Many of us have tried to plant a garden in one form or another. A good percentage of those people — including myself at times — end up killing their plants due to over or under-watering. Civil engineer Grady Hillhouse, however, decided to take complete control of his garden with a custom Arduino-based watering system.
Grady’s original inspiration for this garden was that while fresh herbs are good, they can be expensive. Having a southern-facing backyard, a garden seemed like an excellent solution. He also owned an Arduino, so building this automatic system seemed only natural.
As with many projects like this, it ended up being more work than just buying herbs, and he still checks on the garden quite a bit. He admits in the video below that “none of this is really necessary.” I’d agree, although it might not be necessary, we agree that automating your garden is pretty awesome.
Grady also provided plenty of pictures of his creation in this imgur set, many of which are seen below. The circuit diagram, which provides a transistor for switching the water off and on, as well as several sensors, could be a good reference for anyone considering building his or her own!
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