Shopping for someone who loves to garden? Lost for what to get them?
We’ve got you covered!
Here are ten top picks that any gardener would love to get this Christmas (or for any other holiday or birthday, for that matter!).
We’ve chosen gifts in a range of price points, so there’s something here for every garden gift-giving budget.
Jump to:
- 10 Great Gifts for The Gardener You Love
- 1. Soil blocker and tray
- 2. Pruner and Shears Sharpener
- 3. Wire Weeders
- 4. Indoor Garden Grow Units
- 5. Grow Lights
- 6. Indoor Composter
- 7. Reusable Seed Starting Trays
- 8. Sprout Kits and Supplies
- 9. Microgreen Growing Kits and Supplies
- 10. Pre-Designed Garden Seed or Bulb Kits
- Give the Gift of Growing this Christmas
10 Great Gifts for The Gardener You Love
The thing about gardeners is that they’re never really at rest. Even when they’re tired of the season’s work and ready to take a break, they don’t really want it to end.
For gardeners, breaks don’t mean full-stop breaks. If they’re not gardening, you can bet they’re thinking about it and already planning for the next gardening year.
And so, anything you can give them that lets them do a little gardening in the meantime or prepare for seed starting and next year’s growing will be appreciated. It shows you’ve thought about the gardener you love, you understand the enjoyment it brings them, and you want to give them something to keep that spark alive, even through the long winter.
And so, to help you out, we give you ten of our top choices of gifts for gardeners:
1. Soil blocker and tray
Soil blockers make blocks of soil, formed into cubes or rectangles, in which seeds can be planted. They’re great because growing this way means you don’t need any plastic pots.
It’s a big win for the environment, and it saves a lot of money for gardeners because most of those plastic pots don’t last more than a couple of seasons (with the exception of those mentioned below, which also make great gifts).
Soil blockers are relatively new on the gardening scene, and many gardeners want to try starting seeds in transplantable soil blocks but haven’t made the investment in the equipment to do it.
Some sets also come with a tray to hold the soil, which is nice. Your gardener will love that, too.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Soil blocker with seed pins
- 5-Piece Soil Blocker Set, Various Sizes, Nesting Blocks
- Johnny’s Seed Soil Blocker and Tray Set
2. Pruner and Shears Sharpener
Pruners and garden shears see a lot of action. They dull with repeated use and from constant exposure to sap and plant materials.
They’re hard to sharpen, though. Sharpening with traditional sharpening stones requires taking the pruners or shears apart. Not only is this quite a task, but sometimes, when they go back together, they’re just never the same again.
Someone finally got smart and found a better way. Now, there are sharpeners designed especially for garden shears and pruners. This is something any good gardener will really go for!
Product examples and recommendations:
- Universal Garden Tool Sharpener for Shears, Pruners, Scissors, and More
- Garden Tool Pocket Sharpener for Knives, Shears...
- SHARPAL Multitool Sharpener for Axes, Pruners, Lawnmower Blades, etc.
3. Wire Weeders
Trust me. Every gardener is always looking for a better way to weed. Something that is light, easy, and makes quick work of the chore. Something easy enough that you don’t mind doing it.
In the last couple of years, some good options have come along (or at least gained in popularity), like wire weeders. These handy weeders are meant for finer work, and they are good to use for some of the most tedious things to weed, like lettuce, root vegetables, and more.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Timor Wire Weeders – Different sizes, from handheld to long handled
- Neversink Tools Multi-head wire weeder head set (Interchangeable head, handle sold separately here)
4. Indoor Garden Grow Units
The one thing all vegetable gardeners miss in the winter is their fresh vegetables. Even if they are big on preserving, there are some things that just can’t be preserved in a meaningful way.
Fresh greens, lettuce, and other vegetables can only be enjoyed fresh. And when you’re used to fresh from the garden, “fresh” from the produce aisle just doesn’t cut it.
Fortunately, there are some excellent kitchen, home, and countertop mini gardens on the market now. These are complete systems with lights and everything needed to grow a steady supply of fresh garden greens.
Many other vegetables can be grown in them, including herbs and even mini tomatoes. Some gardeners use them to start their seeds and transplants for spring, too!
Product examples and recommendations:
5. Grow Lights
If you’re not sure a countertop garden is their thing, a good set of grow lights is a good option.
With good grow lights, you can start seeds, grow garden transplants, or do some indoor winter gardening to fill that fresh food void.
You can choose from large shelf setups or smaller tabletop units that can be raised and lowered according to the plants’ needs.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Table/Countertop Clip-on Movable Pole Grow Lights
- Four-foot multidirectional Grow Light Lamp with 5 Heads
- Strip Grow Lights to mount under cabinets or shelves
- Tabletop Adjustable Height Grow Light Stand
- Four-tier shelf growing system with lights (perfect for garden seed starting)
6. Indoor Composter
Waste is a big problem. Gardeners are quite conscious of it. Composting is an excellent solution.
Not only is composting an excellent solution, but it gives gardeners a useful product—one that can be used as soil, for fertilizer, mulching...
Composting can be hard to do in the winter, and it can be nearly impossible if your gardener has limited space or if they only have room for container gardens. (Or if they live under several feet of snow all winter.)
Enter the technology of today, which gives us household waste systems that turn food scraps into garden soil. And oh, what gardener wouldn’t love to get one!
Product examples and recommendations:
7. Reusable Seed Starting Trays
Someone recognized the fact that seed starting comes with far too much waste and plastic production, and they found a better way.
The sturdy, reusable seed pots and seed starting trays from Bootstrap Farmer have gained quite a following amongst the gardening crowd.
Time and time again on gardening forums, you’ll find gardeners saying how they’d love to own these seed supplies, but they have a hard time spending the money on them. This means they’re a great gift for someone who won’t spend the money on their own.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Bootstrap Farmer 2.5 Inch Seedling Pots
- Bootstrap Farmer 72 Cell Seed Starter
- Bootstrap Farmer 1020 Trays with Humidity Domes
- More Options and Varieties at the Bootstrap Farmer Store
8. Sprout Kits and Supplies
Sprouts make great alternatives or additions to greens for salads, sandwiches, and many other dishes. They grow fast and easily, and they do not require grow lights or larger setups like countertop gardens.
Sprouts do not grow in soil either, so they require fewer supplies, and they are cleaner to grow indoors. It takes only days (three to five, depending on the type of seed and sprout) for sprouts to grow and be ready. They can then be refrigerated for longer life.
There are a few different designs of sprout-growing systems and kits to choose from. Basically, they will consist of trays with fine mesh-like bottoms (usually made of plastic) that allow for rinsing and covering of the sprouts.
You can grow a lot of sprouts in a tray system. They are often stackable to save space, too.
There are also jar covers that go on canning jars that do the same basic thing. These are nice for certain types of fast-growing sprouts, like mung bean sprouts. It’s worth owning both styles.
Growing sprouts is seed intensive, and sprout growers do need to make sure they are not growing from treated seed (because you’re basically eating a sprouted seed). And so, sprouting seeds are great to give, too.
Many kits will come with at least some seeds to get started with, and there are companies that package seeds expressly for sprouting. If you’re not sure what to buy for sprouting seeds, shop for something labeled for growing sprouts.
Product examples and recommendations:
9. Microgreen Growing Kits and Supplies
Growing microgreens is similar to growing sprouts but on a larger scale, and microgreens are cut from the stems when they are harvested. The seeds are not eaten.
Basically, sprouts are eaten within days of when the seeds just sprout into green curly shoots, in the baby or cotyledon stage, and microgreens are left to grow out more, usually until they have a set or two of true leaves.
Because they grow for longer, they have different health benefits (both have excellent health benefits, by the way), and microgreens can add up to more because they are bigger at harvest.
Microgreens are grown in plant-growing trays. You can put a set together by shopping for 1020 plant trays (one with holes and one without for each set). There are also sets already put together for you, and you can find kits with seeds, too.
There are different options when it comes to soil medium, but microgreens are usually grown in soil because they do grow into tiny little plants so they need more nutrients from their growing medium.
Without getting too in-depth, shoots are similar to microgreens and can grow in the same type of setup as microgreens.
The same seeds that are used for sprouts can be used for growing microgreens—it's just a matter of how they are grown and harvested. But suffice it to say that if you aren’t sure what to buy for seeds for growing microgreens, sprout seeds are a good choice.
Any garden seed that makes a good microgreen can be used for its seed because people do not eat the seed (they cut off the baby plant). This means that if the gardener in your life has a lot of leftover seeds, they can use them to grow microgreens, too—so growing supplies are a great gift to help them use up excess seed!
Growing microgreens, shoots, or sprouts is not mutually exclusive. They all complement each other nicely, so both kits make nice gifts.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Bootstrap Farmer Microgreen Trays with Holes
- Bootstrap Farmer Microgreen Trays without Holes
- Full Microgreens Growing Kit, Nice Wood Countertop Set with Seeds
- Deluxe Microgreens Growing Kit from True Leaf Market
- Mini Microgreens Grow Kits
10. Pre-Designed Garden Seed or Bulb Kits
Garden design is something that a lot of gardeners struggle with. It can be difficult and time-consuming—not to mention expensive—to design a garden or have a garden designed and then buy what you need to grow it. It doesn’t have to be this way.
There are many garden, bulb, plant, and seed companies that have taken the guesswork out of garden design or even just buying seeds for vegetable gardens by selling whole garden packs in kits. (Vegetable garden seed sets can be especially nice for new gardeners who aren’t sure what to plant.)
For ornamentals, you can find seeds for certain styles of garden, for example, a moon garden or pollinator garden.
This is a gift any gardener would love and one that will help them create gardens with professional flair, giving your gardener lovely spaces they’ll enjoy.
Product examples and recommendations:
- Culinary Herb Garden Seed Sets
- Heirloom Vegetable Garden Seed Collection from Pinetree Seed Co
- Medicinal & Herbal Tea Garden Collection
- Botanical Interests Butterfly Garden Collection
- Pollinator Garden Collection from Botanical Interests
- 50 Bulb Continuous Bloom Spring Flower Garden
- Partial Sun Perennial Garden
- Summer Moonflower Bulb Garden Collection from Holland Bulb
- Deluxe Galvanized Seed Keeper Container
Give the Gift of Growing this Christmas
What’s better for a gardener than to give gifts that help them grow? Many of these things fall into the category of “wanted but wouldn’t spend the money on for myself”. Nonetheless, they’re gifts any gardener would love.
These gifts are sure to show your gardener that you thought of them, that you considered their likes and hobbies, and took the time to make your gift truly meaningful.
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