Top 10 Christmas present ideas for gardeners

All I want for Christmas this year is more time in the garden. Oh the pleasure that can be found in the idle pottering about of a summer evening, or the power harvesting of an autumn morning after the school run. I revert to childlike status, begging my family for “Just five more minutes” as I survey whatever I’m doing at the time in a panicked fashion because there’s always, always something else that needs to be done in a garden. But short of the invention of a time machine, here are my top ten gift ideas for the green fingered people in your life (and they’re not hints at all, oh no!):

For the urban gardener

Growing in small spaces can be harder than managing a large garden so these fantastic Woolly Pocket planters (£15.66) are extremely useful. I used to have a line of them attached to my fence in my tiny London patio garden as a little vertical garden and used them for growing herbs and small plants like strawberries. And whilst you’re waiting for your small space crop to come up, you can delight in the amusing Rhapsody in Green: A Novelist, an Obsession, a Laughably Small Excuse for a Garden“>Rhapsody in Green by Charlotte Mendelson. After reading this book last year I gave it to everyone. Laugh-out-loud funny and a tender declaration of determined adoration for a city garden.

For the homestead gardener

Success! All of your courgette seeds germinated and grew into huge plants and now you’re knee deep in produce and at your wits end as to how to use it before it all rots. If this sounds like the gardener in your life then give them something that will make a bumper harvest cause for rejoicing. I’ve always wanted a dehydrator and have my fingers crossed that Father Christmas might have one on his sleigh for me this year.  If technology isn’t your bag, a traditional apple rack is extremely useful (and pretty) and can help elongate your harvest for months to come.

For the serious gardener

For those of us with glove-eating dogs, or indeed, just a rather exposed plot, gloves are always an excellent gift. They wear out quickly and are like socks when it comes to getting lost. I particularly like these beetle gloves. Good quality tools never go amiss either, so something like an excellent and heavy duty gardening fork would be a wonderful present. I’ve become completely sold on the idea that cheap tools are. false economy, we broke and bent the tines of two lesser forks in our front garden beds alone so sturdy tools are an excellent investment and lovely present.

For the gardening cook

I am certainly one gardener that plans planting according to my meal aspirations. If you are shopping for someone similar why not splash out on a handcrafted trug to carry their harvest? Or if you’re stuck for a stocking filler, these herb scissors are one of the most used items in my kitchen and ideal for someone that grows their own.

For little gardeners

Children are naturally drawn to gardening. The chance to get filthy and the pay off of their own produce and flowers is a magic combination. So help them to feel included by giving them their very own little gardening tool set that comfortably fits little hands, and maybe a lovely book to encourage them. I bought this pretty children’s book about gardening when we were on holiday in the USA and the first time we read it my eldest was quiet for a short time afterwards and then said “That was beautiful mummy”. It really is lovely prose and tells a wonderful story of a year in the garden.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by any of the companies I’ve linked to, it was my own idea and based on my own greed. I am an Amazon affiliate so I may receive a small bonus if you purchase one of the Amazon items but all of the choices were mine and this blog post was my idea.