I’m not a, ‘gadget girl’ myself. Sticking my finger under the mulch and into the soil tells me all I need to know about soil moisture.
I also don’t get wrapped around the axle when it comes to the nutritional content of the soil in my raised beds. As long as it is loose and friable, I can grown anything in any of them just by fertilizing properly for each type of veggie, herb or flower.
That said, it’s Year Three, so next spring every bed is getting a top dressing of homemade compost! :)
The soil just gives your plants a place to live. It’s up to the Gardener to feed them properly and make sure they’re planted in the proper place for their light requirements and to get that inch of water a week that in-ground plantings need.
Just my opinion...and I used to SELL all of those gadgets to people for a living, LOL!
Actually, what I said above was my forte. And customers appreciated the honesty. We were always ahead in soil amendments, bagged compost and fertilizer sales when compared to our other stores. ;)
Agreed SOMEWHAT on the moisture, although for deeper rooted plants I have to dig down a bit more than my finger is long. Speaking only of myself of course. ;-)
Just kidding on that last, but, clay underlies the garden and I’ve never had the fire in me to replace it to a depth of over 16” or so, except in a few small areas. This “can” result in water pooling just above the clay, but I don’t think that’s the problem as I sporadically dig down a bit deeper than most of the veggies’ roots go, to check on things.
So... The moisture / pH / light meter would be more for checking soil pH — I am wondering if I’m adding too much organic material and creating increasingly acidic soil. Maybe that’s way off the mark — all I really know is the last few years the weeds do great, non-potted veggies except the tomatoes are doing increasingly poorly, sometimes dying (while most of the tomatoes do great), and so far I can’t figure it out. Many years ago I learned to not use our voluminous hickory leaves (tends to include twigs and husks, too) as mulch, so, THAT’s not “it”. :-)