Posted on Monday, December 1st, 2014
It can sometimes be difficult to find the perfect gift for the gardener in your life, so we’re here to help! This is our pick of this year’s gardening gift crop, for experienced gardeners, casual potterers or curious kids.
For the hardened horticulturalist
A wormery is an excellent idea for a keen gardener, particularly if they don’t have space for a compost heap. The worms will merrily gorge on kitchen waste and produce wonderful (and free!) liquid feed for the garden. We like the sturdy Wormcity wormeries which are available in a range of sizes.
In cold weather even the most dedicated gardener can be put off, but not with a pair of heated insoles in their wellies! Available from retailers including Amazon and Greenfingers, they are battery operated and most use an adjustable ankle strap to hold the battery pack.
A solar radio is a great gardener’s gift as they can listen to their favourite stations while in the garden, without the hassle of cables or having to turn the house radio up so high that the whole neighbourhood can hear it! AM/FM solar radios start at around £15 while you can buy a Roberts DAB solar radio (which will also run off the mains) from £65.
There are some things which every gardener always needs more of, so why not buy them a trug and then fill it with all the gardening essentials. Gardening gloves (especially warm winter ones), twine, plant labels, plant label pens, fresh secateurs blades, hand cream and Jeyes disinfectant fluid are items that no gardener can have too much of.
If you’re buying for the gardener who has everything, why not treat them to a new skill? Many open gardens around the country offer courses throughout the year on a wide range of topics. RHS gardens and university botanic gardens are particularly good sources. Send them on a course to brush up the basics of pruning or propagation, or perhaps go in depth with a course on hybridization or grafting.
For the casual gardener
For many people a garden is as much about relaxation and socialising as it is about growing the perfect paeony or cultivating an award winning veg patch. There are plenty of great gifts for those who prefer peaceful pottering in the garden.
‘Plant Theatre’ have created the perfect combination of gardening and relaxation in their ‘Grow your own cocktail’ kit. The kit contains seeds and pots to grow 6 different plants with instructions on how to use them to create 18 cocktail recipes. The plants include cucamelon, borage and lime basil.
Many designer names are coming into the gardening market, meaning that gardeners can truly garden in style. Big brands such as Orla Kiely and Joules are creating beautiful gardening accessories and equipment, including gloves, pots and kneelers. Or you can personalise a basic pair of gardening gloves to suit the recipient. Sew on a fur trim, red felt ‘painted nails’ or some festive tinsel to make your own original design.
Lighting can make any garden look special, even in the depths of winter. While solar lights are great for the summer, in the winter battery powered lights can take their place. So why not buy them a string of LED fairy lights to decorate trees or shrubs. Buy ones which automatically come on in the dark or have a timer on them (so they don’t have to go out to turn them on and off) and some rechargeable batteries to power them, and they’ll be able to add a little winter sparkle to their garden.
Getting kids into the garden
Teach children about how plants grow with a pack of beanstalk seeds which reveal a secret message as they grow, by Beecycle. As the seed germinates a secret message (such as ‘Merry Christmas’) appears on the cotyledon (the first, embryonic leaf that appears).
Give the green fingered child in your life some great gardening ideas with the RHS ‘Ready, steady, grow!’ book of gardening projects. From growing salad to creating a fairy ring, the projects take from 1 day to 12 weeks to complete, suiting all attention spans!
If you’re buying for kids who love Hallowe’en, then why not get them a kit to grow their own pumpkin ready for next October 31st? Scott and Co have a ‘Percy the Pumpkin’ kit which supplies everything needed, including carving tools for the final product. Alternatively, create your own kit with pumpkin seeds, pots, coir pellets and growing instructions.
You can bring some family fun into the garden (well, when the weather improves anyway!) with giant versions of favourite games. You can buy giant Twister, snakes and ladders, noughts and crosses, playing cards, Kerplunk, draughts, chess, Jenga and pick up sticks – so there’s something to suit everyone (and to suit your budget).
Image courtesy of hyena reality at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
