AD | I was standing in our garden last weekend, mentally listing everything that needed doing. Mow the lawn. Check the watering. Adjust the lights timer. Meanwhile, my daughter was waiting inside, ready for our planned trip to the shops.
That’s when I realised my husband and I were spending our precious weekend time on repetitive maintenance tasks instead of actually enjoying the garden we’d worked so hard to create. Time we could spend making the most of unused garden spaces or relaxing outside. So, it hit me, why not automate and share our journey with others?
I know people are sceptical about the usefulness of automation. But not all garden automation is created equal. Some smart technology genuinely gives you time back. After trying a few different options in our own garden, here’s what I found actually works, and what doesn’t.
Garden Tasks You Should Automate
These are the tasks where automation actually delivers. They’re repetitive, time-consuming, and the technology has reached the point where it just works reliably.
Lawn Mowing: The Real Game Changer
This is the big one. Most people spend 45 to 90 minutes mowing their lawn each week – closer to 2 hours for us with our orchard as well. That’s 30 to 70 hours every year. Hours you could spend doing literally anything else. Robotic lawn mowers have finally reached the point where they just work. No fuss, no constant monitoring, and no weekend plans ruined by an overgrown lawn.
I spent ages researching options for our garden and orchard. The older models required you to bury boundary wires around your lawn’s edge. That sounded like a nightmare. Digging trenches, potentially cutting through existing cables, the whole thing put me off.
Then I found Segway Navimow. I checked out their robotic lawn mower series and opted for the H210 mower, which uses GPS mapping instead. You walk around your lawn’s perimeter once with your phone, and the mower maps the area. That’s all there is to it. Setup takes just a few minutes.
Three months in, it’s become invisible technology. We set it to mow twice a week, it heads out at 7 am, quietly does its work, and returns to its charging station. The lawn looks better than when we were doing it manually because it cuts more frequently.
And the frequent cutting results in shorter clippings that fall back into the lawn as natural fertiliser. We no longer have bags of grass cuttings to dispose of. It handles our weather surprisingly well too. Light rain doesn’t stop it, the mulching function works even on damp grass. And it’s quiet enough that the neighbours have never complained about the early morning operation.
The cost seems high at first. But compared to years of petrol, maintenance, and your own time. I worked out my husband is saving about 60 hours per year. That’s more than a full working week he gets back.
Automatic Watering Systems
Weather patterns can be unpredictable. We sometimes get water restrictions in summer, then periods of heavy rain. Trying to water consistently is nearly impossible. That’s where smart irrigation systems come in.
For our vegetable beds, we installed a simple drip irrigation system with a smart timer. The timer connects to our WiFi and checks the local weather forecast. If rain is due, it skips that day’s watering. If it’s been dry and hot, it adds extra time. We set up different zones for different plant needs. The vegetable beds get more frequent watering than the established shrub borders, and the system learned the optimal schedule within a few weeks.
Our pots and hanging baskets still need manual watering because they dry out so quickly. But the beds and borders are completely hands-off now. I still check on them, just to be on the safe side, but not having to drag hoses around every evening feels amazing.
Another bonus is the soil always stays moist rather than swinging between bone dry and waterlogged. Our vegetables have never looked better. Tip: if you’re also growing herbs and vegetables indoors, the same watering principles apply, ie, moist rather than drowned.
For those of us on a budget, a basic hose timer costs $20 to $50 or £15 to £45. No WiFi, no fancy features, but it will water at set times, which is still better than not watering for three days at a time.
Garden Lighting on Timers and Sensors
I used to think garden lighting was purely decorative. But automated lighting transformed how we use our outdoor space. We installed solar path lights along the walkway to our summerhouse. They charge during the day and automatically light up at dusk so there’s zero running costs.
For the patio area, we added smart LED string lights that are on a schedule through a simple app. They come on at sunset and turn off at 11 pm. In winter, that means the garden is looks great early evening, even if it’s too cold to be out in it for long. In summer, they create a lovely ambience for evening meals outside.
The motion sensor spotlight near the summerhouse also serves double duty. It lights the way when we need it, and it also deters some of the neighbourhood moggies who fight with our cats.
All in all, total setup time was about two hours. The solar lights just staked into the ground, and the smart lights plugged into an outdoor socket. The motion sensor required slightly more work, but nothing complicated.
Pool and Pond Maintenance
If you have a pond or water feature, you know the pump needs to run regularly as stagnant water breeds mosquitoes and algae. A simple plug-in timer solved this and our pond pump runs for three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening, keeping the water clear.
For swimming pools or hot tubs, automatic chemical dosing systems maintain the perfect pH and chlorine levels. They’re more expensive, around $300 to $500 or £150 to £380, but if you have a pool you’re using regularly, the time savings are massive. We don’t have a pool, but our neighbour swears by his automated system. He used to spend an hour each week testing and adjusting chemicals. Now he spot checks once a week, and the system handles everything else.
Garden Tasks You Shouldn’t Automate
There are always going to be some tasks need your judgement, your observations, or they’re simply enjoyable enough that you don’t want to give them up.
Weeding
Every few years, someone announces a robot that will weed your garden automatically. They either don’t work properly or cost more than hiring a gardener for a year. Manual weeding is actually more helpful. You’re checking soil health, spotting pest problems early, and seeing which plants need more space. You notice things at ground level that you’d miss otherwise.
The best solution to weeds isn’t automation, it’s prevention. Mulch your beds properly, plant ground cover in problem areas, and accept that a few weeds are fine. Chaos gardening techniques can even help reduce weeding by creating dense planting that crowds out unwanted growth. As my mother always used to say, a weed is often a wildflower that’s thriving, even if it’s growing somewhere you might not want it.
I spend around 30 minutes a week on weeding now that our beds are properly mulched and planted. That’s manageable, and I love getting my hands dirty because it keeps me connected – literally – to what’s actually happening in the soil.
Planting and Plant Selection
Obviously, you can’t automate actually putting plants in the ground. But I’ve seen apps that claim to plan your garden for you automatically which I think is terrible. Choosing plants is personal. You’re considering your soil and your aesthetic preferences, what’s already growing nearby. You’re thinking about companion planting, flowering times, height and spread.
An algorithm can’t replicate the experience of wandering a garden centre and finding the perfect plant you didn’t know you needed (!) Choosing the right gardening tools and learning how to use them part of developing your gardening skills. The creative work of gardening is the reason most of us garden in the first place. Automation should free up time for this, not replace it.
Pest and Disease Monitoring
Automatic pest traps exist, and some even claim to identify and count pests. But they’re often expensive and they don’t solve the actual problem. Integrated pest management requires understanding your garden’s ecosystem. You need to know which insects are beneficial, which are harmful, and what the early signs of disease look like.
I check our plants properly about twice a week. A quick walk around, looking at leaf undersides, checking new growth for 15 minutes has caught countless problems before they became serious.
Last year, I spotted blackfly on my broad beans when there were only a few on the new shoots. I squashed them by hand, gently sprayed the plants with water, and that was problem solved. If I’d been relying on automated monitoring, we’d have had a full infestation before any system alerted me. Early detection needs human eyes and basic plant knowledge. No machine does this well yet.
AI vs. Human Touch
The best garden automation doesn’t replace the gardener. It handles the boring, repetitive maintenance so you can focus on the parts you actually enjoy. Six months after automating our lawn care, I can’t imagine going back. Not because we’re lazy but because we’d rather spend Saturday mornings doing something together as a family instead of push a mower around for a couple of hours.
That said, I don’t think you should try to transform your entire garden in a weekend. Start with one automation project and gradually add in some other over the coming weeks and months. For most people, lawn mowing is the obvious first choice though. It’s the biggest time drain and robotic mowers definitely have the best return on investment.
Which of these garden tasks would you most like to automate? Or have you automated any of them already?
* This is a collaborative post – please see my Disclaimer.
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