Basil and Rosemary alive can actually be pretty tricky. Save yourself the strife of sage with this smart garden. Pop a plant capsule inside, add water and wait: in-built sensors will nurse your parsley in perfect growing conditions, delivering fresh herbs in no thyme.

HANDY TRACKED MINI TRANSPORTER (£1,680)

Logs. Lots and lots of logs. That’s what you’ll get when you clear the copse in the corner of the garden to make space for that deluxe jacuzzi. But how will you get those logs to the living room for some roasty toasty goodness? With this monster of a wheelbarrow, that’s how. Capable of carrying 300kg of wood and other stuff, its tracks will make light work of the trickiest terrain.