What do you call an elf who runs away from Santa’s workshop? A rebel without a Claus.
Santa’s workshop is busy constructing gifts for gardeners, but what if your gardener already has everything?
If you’re stumped this season, here are ideas that even the most well-equipped gardener will find both useful and delightful. And I can personally vouch for the usefulness of every item on the list.
Buy a gardener a better version of what they already own, such as ergonomic hand tools, especially pruners, weeders and soil knives with quality steel and comfortable grips. Even a gardener with three flimsy trowels on the shelf will appreciate one that doesn’t bend in clay soil.A favorite tool of mine, which I got several years ago, is the hori-hori gardening knife. Besides having an interesting name, which is Japanese for dig-dig, it’s become one of my most valued gardening tools. The sturdy metal blade is serrated on one edge, flat-sharp on the other, and I use it for dividing perennials, removing deeply rooted weeds and other digging and cutting tasks. They’re usually sold with a protective carrying or storing sheath.Surprise them with a magazine subscription. Northern Gardener magazine, by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, is one of my favorite magazines, which is well-tailored to our growing conditions. Give gifts that keep the gardener comfortable. Gardening is equal parts pleasure and contortion, and anything that reduces strain earns high praise. A thick padded kneeler, gel kneeling pads and flexible gardening gloves will be welcome.
Soil and plant-testing technology are always useful, including digital pH meters, light meters, moisture sensors and soil test kits.Give a gardening kit they might not have tried before, like a bonsai starter kit, a mushroom-growing log or miniature tabletop greenhouse.Gift cards from locally owned greenhouses and garden centers are always at the top of gardeners’ wish lists. A gardening book well-adapted for Northern gardening that’s a great reference book, but most importantly is entertaining reading, is
The Prairie Garden, published in Winnipeg, and can be ordered online by searching the book’s title.
High-quality weatherproof garden markers that actually last, for labeling shrub and perennial identification. I prefer zinc metal types that are offered at some garden centers and also sold online.
Precision weeding tools are must-haves for every gardener.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Gardeners enjoy great success with AeroGarden and other brands of hydroponic kits, which are self-contained, lighted units for growing salads, herbs and even flowers indoors on a counter or table.An apple picker for hard-to-reach fruit is a useful tool for anyone with an apple tree.A pole pruner is often needed to trim high branches, such as keeping apple trees in bounds. Battery-powered chainsaw-type pruners on a pole make easy work.Square Foot Gardening, the book by author Mel Bartholomew that revolutionized small-space and raised bed gardening, describes a method for getting top yield of vegetables in every square foot of space. It should be required reading for anyone gardening in raised beds, containers, or small areas.Hummingbird feeders are a delight to watch, and be sure to include extra material that fills the feeder.A gazing ball or sundial, plus pedestal, adds a time-honored look to a perennial garden or landscape.Systemic houseplant insecticide and Mosquito Bits Fungus Gnat Control might sound like odd gifts, but the houseplant lover in your life will know exactly what they’re for and will be forever grateful.
Hori-hori gardening knives are perfect for dividing perennials and removing deeply rooted weeds.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Fountains and water features can be ordered online in many price ranges, and even a simple style with easy setup adds the charm of bubbling water to any landscape.Galvanized pails, available at farm supply stores, are great for harvesting vegetables and mixing soil.Germination heat mats are invaluable for anyone starting seeds indoors and can be found at local garden centers or ordered online.A 4-foot, shop-type LED light fixture, maybe even two units, can produce lots of homegrown vegetable and annual flower transplants.Gardeners keep track of rainfall amounts, so a wide-mouth, accurate-type rain gauge is a welcome gift, especially if your gardener has broken plenty of the small, inexpensive tube-type gauges.
Gardeners don’t measure gifts by size or money spent; they measure them by whether they’ll help something grow, and the gifts above are sure to turn thumbs a deeper shade of green.
Don Kinzler, a lifelong gardener, is the horticulturist with North Dakota State University Extension for Cass County. Readers can reach him at donald.kinzler@ndsu.edu.
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