GARDENER\u2019S GIFTS<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Every year at holiday time, gift givers everywhere give thanks for their friends\u2019 and relatives\u2019 hobbies.\u00a0 Where would we be without culinary gadgets for the cooks, golf paraphernalia for the duffers and Sephora gift cards for those with an unquenchable desire for makeup?<\/p>\n
Gardening offers the same gifting opportunities.\u00a0 However, there is a big caveat.\u00a0 It can be tricky to find gifts that individual gardeners will truly appreciate and actually use. Before you pick presents for gardeners, peak into their garden baskets, tool sheds or garages and take stock of their preferences.\u00a0 If the garden gloves in the basket look ragged, buy new ones of the same brand and size.\u00a0 Take a look at the plant pots and see if your gardener favors a certain type or maker.\u00a0 What hand cream does your household horticulturist use?\u00a0 I guarantee that he or she will appreciate more of it.\u00a0 A little research can go a long way.<\/p>\n
The following are some great potential gift items that are tried and true.\u00a0 Keep the above advice in mind, but if you are stuck, a few of these items might do the trick.<\/p>\n
Plastic Tub\/Trug: <\/b>Inexpensive, waterproof, easy to stack and store, and available in a lots of colors and sizes—3.5 gallon., 7 gallon, etc.–these tubs are made of heavy, flexible plastic with a handle on each side.\u00a0 Best of all, by bringing the handles together, you can carry them one-handed.\u00a0 I use the 7 gallon size as a garden basket to hold tools and accoutrements as I work my way around the garden.\u00a0 The larger sizes can be used to haul compost or vegetable garden harvests.\u00a0 They are also great beverage chillers when filled with ice and bottles or cans. It is impossible to have too many of these easy-to-clean tubs.\u00a0 Having a selection of colors lets gardeners designate various tubs for specific uses.\u00a0 The tubs are widely available at big box stores, but can also be ordered from Gardener\u2019s Supply at http.:www.gardenerssupply.com.<\/p>\n
Gloves: <\/b>I destroy garden gloves at an amazing rate, probably because I feel impervious to injury when I wear them.\u00a0 The best, in my estimation, are varieties that feature a durable, puncture-resistant nitrile-coating.\u00a0 Nitrile-coated gloves work for everything, from weeding to rose pruning, combining comfort with good gripping ability and toughness. \u00a0I wear the Atlas variety, which also features a nylon lining and elasticized wristband to keep out debris.\u00a0 Other manufacturers make similar gloves, which are widely available.\u00a0 Seek out Atlas gloves at http:\/\/www.atlasfitgloves.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pots: <\/b>I own lots of different plant pots, including those that are cheap, colorful, whimsical, or just strike my fancy.\u00a0 When I want a really wonderful container, I turn to those made by Guy Wolff or his potter son, Ben, both of whom work in Connecticut.\u00a0 Guy Wolff\u2019s pots and potting techniques are based on traditional models.\u00a0 I especially love his \u201cPeale Pot,\u201d patterned after a container depicted in an 1801 portrait of Rubens Peale. Wolff\u2019s pottery is not cheap, but some of the pottery lines associated with him contain pots available at lower price points. Ben Wolff also does beautiful work, especially in white, black or gray-finished clay.\u00a0 The shapes are beautiful and often sinuous.\u00a0 My favorite Ben Wolff pot to date is his \u201cTuscan Rim,\u201d which features a lovely crimped edge at the top.\u00a0\u00a0 A well-cared-for Wolff pot will last for years, if not generations.\u00a0 To find Wolff pots go to http:\/\/www.guywolff.com\/index.html<\/a> or http:\/\/benwolffpottery.com\/about.html.<\/p>\n Books: <\/b>There are a million garden books available, both the \u201chow to\u201d type and the philosophical variety.\u00a0 It pays to know which variety your gardener likes.\u00a0 Though my shelves list under the weight of many great horticulture tomes, the one that I come back to again and again is Henry Mitchell\u2019s The Essential Earthman.\u00a0 <\/i>Originally published in 1981, it sings as harmoniously today as it did the day it hit the presses.\u00a0 Mitchell, a veteran newspaperman who wrote for the Washington Post,<\/i> was both a first class horticulturist and a master of the English language. The book\u2019s chapters are studded with rhetorical jewels.\u00a0 Here is only one example:<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing like impossibility for getting a gardener\u2019s energies up.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n He complaints a great deal, as all gardeners do, but even his most vehement complaints are funny, eloquent and eminently worth reading.\u00a0 I would go so far as to say that if I could only have one garden book, it would The Essential Earthman. <\/i>\u00a0Fortunately for all of us, it is still available from the big online booksellers or can be ordered through your local independent bookstore.<\/p>\n If all else fails, get your gardener a gift card for his or her favorite garden emporium or a membership in the nearest horticultural institution.\u00a0 Memberships in the American Horticultural Society and the Royal Horticultural Society are well worth it and include a monthly journal plus discounts at many botanical institutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GARDENER\u2019S GIFTS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Every year at holiday time, gift givers everywhere give thanks for their friends\u2019 and relatives\u2019 hobbies.\u00a0 Where would we be without culinary gadgets for the cooks, golf paraphernalia for the duffers and Sephora gift cards for those with an unquenchable desire for makeup? Gardening offers the same gifting opportunities.\u00a0 However, there is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[1050,643,1046,432,1051,1053,1049,601,1048,1052,1047],"class_list":["post-1227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-ben-wolff","tag-garden-books","tag-garden-equipment","tag-garden-gifts","tag-garden-gloves","tag-garden-writing","tag-guy-wolff","tag-henry-mitchell","tag-plant-pots","tag-the-essential-earthman","tag-trugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1228,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227\/revisions\/1228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}