Handy garden helpers

Summer is on its way, so now is a good time to get the garden ready for relaxing barbecue afternoons in the sun. Here are some top tech ideas to clean things up and make your outdoor space shine...

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Give your garden an instant Love Island makeover with weatherproof smart lights.

There are loads of options including solar lamps, and for the ultimate in outdoor ambience, Philips Hue offers lights such as the Lily spotlight, Calla pedestal and fully flexible Lightstrips.

Not only will these connected gadgets add some style to your outdoor space all year round, but they can be fully controlled via your smartphone, You can set the mood by changing the colour of the bulbs to any shade in the rainbow and they can even be set to spark into life automatically when it goes dark.

Prices start from £99.

NO LAWN YAWN

ROBOT MOWER

You can keep the grass looking as good as your local golf course without lifting a finger. Robot mowers now do all the hard work for you and will pop out during the week to make sure things are trim for the weekend.

There are lots of models to choose from, but the Husqvarna Automower Aspire R6V is a solid option with features such as smart Al object detection and automatic recharging.