Hardware for Garzed
Full Auto, where Garzed does the watering for you, needs two pieces per area: a soil moisture sensor that reads the ground and a smart valve that does the watering. A sensor alone gives you readings; a valve alone gives you schedules. Everything else here is optional. What each piece does →
Soil moisture sensors
Piece 1 of 2The reading Garzed waters from. Any one of these is the first piece. Every sensor reports through one Ecowitt gateway, so the gateway is bought once, in the kit.
The sensor reads soil moisture every 70 seconds and sends it to the hub; the hub streams it to Garzed over your Wi-Fi. One hub carries up to 16 sensors, and this GW1200 is one of Ecowitt's IoT hubs, so it can also run Ecowitt's own valve if you add one later.
One sensor per area for most setups. For a large area, add two or three to the same area: Garzed reads each and waters when the one closest to needing water says so. One AA battery.
Drives watering exactly like the WH51 and adds soil temperature and conductivity on the same stake. Pairs to your existing hub on its own channel.
Smart valves
Piece 2 of 2Pick one brand. Rachio sells in the US and Canada. LinkTap sells in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, and every LinkTap valve has a flow meter, so Garzed records how much water each run delivered. Each brand's kit includes its hub; the hub is bought once.
One valve per area. Pairs to your existing Rachio hub. A hose splitter at the spigot runs several valves off one bib.
Replaces the box on an in-ground system and wires into your existing valves. Garzed fires each zone in short pulses from that area's soil. 8-zone or 16-zone; pick the one that matches your system.
The valve mounts on any hose bib and runs on 4 AA batteries; its flow meter measures every watering, so Garzed records the gallons delivered and tells you when a valve opened but nothing flowed. The gateway plugs into your router by Ethernet. Keep it a few feet from the router.
One valve per area, each with its own meter. The standard meter reads flows above about half a gallon a minute; a slow drip line takes LinkTap's Micro Flow Meter on the same valve.
A weatherproof repeater for gardens far from the house. Valves route through it on their own. Helps with distance and walls, not with a gateway sitting next to a Wi-Fi router.
Weather stations
Optional. Live rain and temperature at your garden, so rain skips and freeze skips read your own garden; without one, Garzed uses the local forecast.
Rain, temperature, humidity, wind, UV and solar at the garden. Pairs to your existing Ecowitt hub. Solar-powered with AA backup. Mounts on a 1-inch pole, sold separately below.
A standalone station with no moving parts, on its own WeatherFlow hub. You connect it to Garzed with a WeatherFlow access token; it plays the same rain-skip and frost role as the WS90.
Other sensors
Optional. Not a substitute for a soil moisture sensor; these add readings Garzed uses for timing and advice.
Around the garden
Extras that pair with what Garzed tells you: shade when a heat wave is coming, the hoops to hold it up, and the pole a weather array mounts on.
