There’s a lot of talk about using soil moisture sensors and other digital tools in the garden. In theory, installing a sensor should make things easier—providing objective data to guide watering and care. But the reality is often more complicated.
Below is an excerpt from the latest Garden Bug Tracker, v2025.01. These reports have been logged during routine observation cycles and late-evening spirals.
There’s a point in learning to care for plants where things start going wrong, and you don’t know why. The leaves yellow. The stems sag. The roots turn to mush. And you end up hunched over a pot of dirt, not quite sure whether the thing needs more water, less light, or just a better gardener.
That moment feels a lot like debugging.
I haven’t automated my garden. Let’s be clear about that up front. But I’ve thought about it. A lot. Enough times standing out there with a coffee, watching the sky cloud over five minutes too late, to know there’s a better way.
You want to stop killing your basil every summer. I get it. You’ve got a patch of earth, a few potted herbs, and the best of intentions—but no idea what’s actually going on in your soil. Time to fix that.
I’m getting back into this whole writing thing, so I thought I’d start a new series. One I’ll probably find challenging: gardening. It’s currently the middle of winter in the UK, so not exactly the best time to be tidying up the garden, but this is more of a plan for the year ahead.
