We’ve had the hottest day of the year, and this weather is no joke. Temperatures have hit 34C in most parts of the UK. Summer has well and truly arrived with a swelteringly hot slap in the face. That means your garden needs tending to, so how do you keep your garden clean? Here’s a few gadgets that might help.
Robot lawnmowers are a new breed of tech, part of the wave of automated household help that we’ve seen from the likes of Roomba. And they work on basically the same concept. The only catch is these small gardening agents are quite pricey for the job they do, with some costing over £2000! You’d be able to hire a professional gardener for a fraction of the price of course. Anyway here’s a selection of the automated grass cutters.
The Viking iMow MI 422
Price: RRP £999
All these lawnmowers have a mysterious serial number attached to them, like something out the movies. But this is the iMow from Viking. It’s perfectly designed for small space gardens, and can cover up to 500m2 in just a few hours a week. It can be programmed to avoid obstacles like garden furniture, bushes and the household cat. The robot mower’s concept was to get the job done in as little time as possible, so you can “enjoy your lawn unhindered”. And it can run for two and a half hours on one charge. It’s also fully automated, meaning it will charge itself and move on a schedule all by itself.
The Robomow RS635
Price: RRP £2,799
If that was a little too simple for you gadget heads out there, then how about the Robomow RS635? This new model is launching in 2016, and is hailed for being stronger, smarter and more efficient than other robomowers on the market. It has high-power cutting steel blades, extra-wide 56cm blades and edging technology to reach beyond-the-wheel base to the sides of your lawn (for those looking for a perfect finish). It’s also fully controllable from your smartphone with an easy-to-use app. It’s smarter than most robots, as it is fitted with a rain sensor, so it knows when to dock itself to wait for better conditions; clever! Lastly, it leaves grass cuttings so fine that they simply decompose on the new layer of fresh lawn. No disposal, no hassle.
Aside from robotic mowers, there’s a handful of other garden tech that is being developed which makes the garden of the future are very interesting place. Imagine, your lawn being cut by a little robot mower and a drone flying overhead to water your plants.
Click and grow
Price: Starting from RRP $60
There are now smart gardens made by an American company called Click and Grow. And it really is as simple as that. If you’ve ever wanted to grow your own fruit or vegetables, but never had the time or patience to, then this is your solution. It makes for a very clean and tidy way to become a gardener. They use science to optimise synthesis, so that you can simply plug your plant in and let it grow. The unit has built-in sensors to constantly monitor your plants vitals, so you can enjoy technology and nature in harmony. Of course, these small planting units aren’t really ideal for large gardens, but there’s certainly scope with their operations to develop larger planting installations for the outdoors; think robotic hanging baskets and raised beds.
Garden Gnome Drone
Price: RRP £229
Lastly, this futuristic gardening post wouldn’t be complete without a few drones. UAVs are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, originally designed for combat in the military, and otherwise known to us as drones. Tech companies and think tanks have been working hard to find domestic applications of these boundless flying robots. There are a number of projects in the pipeline. The first is the Garden Gnome Drone, which is a modified quadrocopter designed to autonomously protect a garden from unwanted pests. There would be sensors in the garden to monitor movement and once triggered the drone would complete a flight path and return to its docking station. Another gardening application is garden design. This is more for commercial use than personal. As a drone would obtain aerial pictures of land and then designs could be tested. There would be opportunity for tracking progress as builder’s complete certain stages of projects. Also, the images collected would give a landscaper the opportunity to demonstrate their accomplishments through time-lined images.
