While there are many aspects of this past year that most of us would like to forget, one of the positive outcomes was a renewed appreciation for what we have. For those of us fortunate enough to have some kind of outdoor space at home, we’ve spent more time in it than ever before, and as the lockdown eases and we can once again gather with friends and family in these places, making it the best it can be is more critical than ever.
As is customary, tech firms are on hand with devices to assist us in making our gardens and outdoor spaces work smarter and look better. We enjoy cool gadgets, so we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorites to give you some ideas. From gardening equipment like robot lawnmowers and smart sprinkler systems to devices that literally make our gardens more fun places to be, like smart speakers and al-fresco cooking kits, our roundup of the best garden tech you can buy will help you get ready for those post-lockdown garden parties right now.
Innr Outdoor Smart Lighting
Innr’s outdoor smart lighting can keep the party going past sunset for those get-togethers that last late into the evening. Choose from pedestal lights, spot lights, and lighting strips to create a unique look for your room, then monitor everything from your phone with the Innr app. This allows you to programme an automatic schedule, integrate your lighting into a smart home routine, and choose the color you want them to be. With Alexa or Google Assistant, you can also change them with your voice.
Gardenature smart bird box
A smart bird box is ideal for getting to know the feathered friends that live in your garden for the tech-savvy birdwatcher. Gardenature offers a variety of options, but we particularly like their IP camera bird boxes, which can stream live HD video from inside the birdbox to your smartphone or tablet. You’ll normally only need to run one cable from the birdbox to your router, but if you have outdoor mains power nearby – in a shed or outbuilding – the company even sells powerline adapters that will drive your internet signal into your electrical ring primary, saving you the trouble of running cables for miles.
Sonos Move portable speaker
For a long time, Sonos has been one of the best multi-room systems you can purchase for your house. The garden, on the other hand, has been left out of the party because its speakers have always been dependent on Wi-Fi and mains electricity. Until recently, that is. The Sonos Move is a wireless and Bluetooth-enabled portable speaker that can be used both inside and outside the home. That means it can be used as part of your multi-room device when connected to your home’s Wi-Fi, or it can be used with Bluetooth away from home to stream directly from your phone.
Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub
Summertime means BBQ season, and if you’re in charge of the cooking, you know how important it is to have the meat cooked to perfection. Weber, the BBQ kings, have thankfully devised a clever piece of technology that allows you to get it perfect every time while still allowing you to move away from the grill. The Weber Connect serves as a step-by-step barbecuing assistant, alerting you when it’s time to flip burgers or transform sausages.
