The best gifts are always friendship and love rather than material stuff, but there are times we want to express our affection with a gift. If you have a gardener in your life you’re in luck, because they can be among the easiest to buy for. I’m always a bit baffled when I hear someone saying they weren’t sure what to get me. Well, DUH! I’m a serious plant nerd and lifelong gardener. Something plant related, of course. We, as gardeners spend the dreary days of Winter scouring plant catalogs and looking lustily at glamour shots of lush gardens, always looking for new varieties and dreaming of plant combinations.
You may be thinking OK I’ll just pick a plant for them. Not so easy. Hardcore gardeners generally have SPECIFIC plants and Specific colors they carefully research and introduce to their gardens. If they have really big gardens, I’m sure they can find a place for that plant they really never wanted to begin with, but the problem is compounded for those with limited space.
I’ve put together a list of great gardening gifts your beloved plant nerd will truly appreciate.
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Eco Paper Pot Maker
Here’s a truly unique garden gift any gardener would absolutely LOVE!
Easily makes little pots for seedlings out of recycled newspaper. You can create hundreds of little biodegradable pots to start seeds while keeping both newspaper and plastic out of the waste stream. It helps keep seedlings moist and also reduces planting shock. Simply set the plant and newspaper pot into the planting hole when ready. The newspaper will readily compost in place when planted. Such a cool tool to reduce plastic garbage!
There are different paper pot maker sizes to choose from. Here’s the Big Paper Potter, a big one that makes paper pots about half the size of a soda can perfect for larger seedlings, fast growing seeds and plug plants like Zucchini, sunflowers, corn and peas.
Soil Blocking Tool
Soil blocking tool to make seed planting cubes out of organic soil! Possibly the Best tool for gardeners to start Organic seeds. Never buy another plastic cell tray tray to start seeds, reducing our plastic waste and providing seeds a superior way to grow. Provides a higher rate of seed germination. Simply mix a soil slurry and use the tool for high powered compression to make growing cubes. Love, Love Love!
You can see the soil blocking tool here
Here’s the Master Grower system soil blocker set that includes all the different sizes to make potting soil cubes
You can see the soil blocker with multiple sizes here
Water crystals
These little water crystals puff up to over 200 x their size in water and slowly release it back to plants keeping soil moist even in the hottest dry Summer. Greatly reduces watering and is indispensable for starting new plants in the landscape in Summer. I promise your gardener friends will love them! Don’t use too much or you’ll come out and find a big pile of gelatinous goo emerging around your plant. More is not better with water crystals! A little goes a LONG way. I recommend them for water loving plants, hanging baskets and new plantings where it’s difficult to water.
IDEA: These would be great in a gardeners gift basket along with a pair of gardening gloves and maybe a cute shovel.
You can find polymer water crystals here
Mason Bee house
This handcrafted mason bee house provides a home to support pollinators in the garden with style. Made with natural wood and sustainable bamboo it’s waterproof and will hold up to the elements. This cute little mason bee hut can be simply placed on an old tree trunk, hung in a tree or attached to a wall or the house. Increases rate of pollination for gardens and orchards and provides space for other beneficial insects that help eliminate aphids and other destructive pests.
Here is the Mason Bee House
Bat House
A single bat can eat its weight in mosquitos each night! Some bats can eat as much as 1,200 insects in an hour of feeding and they are important nocturnal pollinators for many food crops. Sadly, bat populations are dramatically in decline around the world while mosquito and insect populations soar. Bats get a bad wrap, but they do so much for us. Sheltering and encouraging bats near your home and gardens can significantly decrease mosquitos, destructive caterpillars, beetles, leafhoppers and other night flying insects. In some places of the country mosquitos can make gardening uncomfortable and with Zika and other mosquito born illnesses now in the USA mosquitos can be dangerous. Bats cannot contract Zika and are an eco-friendly way to manage mosquitos. Adding a bat house is an easy way to support and welcome bats into your garden space. Here are 2 cute and functional bat boxes that would make great gifts for gardeners.
Here is the two chamber bat house
You can find the one with the bat art here
Hori Hori
So fun to say and such an awesome garden tool! It’s a combination knife and trowel. Many gardeners consider the Hori Hori knife one of the most indispensable garden tools ever. It’s one tool that does so much. It’s curved so it acts as a trowel and it can also open bags, cut through roots, saw pots in half, measure the planting depth, dig, prune and weed.
Here is a nice Hori Hori
5 Gallon Bucket Garden Caddy/ Tote
No wimpy garden totes here! For the serious gardener who doesn’t want to lug around a garden caddy that doesn’t do double duty. When I go to the garden to do work, I Always find weeds. The 1st thing I lug around at all times is a big bucket to plop weeds in. This caddy wraps around any 5-gallon bucket and organizes tools, provides a place for cell phone, water bottle, loops for twine and much more all while having your trusty bucket to put weeds in. I have a small plant nursery and use my 5-gallon bucket to mix my soil amendments which I then add to a concrete mixer along with compost to make my own potting soil. This keeps all my tools handy as I pot things up. It’s an inexpensive gift that will definitely be used and loved by the gardener in your life!
As a gift… you may consider planting a lovely flowering plant in the bucket for a thoughtful wow factor presentation.
Here’s my 1st pick for a garden tote that wraps around any 5-gallon bucket.
Gardening Apron
This apron would be perfect for gardening. It’s made of waterproof waxed canvas so it will withstand mucky conditions and has tons of different sized pockets for tools, cell phone and any other gardening gadgets. The straps are adjustable to fit many body types and would work for women and men. It would be a wonderful and functional gift for any gardener. You could stuff the pockets with a trowel or seed packs for a cute gift presentation.
Readywares Waxed Canvas Tool Apron
Self Watering Vertical Wall Planters
These planters are a perfect gift for gardeners with limited space or someone who wants to add vertical plantings. This kit is so versatile. It can be used as a freestanding vertical garden, hung to decorate an unsightly fence or wall and as a living work of art indoors. It has many configurations so the possibilities are endless. Your gardening buddies will be delighted. There are 3 color choices and it’s self-watering! Truly one of the nicest and affordable vertical planting kits I’ve seen.
In the picture below someone built a frame around the wall plantings to create a stylish work of art using the self-watering wall planters. Beautiful!
Check out the vertical wall planters and different colors and price Here.
Do you have any other ideas for great gardening gifts? I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for looking. Hope this post was helpful and inspiring.
Stephanie Beach