AI-Powered Gardening: How Smart Technology is Revolutionizing Plant Care and Sustainability

Technology has manifested itself into nearly every aspect of daily life, even traditional hobbies like gardening are undergoing a digital transformation. Home gardeners could use smart garden kits to monitor their gardens remotely, receiving alerts about their plants’ needs directly on their smartphones.

Are you thirsty? or do you need more sunlight? 

AI can let your plants answer those questions directly.

As more companies invest in AI for gardening, we may soon see smart gardens in homes and urban spaces globally. 

The Rise of the Intelligent Garden

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in England, in collaboration with Microsoft and the AI start-up Avande, is pioneering a new concept at the Chelsea Flower Show next year: an intelligent garden that can communicate with visitors. 

Using sensors to gather real-time data on soil moisture, nutrient levels, and environmental factors, the garden provides responses when visitors ask it questions, such as, 

How are you today? or do you need water?

Through the Azure OpenAI Service, these responses are crafted based on the garden’s current state, creating a unique and interactive experience for visitors.

By showcasing how Internet of Things (IoT) devices and machine learning can optimize plant care, this intelligent garden offers a glimpse into the potential of technology to promote sustainable gardening practices on a global scale. For home gardeners, this technology could mean reducing unnecessary water usage and maximizing plant health. For farmers and businesses, it presents a way to cut utility costs and reduce resource waste.

How AI Transforms Gardening

At the core of this technology are sensors that monitor various environmental parameters, translating them into actionable insights. 

Microsoft and Avande’s model uses advanced sensors that track soil moisture, alkalinity, nutrient levels, temperature, and even local weather forecasts. By analyzing these factors, AI models can provide real-time advice to gardeners, who can adjust watering, feeding, or pruning based on the garden’s “requests.”

Such technological advancements are helping gardeners make informed decisions, ultimately conserving resources and enhancing sustainability efforts. This can be crucial in regions prone to droughts or in densely populated urban areas where water conservation is critical.

PhytlSigns: AI-Powered Plant Communication

Beyond the intelligent garden, companies like Vivent, a Swiss tech firm, are developing tools to enable plants to communicate their needs. 

Vivent’s product, PhytlSigns, utilizes electrodes to detect electrical signals in plants, which vary in response to stressors like thirst, nutrient deficiency, or pest attacks. This technology allows plants to “speak” directly to growers, providing real-time insights that can improve crop quality and prevent waste. The implications of such technology are broad, especially in agriculture. PhytlSigns is currently being used to detect stress signals from pests or drought. 

In one study with Agroscope, a Swiss agricultural research center, plants equipped with PhytlSigns could even activate a watering system automatically when they signaled a need for water. This level of precision, termed “precision agriculture,” helps farmers conserve water, improve yields, and maintain healthier crops, ultimately benefiting both the environment and food production.

The Global Push Towards AI-Driven Sustainability

AI-driven gardening is not limited to the UK or Switzerland; it’s a global movement that has taken root in countries worldwide. 

Farmers in the United States, for instance, are embracing precision agriculture to monitor soil health, reduce water usage, and protect crops from drought. AI is also helping farmers in drought-prone areas, like California, conserve water for crops like almonds and olives, which require significant hydration to thrive.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately 40% of crops are lost in the field even before harvest. By integrating AI in gardening and agriculture, there is enormous potential to reduce this loss, boost food security, and address climate challenges. 

The World Economic Forum has also recognized the critical role of AI in agriculture, emphasizing that as populations grow and resources become scarcer, technology will be essential to meet global food demands sustainably.

Balancing Tradition with Innovation

While AI and IoT bring powerful tools to gardening, designers like Tom Massey and Je Ahn of the RHS intelligent garden emphasize that technology should assist—not replace—the human touch. Their goal was to create a “forest garden” filled with biodiversity, rather than a sterile, tech-driven environment. After the exhibit concludes, this garden will remain as a community space, blending nature with technology in harmony.

A Green Future with AI

AI has the potential to transform how we grow plants and how we view our role in the environment. By embracing intelligent gardening, individuals and businesses can make a meaningful impact on sustainability. As these technologies continue to advance, the dream of conversing with plants—and understanding their needs—may soon become a reality, helping everyone from amateur gardeners to large-scale farmers contribute to a greener, more sustainable planet.

The intelligent garden is just the beginning, and as this green revolution unfolds, it offers hope for a future where technology and nature work hand-in-hand to create a world that’s as sustainable as it is beautiful.