Tech takes its place in the garden

Your own weather station
Gaetani, of the Gardener’s Supply Co., said technology has made a difference is in terms of devices, including weather stations, which can give gardeners an edge in determining the best conditions to plant and maintain their green spaces.

The Wireless Weather Projection Station ($50) measures time and/or outdoor temperature, barometric pressure and minimum and maximum temperature history, and indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, she said.

"While the weather stations do not take any soil measurements, they do take several measurements including humidity, dew points, heat indices, barometric pressure and moon phases, depending on the model of weather station,” said Heather Ballou, also with Gardener’s Supply Co. All of those conditions are important, she said, depending on what you are growing.

"For example, summer is the ideal time to grow tomatoes because of the nighttime heat index. Oftentimes, it is humid at night with high dew points, which means that the temperatures do not fall below, say 70 degrees. Tomato plants thrive throughout the warm nights as soil maintains the heat from the day, therefore, allowing the plant to yield its fruit."

Ballou also said it’s important to know about barometric pressure. A weather station measures “rise and fall of the atmospheric pressure,” she said. “If the atmospheric pressure is falling, this means that a storm is coming. This can be potentially bad news for gardeners. A wind storm can tear apart poorly staked vegetables or flowers. A hail storm can wreak havoc on a season's worth of effort within 15 minutes."

Another tool, the SunCalc ($30), helps gardeners figure out if they’re placing their plants in the best areas for the amount of sun that’s needed, by reading how much sun exposure an area gets. It runs on a watch battery.

Tools targeted to women have come a long way, said Gaetani, citing the Garden Groom Jr. ($149) as one example. At 7.5 pounds, it’s lightweight, and grooms hedges and collects trimmings at the same time. Its only drawback (to me): it has a cord.

The tech options for gardening tools and gadgets are as expansive as any nursery. It’s up to the gardener to decide what would be most useful. I think I’m going to start with some basics, and see if I can get anything to live past a season.

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