Our pick of the best garden gadgets

Ever since the first lawnmower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Budding of Stroud to replace the traditional scythe, we have been in love with gardening tools.

Next to the kitchen, there is no part of the home more amenable to labour-saving gadgetry than the garden.

Here's our selection of four of the best gardening implements that could make a difference in your back yard.

1. Robot mower

And lawnmowers have come some way since Budding’s ‘grass shearing machine’, with substantial numbers of people now using a robot mower. These can cost £1,500-plus, but there’s a new breed of sub-£1,000 mowing robots, some of which don’t require a wire boundary to be buried round the perimeter of the lawn.

One such wire-free machine is the new Navimow iSeries. It’s an excellent machine, nonetheless, and exceptionally quiet. Instead of guide wires to stop it rampaging off-piste through your rosebeds, it has a camera, GPS and AI-assisted mapping.

It’s important to note that a robot mower doesn’t just mow the lawn and it’s done until next week. Rather, it’s a continuous process you might programme to happen each day while you’re out, and thus more akin to having a couple of donkeys nibbling away at your lawn. Except robots aren’t great on bumpy lawns.

And be aware, if you go robotic, you’ll need a smartphone, as well as a penchant for gadgets.

2. Powered secateurs

If you have limited strength in your hands, powered secateurs are an absolute boon, and less demanding to non-gadgety gardeners. Worx Nitro’s cordless electric pruning shears – will make up to 2,800 cuts on one charge.

3. Hand chainsaw

For cutting back woodier growth that’s beyond secateurs, a hand chainsaw (which makers tend to call just a garden pruner) is fantastic. Stihl’s GTA 26 is such fun to use you’ll almost feel you have a bionic super-hand.

Beware, though: it’s so effective you might end up cutting branches just because you can. The chain blade is easily replaceable for £15 or so if you blunt it through over enthusiasm.

And please, do be careful. It’s a chainsaw, however sleek and dinky it may be.

4. Capability trowel

Asking an experienced gardener for their absolute top gadget, as I did for this selection, elicited an unexpected response. Her choice was the Kent & Stowe Capability Trowel.

No electronics involved, but it does plenty. The serrated edge will open compost bags as well as help weeding, and the hard handle end can be used as a hammer.

The trowel is apparently inspired by one wielded by Lancelot Brown, the 18th-century gardener who, incidentally, hated his nickname: ‘Capability’.