Christmas Gardening – Stocking Fillers for Gardeners

Hand Cream - gloves or not, a gardener's hands take the brunt of the outdoor hours and hand cream is usually welcomed by even the crustiest of old gardeners. There are a number of options here – products with beeswax that give the hands extra nourishment, others with tea tree or herbs that help heal cuts and sooth muscular strain.

Sharpening Stone - The best tools aren't the best for long if you don't take care of them and dull blades on secateurs or shears aren’t just harder to use, they can actually damage your plants and leave opportunities for disease to infect badly-cut areas.

Copper Plant Labels - There are at least 3 problems with labelling plants: 1. You never have a label when you need it. 2. The label fades and you can’t remember what it said. 3. They detract from the appearance of the garden. Copper labels can be written on with any sharp implement, and then smoothed out and used again and they look utterly gorgeous.

Folding Saw - There are times when pruners and shears just won't do the job, and this is when a folding saw comes into it’s own. It’s is the kind of tool you might not need often, but when you do need it, there is no substitute. Choose one with a replaceable blade, so your gardener can always be sure of a sharp edge.

Magazine Subscription - When a gardener isn’t gardening, he or she will definitely be thinking, and dreaming about gardening, so why not give a gift that allows your gardener a gift that fuels those thoughts and dreams?

Christmas gardening sharpening stone photograph by The Watertown Surfer, used under a creative commons attribution licence