13 High-Tech Gardening Gadgets That Will Make You Feel Like You're In The Future

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Gardening can help you disconnect from technology and set aside screen-free time — "touching grass," as the kids say. But you can incorporate high-tech gear into plant care and yard maintenance to make tasks easier or unobtrusively enhance your enjoyment of your outdoor spaces (or indoor greenery!). Some of these — like innovative sprinkler systems and smart bird feeders — are meant to be controlled by or integrate with your smartphone and may include AI-based features. Others — like heat-responsive greenhouse window openers or bug vacuums — are clever gizmos that offer inventive solutions to little annoyances. 

None of these devices will give you the fully automated, space-age "Jetsons" gardening experience, but they can make everything from watering and mowing to composting and pest control feel decidedly more next-generation. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or simply curious about new ways to make life easier, these gadgets offer a glimpse at what the garden of the future could look like. You might even find yourself wondering why the rest of your yard hasn't caught up with the 21st century yet.

Want your backyard birdwatching to feel like something from the future? A smart bird feeder can enhance your backyard birdwatching by giving you a closer view of your feathery visitors, both live and recorded. Wirecutter's top smart bird feeder pick, the Birdbuddy Pro, takes this functionality even further with AI-powered bird identification and 2K video resolution. Though it costs just a wee bit more than the non-smart options, it offers a wealth of information and insights into wildlife, including detecting symptoms of illness. It's essentially a high-tech wildlife camera disguised as a bird feeder.

Not every gardener needs precise measurements of their soil's acidity. But you may be a passionate hydrangea grower, whose blooms change color with soil pH. Or perhaps you're managing an acid-loving blueberry patch. Whatever your reason for wanting lab-grade measurements, you may want to check out the Apera Instruments AI102G GroStar Series GS2 Soil pH Pen Tester Kit. With a retail price tag of $257, the innovative meter uses a replaceable Swiss spear sensor to deliver high-accuracy readings and can also provide averages, maximums, and minimums across the area you're measuring.

Have you ever heard that old chestnut about talking to your plants? While the science is iffy at best on whether it helps them grow, you may find it more helpful if your houseplants could talk to you to communicate their needs. Smart plant pots, like PLANTSIO Smart Flower Pot, offer app-based care guides and real-time alerts that tell you if your plants need water. An interactive display adds AI-powered reactions, making the experience feel less like using a flowerpot and more like having a tiny space-age plant companion.

Forgetting to water your plants is decidedly old-school. Even if you're a passionate, knowledgeable houseplant gardener, it can be one of the trickiest tasks. Products like Moistenland's Automatic Watering System offer a way to simplify this weekly task. Available on Amazon for a little over $30, the drip irrigation system can water up to 15 plants. The timer lets you set watering schedules and duration, and the stakes deliver moisture more slowly directly to the plant's roots. It's like having a miniature irrigation robot working behind the scenes.

Not everyone is cut out for hand-picking plant-munching insects and arachnids from their garden. Maybe you're a bit squeamish, or maybe you're a gentle soul who'd rather move the bugs to a less troublesome spot. Whatever your reasons, good news: in the futuristic garden, removing and relocating little critters is as easy as vacuuming. No, literally — you can buy a bug vacuum. This battery-powered Bug Vacuum Catcher by JahyElec, which retails for $20.99, offers an LED light and an extra-long nozzle so you don't have to get too close to the creepy crawlies.

If a robot can vacuum your floors, why shouldn't one mow your lawn? Robot mowers are perhaps the most obvious way to make your yard feel like the future. This is provided you don't mind a somewhat hefty price tag. The WORX Landroid Vision Cloud Robot Mower is one option; at $2,299.99, it uses satellite navigation and AI to auto-map your yard and can be programmed to follow specific pathways or avoid no-go areas. It's an investment, but watching a robot independently handle one of the most tedious lawn chores feels remarkably close to science fiction.

A sudden late frost or unforeseen drought can spell disaster for your garden, and timing your gardening tasks to the seasons and weather can help you anticipate and act to potentially prevent damage to your plants. An advanced tool like Netatmo's Smart Home Weather Station can give you more insight than a seven-day forecast, with real-time measurements of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and more. The Netatmo app delivers these measurements to your smartphone, and you can set up custom alerts for changes and view the history of these readings.

Old-school, clock-based sprinkler controls can waste water because they're inflexible, delivering the same amount of water at the same times no matter what the weather is doing or what your plants need. A more forward-looking irrigation option like the Wirecutter-recommended Rachio 3: 8 Zone Smart Sprinkler Controller offers features like seasonal adjustments, automatic skips when rain is forecasted, and automatic boosts in response to high heat. Plus, with app-based controls, you can control the Wi-Fi-enabled system remotely. The WaterSense-certified controller can also track the water usage of your sprinklers and report back in the Rachio app.

Starting seeds indoors already feels like giving your garden a head start (some plants, especially warm-season crops, are actually best started indoors, depending on your climate), but a smart germination system makes the process high-tech. A system like the LetPot Smart Seed Starter can take the guesswork and luck out of starting your garden plants. It features an integrated full-spectrum grow light, heating base, and humidity dome, with set-it-and-forget-it app-based controls. This lets technology help create a more consistent environment for your seedlings.

Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether a site receives enough sunlight for the species you're considering planting there. To be certain, it can be helpful to measure the DLI, or daily light integral — the amount of light particles the location receives. A high-tech digital gadget like the EVO-20 DLI Light Meter can help you identify the amount of sunlight the site receives based on the DLI measurement, and can even store up to 10 days of readings. Just place it in the soil and check back later!

If you're growing plants in a greenhouse, you probably already know that proper ventilation is crucial for humidity and temperature regulation, which can help prevent fungal diseases and other issues. Running outside constantly to open or close the vents to maintain optimal conditions in your greenhouse can get tedious, so you might want to consider a heat-responsive automatic greenhouse vent opener like this Thermal Sensitive Vent Opener Kit from PATIOHZ. A greenhouse that adjusts its own ventilation without electricity, batteries, or a smartphone — now that's living in the future.

Composting kitchen scraps is a fantastic way to keep organic materials out of landfills and enrich your garden soil. Of course, not everyone has a yard or the room for a large bin. A small electric composter like the Ouaken Countertop Compost Bin offers compact countertop use with little noise and no accompanying odor (according to the manufacturer, anyway). This particular unit has a four-liter capacity and offers three modes: crush, ferment, and clean. The visionary machine offers accelerated, high-temperature composting, and the company claims it can produce compost in as little as 12 hours.

Your garden's wildlife may not recognize your property lines, but technology can help defend your plants without the cruelty of traps or chemicals. The Hoont Cobra Animal Repeller, for example, uses solar-powered motion sensors to detect and react to animal movement in the yard with a startling blast of water, repeated in five-second cycles to avoid waste. You can even add a height extension to protect raised garden beds. It's a little like giving your garden its own automated security system