Christmas For Good Gardeners

 

Hoe, hoe, hoe, what will Santa Claus be bringing on Christmas morning for the gardeners on his "good" list?  Wonderful gifts that new or long-time gardeners with green thumbs will love.   Over the last decade, gift suggestions for plant enthusiasts are the standard garden plant stakes, labels, tools, cute statues and accoutrements, gardening books, and of course, lots of plants.  With current sustainable and urban trends encouraging people to take classes, conserve their environment, reduce their footprint and grow their own food, gardeners are becoming more sophisticated and adept at gardening. Getting your gardener to take the next step in their garden journey will be helped by these great finds from Amazon, the Spoon Sisters, and Williams-Sonoma.

1.  This gorgeous, earthy personalized garden tote.  Canvas material, with eight pockets to hold tools, seed packets, weed collection, or harvesting herbs and tomatoes. $29.95




2. Fresh Air Kitchen Composter Collector   Composting is so good for your garden. This composter is chic enough to sit on your kitchen counter and has oxygenating construction so that bad odors are eliminated. The best part of this composter is that it utilizes decomposing bags that you can put right into your outside composter.  $24.00

3. Spoon Sisters Herb Markers Not your mother's plant labels! Gorgeous metalwork for your herbs.  Sold as a set of nine, these 11" signs will add panache to your garden, containers, or raised beds. $26.95

 
4. Herb Savor Pods. For the gardener/cook/chef who loves to have fresh herbs in their refrigerator.  These modern herb storage containers keep the herb stems in water up to three weeks.  No more baggies or wilted herbs.  The pods will fit in your refrigerator door. Comes in a set of three pods.  $29.95.

5. Spoon Sisters Flower and Herb Dryer  Distressed metal drying ring that will bring authentic gardening look to that French or Mediteranean kitchen or parterre'. Hang your spring and summer flowers and herbs from ten hooks to scent the air, collect seeds, or pluck fresh for your latest recipe.   $22.00

 

6. Williams-Sonoma Make Your Own Cheese Kit.  What a great way to use herbs from your garden in your own cheese! Everything you need to make all-natural cheeses in one hour!  Different cheese kits include mozzarella, ricotta, chevre, or queso fresco. $25.95

7. Williams-Sonoma Stoneware Pickling Crock  Growing cucumbers and cabbages? With these glazed pottery from Zanesville Ohio, pottery capital of the world, you can make your own dill pickles and sauerkraut.  Beautiful even when not in use.  Comes in 3 gallon or 5 gallon pots. $54.95 - $79.95

8. Williams-Sonoma Shiitake Mushroom Log Step into the new world of growing your own mushrooms. Easy and safe as a bump on a log! Grow indoors or outdoors.  Logs are inoculated with mushroom spores, soak log for 24 hours, then harvest within a few weeks. Oyster mushroom logs also available.   $29.95





9. Williams-Sonoma Vertical Garden Classy and practical way to grow plants indoors or on your patio.  Free-standing planter holds  40 plants. New water-smart technology allows for easy watering with collection tray to prevent dripping on the floors. $499.95

10.  Williams-Sonoma Cedar Chicken Coop and Run and Planter . More and more cities are allowing chickens in residential areas. Keep your chickens safe in this delightful and compact 2-story chicken coop. Easy to reach eggs.  $1,299.00

 

 These lovely gifts are perfect for your special gardener!  Wishing you a wonderful holiday season from my garden to yours.  Merry Christmas everyone!

 

 

 

Gifts For The Gardener

Selecting Christmas gifts for the gardener can be easy or hard depending on the gardener's propensity and their needs. Is your favorite gardener new to gardening? Then new tools, plants, and garden accents can be easy to find.  But what if you have a gardener who has a mature garden, all the tools they need, and buying a Christmas present can be a chore? Here's some ideas for every budget that you still have time to get and place under your Christmas tree:

• Beautiful stainless steel compost pail for the kitchen.  A one gallon container for all your compost scraps comes complete with a carbon filter. Only 11 inches high to fit perfectly under your sink or even on your counter.  $40.00

• Bird House Chalet that will feed every feathered visitor. Decorated with bird seeds, this bird house will attract bluejays, cardinals, chickadees, doves, finches, jays, sparrows, and more. Hanging the bird feeder close to a window view or placing it on your fence will enable your gardener to enjoy watching the various birds who will come to your yard. $40.00
  
  

•  Wee fairy garden accents for miniature gardens. A wonderful way to create little garden vignettes for under a tall tree, or put on your patio or even indoors, this is an unique hobby for children, adluts, and those with disabilities, who can't get around a garden or can't lift heavy items. Each piece allows you to personalize the garden.  Individual costs vary from $3.00 to $10.00.

 

• Solar powered LED firefly lighting for your garden borders or used to highlight a small tree. These small LED lights with a low voltage transformer don't add to your electricity bill and are easy to install. These beautiful lights add fantasy and excitement to your nighttime garden.

• A must have in any garden is a noteworthy entrance.  Garden gates add a special touch to your landscape even if there is no fence.  Gates can reflect your house architectural style or just add whimsical structure to your yard.  Gates can be wooden, wrought iron, even twigs and branches from trees.  You can find unique garden gates at antique stores, yard  sales, or renovation outlets. Free to $100+.

• Celtic Mushroom. Perfect touch for an Irish themed garden. This three pound cement resin mushroom can be used outdoors in your garden area or beside your indoor plants.  Toadstools even come as a set with a large and small size.  Weather-resistant, it will be an ideal accent to your woodland garden. $40.00

•   And for the chilly, rainy, snowy days of winter when gardening isn't a viable option, the best biographical gardening book I've read in a long time is on a relatively unknown but early 20th century gardening designer, is "Edwardian Country Life: The Story of H. Avray Tipping"  In 1933, Tipping wrote "The Garden of Today." His garden designs reflect the Italian phase of the Arts and Crafts style. H. Avray Tipping, made an impact on Britain's culture when he became the architectural editor of Country Life, a popular magazine among the wealthy in the early 1900's. Tipping was instrumental in the preservation of country homes and historical buildings through the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. 

A personal sidenote: I was introduced to this new book through my English parish priest, the brother of Helena Gerrish.  Helena lives in Tipping's house and while researching his life and restored his magnificent gardens.  I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful coffee table book by Helena Gerrish. After reading the background history along with Tipping's biography and seeing the beautiful gardening photographs of beautiful British country homes, his homestead and his gardens are now on my bucket list for my next trip to England.

Mother's Day In Her Backyard

What should you get your Mom for Mother's Day this Sunday?  Depending on her lifestyle, she may need a little help around her backyard. 

Here's some great ideas that I know Moms around the country would love:

• Provide the fruits of your labor and materials to install a small garden bed for flowers, vegetables, or herbs.
• Bring sunshine into her life. Prune back overgrown hedges and shrubs.
• Instead of cut flowers, give her a gift certificate to a rose or flower catalog and have her pick out her favorite flowers so she can enjoy flowers all year round.
• Give Mom a world of butterflies by giving her butterfly nectar or larvae host plants.
• Dishing out a container of wonderful herbs for cooking her favorite recipes.
• Check out and calibrate or fix her irrigation system so Mom doesn't have high water bills.
• Reduce the amount of turf that Mom has to mow by planting more shrubs and flowers.
• Plant a flowering tree that has fragrance.
• Gardening gloves, sun protectant, hand moisturizer, and a beautiful hat to wear outdoors in the sun.

We'll be talking about more ideas on "In Your Backyard."  Call in and tell me what you're getting your favorite Mom for Mother's Day.

Make Your Own Plantable Gift Tags

If you're like me and compost everything, you only have so much room and find your compost bin gets full quickly. What to do with your junk mail?

Birds and Blooms magazine has a neat holiday suggestion that makes a wonderful children's craft project: plantable gift tags!

Kendra Zvonik who lives in St. Petersburg Florida, provides directions for an easy do-it-yourself gift tags. She suggests shredding your junk mail, but how about printed copy paper, old calendars, used envelopes as well?

While you're at the Birds and Blooms website, sign up for their free magazine issue. Birds and Blooms has beautiful photographs of birds, gardens, plant articles, and project ideas. My mother-in-law gives me a subscription every year for Christmas.

Want more recycling activities? How about creating your own paper? Follow these instructions.