Smart soil sensor

These sensors dig into the soil of your indoors or outdoor plants and send data like temperature, light levels, humidity and soil nutrient levels to your smartphone via Bluetooth, helping you keep an eye on your soil.

• Wanfei Plant Monitor – $31

Smartphone-connected smart soil monitorWanfei

This four-in-one plant care sensor from Wanfei monitors light, temperature, humidity and nutrient levels of the soil. The divide connects to a companion smartphone app with Bluetooth, which has a database of over 6,000 plants to help provide you with the right information.

The free app is available for iOS and Android, and the sensor is designed to work both inside and outdoors. It is powered by a CR2032 coin-style battery.

Greenhouse sensor

Any greenhouse owners will know how important it is to know the temperature and humidity. There are several smart home sensors that can help here, but for this article we have gone with a model from SensorPush.

• SensorPush Extreme Accuracy Sensor – $89.99




SensorPush temperature and humidity sensorSensorPush

The flagship of the SensorPush range, this compact wireless device measures temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. It is water resistant and pairs with the company's smartphone app, available for iOS and Android. Data presented in the app also includes dew point and vour-pressure deficit (VPD) conditions over time. Data is collected at one-minute intervals can be transmitted up to 325 feet line-of-sight. The device measures 40mm x 40mm.

Weather station

Any keen garden will know the important of keeping an eye on the weather. Temperature, wind and rainfall all have significant effects on your plants and how they grow, so installing your own weather station — which is simpler than it sounds — can be a great idea.

• NetatmoWeather Station- $180

Keep tabs on indoor and outdoor weather with this systemNetatmo

The conveniently named Weather Station by Netatmo keeps tabs on both indoor and outdoor environments at once, and can be added to your existing Netatmo equipment — such as the company's security camera and air quality monitor. The weather station sends real-time updates to your smartphone, such as when it's time to air out your home, or when it's raining in the garden.

Alexa integration means you can ask the Amazon assistant about the current outdoor temperature and more. The outdoor sensor measures temperature (plus a 'feels like' rating), humidity and pressure, and is completely waterproof. The indoor sensor measures temperature, humidity, CO2 and sound levels.

The system can be expanded to include a rain gauge for $79 and a wind gauge for $100.

• Osprey Ambient Weather WS-2902 - $180

One for the garden and weather geeks, this system monitors almost everythingOsprey

Alternatively, the Ambient Weather WS-2902 with Alexa is a piece of professional-grade equipment which measures wind speed and direction, rainfall, outdoor temperature and humidity, solar radiation and UV light, plus temperature, humidity and pressure. Using this data, the system can also calculate dew point, wind chill and heat index.

This system can be integrated into a range of If This, Then That (IFTTT) applets, triggering other smart home devices into action when the metrics reach predefined figures, and there is Alexa control for asking for a comprehensive weather report.

Buy Ambient Weather WS 2902 on Amazon

Smart lighting

Smart lights among the simplest but most effective ways of making your home smarter, and now there are options for illuminating your garden, patio and driveway too.

• Philips Hue Outdoor - from $50 to $280

Outdoor smart lights can add life to your gardenPhilips

Philips Hue are among the best smart lights for your home, with millions of colors, several different fittings, LED light strips and a host of special features. And, since summer 2018, Hue has extended into the garden with a range of weatherproof outdoor smart lights.

The range is waterproof and includes LED light strips, spotlights for casting light on your flowerbeds, and several different lights that can be mounted to walls and fences. Extension cables are also available to make it easier to extend powered light right across your garden.

The lights work can be controlled by Alexa and Google Assistant, and the range includes individual bulbs for $30, wall mounted lights for $50, and illuminated bollards for $130. A starter pack, which includes three outdoor lights and the Hue Hub for connecting to your router, costs $280.

Remember, you'll need to connect these wirelessly to the Philips Hue Bridge. If you already have one plugged into your router, then you can control any outdoor Hue lights from that.

Read More:

• Weatherproof outdoor smart lighting for your garden

Samsung sells a range of outdoor televisions called the TerraceSamsung

SunBriteTV sells a range of television designed specifically to be used outside. The company's Veranda range is designed to work outside (so is weather-resistant) but in full shade, while the mid-range Signature screens can be viewed in partial shade, such as on the wall of an outdoor entertainment space. The flagship Pro range is up to three times brighter than a regular television, waterproof, and designed to be seen clearly even in full sunlight.

Prices range from $1,500 for the 43-inch Veranda, through $5,745 for the 55-inch Pro model, then all the way up to $10,000 for a 75-inch version of the Pro screen.

In 2020-Samsung announced its own range of outdoor televisions called the Terrace. These are available with screen sizes of 55, 65 and 75 inches, have QLED panels and 4K resolution with HDR, and have an IP55 weather resistance rating. They also have the all-important anti-reflective coating and high peak brightness of over 2,000 nits to make them viewable in bright sunlight. These televisions are not cheap, however, with prices going all the way up to $6,500 for the largest model.

Buy Samsung Terrace on Amazon

Another new player to the smart outdoor TV market is Furrion. Their portfolio of premium outdoor televisions: the Aurora Partial Sun 4K Smart LED Outdoor TV, the Aurora Full Shade Smart 4K LED Outdoor TV, and the all-new Aurora Full Sun 4K Smart LED Outdoor TV. All TVs now run on the WebOS smart platform, include the new RangeXtend external antennas for stronger Wi-Fi signal, and both the Full Sun and Partial Sun TVs come with XtremeShield IK08-rated tempered glass screen for protection against impacts and scratches.

Sizes range from 43" to up to 65" and prices range from $1,399 up to $2,899. Furrion smart outdoor TVs are available on Amazon and Best Buy too.

Buy Furrion Outdoor TVs on Amazon

Read More:

• The weatherproof Samsung Terrace outdoor TV starts at $5,000

Garden projector

A simple, none-HD projector can be bought for under $80Apeman

Although these aren't designed specifically for the garden, projects make a great - and often cost-effective - alternative to investing in an outdoor TV. They cover a huge range of prices, from under $100 to over $1,000, and are easy to setup in the back yard for a movie night under the stars.

Samsung also introduced this past year their new outdoor point and play projector called The Freestyle. It comes with a 180 degree design to give you the flexibility to point, play and enjoy a big screen experience on any surface inside our outside your smart home. The Freestyle costs $899.99 and is available on Amazon, Best Buy and Samsung site.

Buy Samsung The Freestyle Projection TV on Amazon

Read More:

• Enjoy a movie night under the stars with these projectors for your garden

Weatherproof outdoor speakers

Sonos outdoor speakers Sonos

Sticking with the entertainment theme, there is also a wide range of weatherproof speakers for installing in your garden, above the patio, or around the pool area. These range in price from well under $100 to over $500, but all work in a very similar way. Being passive speakers, they don't require a connect to a wall outlet, and instead just need wiring to an amplifier or sound system in the normal way.

Sonos launched its outdoor speakers in 2019, with a price tag of $799 for a pair. This sounds expensive, and indeed it is – especially when they require the Sonos Amp, which is to be installed inside the home and is priced at $649. $1,500 is an awful lot of cash to spend on a paid o outdoor speakers, but if you have the budget and an existing Sonos system, we van certainly see the appeal.

Buy Sonos Outdoor Speakers on Amazon

Read More:

• Upgrade your garden entertainment with these weatherproof outdoor speakers
• These are the portable speakers with the longest battery life for summer 2022

Indoor plants

For those living in apartments or without access to a garden of their own, there are still ways to bring some smart horticulture into your life.

• Click & Grow - $150

Click & Grow has a wide range of smart indoor planters. This option is designed for holding herbs like basil and is designed to keep plants alive all year round, no matter what the lighting conditions are like.

All you have to do is drop the pre-seeded plant capsule into place, fill the reservoir with water, plug the planter into a wall outlet, and let it grow. The planter will light and water your plants as required, and a special type of soil with so-called 'nano-tech' is said to accelerate growth.

• Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Bounty - 339

Space for nine planters at once means you'll never be short for herbsMiracle-Gro

A pricier but larger option is this AeroGarden by Miracle-Gro, which has space for nine planters at once. A touch screen control panel tells you when to add more water and nutrients to the planter, and for the green-fingered among you the default light and water settings can be altered to your preferences.

App

• GardenTags - iOS App Store and Google Play Store

This is basically the Instagram of gardening4D Media Limited

Finally, how about an app built specifically for gardeners to show off their plants, herbs and lawns? That's where GardenTags come in, which acts like an Instagram for horticulture. The free app includes Instagram-style social networking, while a premium subscription includes video tutorials, a reminders system for garden tasks, and advice on getting the most out of your yard.

Check out The GearBrain, our smart home compatibility checker to see the other compatible products that work with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa enabled devices.