Abstract With the availability of low cost, low power, and highly portable sensors for monitoring soil status, it becomes easier and convenient to assess the condition of soil or to identify dampness level. Information about the dampness level helps to irrigate the soil. In this work, we propose a sensor-based soil moisture content detection system using microcontroller. The system first presents sensing the moisture level of the soil. Next, the system presents the comparison between the sensed moisture level and the preset values stored in the microcontroller. Further, if the moisture level of the soil is less than threshold value, then the relay starts the solar-powered pump motor to irrigate the soil. Finally, GSM module is used to send or receive messages between microcontroller and the mobile owner. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach on the mini irrigation system.