As a gardener, I am always concerned about the weather. How hot is it? How dry? How cold? How much rain did I get? While you can access the weather in a number of apps, or weather stations, information about what is actually happening in your own yard is of utmost importance. While I do have a sprinkler system in the yard, I don’t keep it on a regular timer—I am the timer. I keep up with what is happening in my yard and I have an app on my phone
that allows me to turn the sprinkler system on from wherever I happen to be.
We have had numerous weather stations in the yard, and they can be finicky. Our most recent one was still giving me data on the temperature, but the rain gauge petered out, so I had to rely on a plastic rain gauge, which I had to be present to see. Clay did the research and found Tempest.
We mounted in on the deck well away from any sprinkler heads, and trees. The only thing that it doesn’t have that my other ones did is a monitor inside the house. I have to read all the data on my phone or computer, but it is great. It gives me updates when it begins to rain, if it detects lightning in the vicinity and has been quite accurate.
It also has easily accessible history by day, week, month
(I didn't have it for the whole month of August, so this it not totally correct) and year, which will be helpful. Since I almost always have my phone with me, I can now know exactly what is happening in my yard from wherever I am. Since I am beginning to travel again, my plants will be much happier too.
Obviously, I like gadgets and always am on the lookout for something unique. Kyle bought me an indoor hydroponic garden for Christmas this past year and I had tons of fresh herbs all winter.
I cleaned it out when my outside basil started growing, and the garden lay fallow for a bit. I cleaned it out a month ago, and filled it with lettuce.
It has grown in leaps and bounds. It is nice to reach over and add a piece of lettuce to a sandwich or make a quick salad. For a huge family, it wouldn’t be practical, but for us it works great. I will keep this going until I get lettuce producing outside again, and then I will move on to something else. I was often skeptical of these countertop gardens, but I am sold.
What gadget do you recommend?