Garden Avatar? Garden Fairy? AI is Coming to Your Garden. See What Smart Technology Can Do

What is your Garden Avatar?  This is mine!  Being ever at the zeitgeist, I just created her.  I’m always happily laboring in the garden, so I felt quite compatible/in simpatico (!) and together, I look forward to working in harmony with her.  

If you had to choose an image that will help you to cultivate your garden dreams for 2024, what would it be?  

This post is a quick click into the world of gardening AI. It’s the talk of the town.  

Just like gardens, AI is ever-evolving.  Here’s a sneak preview of what to expect this year and how you can use garden AI: 

Garden AI is at once both an oxymoron and also a smart solution to a very complex composition.

On one hand, it doesn’t get more real life than gardening. There is no substitute.  Even faux meat uses plant-based materials.  

Our meds are plants-based, even those that are derived originally from plants.  

Gardens and plants are alive ~ some would argue, sentient beings with a soul ~ Think trees and companion plants.

Yet, and perhaps especially, because so many of us are so far removed from having the essential plant connection that our ancestors possessed when they relied on the gardens and farms in order to live, we have, by and large, lost that knowledge.  I’m talking about the general public here. 

We simply don’t know how to grow and maintain our plants. For food or for beauty.

Enter the intelligent, adaptive, and efficient garden AI expert systems. 

Think of it as perhaps a kind of virtual to real life loop. 

AI has been one of The top topics last year.  It seems everyone is buzzing about the promise and the dangers of the technology.

Thinking this was all so new, especially for the world of gardens, a quick Google search showed me that AI in gardening was first talked about back in the 1980’s. 

It’s a slow grower… 

Today, we’re still at the starting gate. Er, garden gate, entrance. 

Gardens and plants have a lot about them that is not given to data analysis.  

Yet, Smart Gardening using AI can improve the living performance of our gardens. 

Please allow me to point out that Gardening and Horticulture take a lot of knowledge. A lot.  In fact, it’s never ending. That’s what makes it such an extraordinary career. There’s always something to learn.  And you all know I just Love learning. I refer to moi on my Instagram as a Philomath ~ a person who genuinely loves learning and studying.  

That’s why I attend every lecture and webinar and listen to as many podcasts as I can.

So much to learn 😍 

There’s the ancient plants, the new hybrids, inspiring designs from the world’s best landscape artists, best practices from award-winning landscapers and native plant experts, and those scientists and land managers specializing in the climate/weather pattern issues and how it affects our urban spaces and our agriculture.  

Horticulture is a prism for food, beauty, climate, real estate, and entertainment and leisure activity. 

I’m so proud to have been able to share with my garden design clients’ gardens the decades of plant and design knowledge.

AI is a supercharged knowledge concierage 😉

And while I still must advise you that it’s best to hire a professional 👍the nascent and “growing” benefits of garden AI can’t be overlooked. 

We need to explore the possibilities and what’s presently available. 

AI is kinda like me and my garden avatar ~ hungry for more garden knowledge and ready to be of service. 😀

Consider garden AI as accumulated information to help you plan and manage your gardens.

It can generate plant lists to maintain healthy gardens, spreadsheets for care and maintenance for your indoor and outdoor plants, provide fertilizer updates and needs, and more. 

AI Garden Toys/Tools

I love the mobile app: Picture This and have used it to identify plants, weeds, and diagnose disease. 

While I haven’t used many of the features ~ I should ~ the App offers Care tips, Trends: i.e. “Best Blooming Flowering Trees for Spring,” Reminders, Light Meter, Allergen ID, and plants Toxic to Pets, to name a few of its many features. It’s highly rated and offers users a plant Community, too to interact and exchange plant passions with.

There’s an in-app purchase but there is excellent value ~ so worth it.

These folks also have a sister app for indoor plant management: Plant Parent. 

You can use the AI powered lawn mower now. It works like a RoombaⓇ for your yard. 

No more pushing or riding the mower. 

You can kick back with your drink and watch it crest the contours of your yard! 

Some can also provide maintenance such as thatching and fertilizing.

They mowers run on rechargeable batteries. 

Like the irrigation systems I’ve helped “manage” for my garden design clients, the mowers  offer “connectivity, a mobile companion app, and flexible scheduling capabilities. The same goes for models that can handle larger lawns with steep grades and obstructions such as flower beds, trees, and ornamental decorations.”

The best robot lawn mowers can cost upwards of $1,000.  I like them because they are quiet.  Ahhh.  What a relief from the pounding that a mow, blow, and go crew can do to one’s morning coffee time.

For a quick review of the available mower options, check PC Magazine’s expert advice. 

There are also ready-to-use gardening systems. From hydroponic to mini farmettes, I’ve written about these self-contained home growing and composting systems in the past. They continue to improve. In functionality and style.  Great for engaging the children, too. 

You can do a web search 

Yanko Smart Indoor Garden 

Click & Grow Smart Garden

Lomi Home Composter 

Overall, take Baby steps with this emerging smart technology. See what works for you.  

Start with ChatGPT while it’s still free ^:^

When you’re ready to use AI, the very capable model ChatGPT is a good place to dip your robotic toe into the water.  

Start by defining your goals clearly. Provide as much detail to its prompts.  

The more you put in; the more you will get out of your AI garden “assistant.”

You will be using this technology as a knowledge resource.  It can aggregate many mind-boggling issues that garden designers juggle and manage, including: 

• Weather

• Watering

• Light

• Soil and Soil Analysis

• Pest and Disease ID and control 

• Care and maintenance needs such as pruning

Think of AI garden tools like a project management tool.   

And have some fun with it.

Available in the App store,  Hello AI can help you plan your garden.  There is a free and an in-app subscription fee version, Hello AI is “an advanced chatbot app that offers personalized, intuitive conversations.

It'll take into account factors like sunlight, soil, climate, and where you live. By analyzing all this data, Hello AI can tell you which plants and techniques are most likely to thrive in your garden.

It can help design your layout and choose plants.  

Of course, overall, AI is not able to provide you with a truly unique, personalized garden design with an artful aesthetic. 

That may never come to pass.

But for some inspiration or to jump start your ideation for meeting with your garden designer, it’s efficient and an ahem, “growing” resource.

Now, if the AI would just help me out IN the garden, we’d really be making progress.  Further, if it could distinguish plants from “weeds,” I’d bring it a martini!

Stay tuned.

Who’s cuter? AI robot?

Or my girl?

What should I name her?  I understand one names their Avatar. Seems appropriate…

Welcome to our brave new world. Or is it the mythical magic of legends.

What do you think? Will you use Garden AI now or later?