Had a little trouble finding the right connectors but eventually used brass tap to Gardena control and brass connector to attach hosepipes feeding soaker hose irrigation. Very surprised at how well the brass fittings connect the Gardena water incontrol. They are quick to connect – no fiddling around trying to tighten up the connections to stop leaks.

Using the Gardena water control with the Gardena hub and app gives effective control (together with a Gardena sensor) of water used so no longer guesswork at how much water to apply to a plant. The Gardena app takes account of how wet or dry the soil around the plants is and there is also an overriding control if rainfall is above a certain level. The app also determines the best time to water usually late evening or overnight. Together with soaker hose irrigation I can apply the right amount of water to the roots of my fruit trees. So I save money on my water bill – no spending hours trying to ensure that each fruit tree is getting sufficient water- and probably overwatering.

The only downside side is that the Gardena water controls and sensors rely on batteries so the more you have the more batteries you will eventually have to replace. But so far the batteries seem to use little power and the app tells you the state of each battery’s charge.

The Gardena products are expensive but they are reliable and they work. And they provide very good control over the amount of water needed.

I already had the Gardena system for my robot lawnmower, so this was an obvious choice to add automated watering to the lawn. It’s super simple to set up and use, works flawlessly and is very much a ‘set and forget’ bit of automation. It’s not cheap, but you can’t fault the quality and convenience.