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Holiday Shopping for your Favorite Gardener

© Carol Wallace

So what if my pumpkin is still on the porch? The stores are already playing Christmas carols, so it must be that time again - time when those really organized folks who think ahead are worrying about what to get their favorite gardeners for the holidays. So here I am to help you out with a few ideas, even I haven't even started planning for Thanksgiving.

Just in case anyone wants to know what I really want, it's a debit card at the local nursery. Give me $100 - or $1000 at the beginning of the year and let me wander around when the spirit strikes me, grabbing whatever plants take my fancy and simply deducting them from my credit line. Talk about a blissful feeling! But since most nurseries don't have a debit card (Giant hint to anyone reading this who owns a nursery!) there are a lot of other things I know that most gardeners would be more than pleased to find under the tree.

What we would most appreciate are things like truckloads of mulch and manure. I suggest this every year, but few people seem to take me seriously - probably because the gift-wrapping would be a nightmare. And there's no way they fit under an indoor tree. So this year I will try to concentrate on things that can be wrapped and easily tucked away until it's time to break them out. Things that I have used, and love, and know other gardeners would appreciate as much as I do.

First - good tools!

The average age of gardeners is rising - which means that ergonomically built tools that are easy on joints and the back are becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. Here are a few that I've tried and can recommend.

One tool that intrigued me there was something called a Circle Hoe. You pull it through the weedy areas between plants, and because of its circular design (the sharp edge is on the bottom) you can weed really close to cherished plants without hurting them. I found this while traveling, and thought it was the neatest weeding device I'd ever seen, so I brought home the only one I could fit in my suitcase. (If anyone wants to send me one in the medium size, I do accept donations.) Because you pull it, instead of pushing, it is very easy on the old joints.

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