My wife’s setting up a garden. As a tech fan, I used DFRobot’s Beetle ESP32-C3 (compact, core/expansion boards, many interfaces, lithium support) to make an env monitor (temp, humidity, light, soil moisture) – data on screen & to server via MQTT for future auto irrigation.

Create a connected plant monitoring system that records the temperature, light level, and plant moisture level and publishes this data to a local website.

How to construct a soil moisture sensor circuit to send me a message when your plant needs water.