Christmas gifts for gardeners

Being on a budget and finding a Christmas gift for a gardener can be challenging, especially if you are not into gardening yourself. So, I put together a list of 25 gifts for gardeners under $20. Some of these items are practical and will be used every day, for the gardener who doesn’t like fancy extras. Others are fun for decoration indoors or outdoors. Either way, there should be something for everyone, so check them all out! 25 Best Christmas Gifts For Gardeners Under $20 You can find versions of these gifts for under $20. However, the purpose of this list is to offer you some ideas & inspiration for the season, even if you choose to spend more or even make your own gifts from scratch. To make it easier to peruse the gifts, I separated the gifts into the following six categories: Seed StartingGarden Tools & Equipment (Gardening Gear)Education & KnowledgeFood PreservationIndoor GiftsGarden Decorations Let’s begin with seeds and things to help them grow. Seed Starting Many gardeners start seeds indoors before the outdoor growing season starts. These gifts will help them to get started early to get ahead of the cold weather, especially in areas with a short growing season. 1. Seeds Seeds are the most important part of any garden. Without them, nothing can grow, no matter how good the soil is or how hard the gardener works. Seeds are the most important part of the garden - without them, nothing happens! You can choose to give the gift of vegetable seeds for a gardener who is interested in the practical purpose of growing his own food. Some favorites that many gardeners grow include: TomatoesPeppersOnionsLettuceSpinachCarrots You can also make a gift of flower seeds to help make a gardener’s yard more beautiful and inviting. Some flower favorites include: PansiesTulipsSunflowersLiliesVioletsOrchids You can find seeds at a local garden center or online. Seeds will vary in how long they last, but most will remain viable for at least a year. For more information, check out my article on how long seeds last. I do not know many gardeners who would be disappointed to get seeds as a gift, so this one is a no-brainer! 2. Seed Trays Does the gardener on your list starts seeds indoors before the growing season starts? (If you don’t know, just ask!) If so, then he will need something to hold the soil and seeds. A seed tray designed for this purpose makes things much easier. A seed tray makes it much easier to start seeds indoors so that a gardener can separate the individual plants later. You can find seed trays with separated compartments so that each developing plant can be easily separated from the others and transplanted when the time is right. If your gardener is truly green, he might want biodegradable seed trays, which are also available. Combined with seeds, this can make a great combo for a beginning gardener. 3. Grow Lights If your gardener starts seeds in the basement, then lack of light may be a problem – unless he has some grow lights! Grow lights replace the sun and help young seedlings to grow indoors when there is still a danger of frost outside. You can find LED grow lights or other energy efficient models. You can also find grow lights with a timer included. These make it easy to automatically turn the lights on and off to save energy and ensure that plants get just enough light. An LED is one option for a grow light. You can find grow lights adapted for the purpose of helping seedlings to become established indoors. This is the perfect gift for a gardener who lives in a cold northern climate. Grow lights make it easy to start seeds indoors during the winter to offset a short growing season. Garden Tools & Equipment (Gardening Gear) Some of the tools and equipment listed here are essential for gardening. Others are nice to have, or they make gardening a much easier and more pleasant hobby. 4. Kneeler (Knee Saver) If your gardener has achy knees, a kneeler might be just the thing to give this year. A padded kneeler puts less pressure on a gardener’s knees when kneeling to work soil with a trowel, plant seeds or transplants, or pull weeds. A kneeler can really save the knees of a gardener, especially if there is a lot of planting and weeding to do! Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kneeling_pad_01.JPG Since a large garden might require hours of kneeling, a comfortable kneeler is a great gift choice for a serious gardener who has reached a certain age and needs a little relief for the knees. 5. Seed Spacer If you are buying a gift for a meticulous, detail-oriented gardener, then a seed spacer is a wonderful choice. The seeds of different plants require different spacing, depending on how large they will grow later in the season. A seed spacer is also a good choice for someone with limited space who wants to make the most of a small garden. 6. Garden Organizer (Tool Belt Or Pouch) A garden organizer helps to keep all of the other small garden tools and equipment in one convenient place. This is especially useful since it holds the smaller tools that are easy to misplace and lose. A tool pouch or bag can be used to hold common garden tools, such as twine, a trowel, and pruning snips.Image courtesy of: user Typhoon at English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TyphoonImage from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ideal_tool_bag.jpg Organized gardeners will love this gift to keep things as neat as they want, and forgetful gardeners will love it because they won’t spend so much time wandering around looking for lost tools! 7. Pruning Snips Most gardens will require some type of pruning, whether it is indeterminate tomatoes that have grown too tall, dead canes on raspberry bushes, or old branches on fruit trees. Pruning snips are essential for keeping trees and bushes trimmed back to proper size. Pruning snips are always useful to a gardener. Even if your gardener already has a pair, it is nice to have a spare just in case one gets broken or temporarily misplaced. You could also include a cleaning kit and a small bottle of oil to help keep the pruning snips rust-free and in good working order. 8. Trowel A trowel is an essential tool for any gardener. Whether preparing a small hole for a transplant or digging out weeds, a trowel is helpful to have. A garden trowel is another important tool for almost any gardener. Even an extra one is always nice to have around! Most gardeners already have a trowel, but an extra one is great to have because this is a tool that tends to get temporarily misplaced at times. 9. Gloves Gloves are not strictly necessary for gardening, but they can prevent cuts and scrapes from briars and thorns, which is good for new gardeners who have not developed tougher hands yet. A good pair of garden gloves can save your hands from thorns and sharp rocks, and it will keep them clean as well. Gloves can also keep a gardener’s hands clean. This makes it easier to wash up after a day spent preparing and tending to the garden. This is a good gift for tougher gardeners who would never buy gloves themselves and admit that they are actually really nice to have around! 10. Apron A gardening apron keeps your clothes clean if you are digging around in the dirt. An apron with a pouch is helpful for storing a few tools or for carrying vegetables harvested from the garden. It might cost a bit more, but an apron with a custom message could be a lot of fun for your gardener. 11. Grow Bag Grow bags are a great gift for gardeners because they are so versatile. They can be used indoors or outdoors, and even planted directly in the ground. They can also be reused repeatedly as long as they are cared for properly. Grow bags can be used indoors or outdoors as a versatile replacement for plant containers. If your gardener is not familiar with grow bags, make a gift of one and have him give it a shot! For more information, check out my article on why to use grow bags. As an added bonus, grow bags can be used to hold other gifts, acting as a “stocking” of sorts for your gardener’s other gifts! 12.Soil Test Kit This is a great choice for a beginning gardener. If your gardener has never grown in the yard before, it is a good idea to test the soil to see if the pH and nutrient levels are off. A soil test kit will tell a gardener if the pH or nutrient levels in the soil are correct. A soil test kit provides basic information about these levels, and at least gives an idea of whether the levels are too high or too low. It is also a good choice for a gardener who is having a problem with a particular crop in a particular area of the garden. For more information, check out my article on what a soil test tells you. Education & Knowledge Beginner gardeners often need some guidance to get started, but even old pros can learn a thing or two from a good book. Older gardeners may have an interest in specialized courses on how to grow exotic plants, either indoors or outdoors. Of course, hydroponics is getting popular, so information on this topic could also be a big hit. 13. Books There are so many gardening books available online or at bookstores that it is almost overwhelming to consider them all! My advice is to start with what level your gardener is at. A beginner will not need information about pruning established trees, but a gardener with a small fruit tree orchard might love that information. Then, think about the specific interests of your gardener. You can either buy a book related to a plant that they already grow, or one that could get them started with a plant they are curious about. You can always make a gift of the old classic, the annually updated Old Farmer’s Almanac. There is no shortage of gardening books to give as gifts. The hard part is choosing just one! 14. E-books Just as there are many physical books about gardening, there are plenty of e-books as well. This medium has become very popular and is showing no signs of slowing down. This option is great for someone who wants to read up on gardening during a commute on a bus, train, or plane without carrying an extra book. 15. Online Courses There are some basic online courses for beginner gardeners, which can be good to help someone who is overwhelmed or intimidated to get started. There are also advanced courses on specific topics, which sometimes go for sale on sites like Udemy.com. Identify a course that stands out to you and see if your gardener is interested in the topic before buying. 16. Garden Planner & Calendar Every gardener, whether new blood or old hand, can benefit from being more organized. A garden planner and calendar helps with this. A garden calendar and planner will help new and advanced gardeners to plan things carefully. There are many things to keep track of in a garden: crop rotation, planting schedule, ordering seeds, and so on. Having one central location where all of the information is located can really help a gardener to keep track of everything. You can even decorate an ordinary notebook to customize it with pictures or whatever else you think your gardener would like. Food Preservation At the end of the season, many successful gardeners have grown enough to put food on the table and also share with others. If the harvest is really bountiful, they may want to preserve some of their produce, which is where these gifts will come in handy. 17. Canning Equipment (Jars, Lids, & Bands) Canning is a way to preserve garden produce without freezing it. This involves processing and cooking the produce and putting it into jars with lids (called canning). Glass jars are used to preserve garden produce, including tomatoes and pickles. A beginning gardener may not have any of this gear yet, and established gardeners always seem to be looking for more, since they grow so much food so successfully. You can find canning equipment online, at garden centers, and at hobby or craft stores. To make it a double gift, you can put something else inside the jars when you present the gift. For example: candy that you made for the holidays, small crafts that you produced, etc. 18. Pickling Spices Everyone knows that you can turn cucumbers into pickles with the right spices (and some vinegar), but you can pickle tons of other vegetables as well. Pickling spice is used to preserve cucumbers (as pickles) and other garden produce. Everything from green beans to tomatoes can be pickled, so some packets of pickling spices can be a great way to encourage a gardener to save more of his produce. 19. Herb Drying Rack Whether your gardener grows herbs indoors or outdoors, an herb drying rack is nice to have around. If your gardener grows herbs in the kitchen, this gift might find a place of honor right next to the pots that hold the parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme plants! Indoor Gifts These gifts are for the great indoors, and are nice for gardeners who want something to take care of during the winter months when they cannot grow outside. 20. Potted Plants You can usually find small potted plants for $5 to $10, and some medium sized ones for under $20. Potted plants can be kept in any room with enough light. Potted plants can be kept in any room in the house as long as there is enough light. However, there are some low-light plants that can stay in darker rooms, such as: Snake PlantJade PlantZZ PlantSpider Plant If the plants come in clay pots, you can have kids paint them or put some type of message on them to personalize the gift for your gardener. 21. Dwarf Citrus Tree Depending on the type of tree, you might be able to find a dwarf citrus tree for less than $20 that you can grow indoors. You can find a dwarf citrus tree for a reasonable price. Growing one indoors could be an interesting challenge to a gardener in northern climates. This is an interesting challenge for many gardeners in northern climates who have never grown a citrus fruit tree before. Some are purely decorative, but others produce fruit that is also great for eating or seasoning food. Hand your gardener a citrus tree, and if the tree hands him lemons, he can make lemonade! Garden Decorations Finally, we have garden decorations, which can make a garden more beautiful and inviting for the gardener and visitors alike. 22. Stepping Stones Stepping stones add an interesting feature to a garden and make the space more inviting. They can also be used to line a path and keep younger children out of the rows where plants are growing. Stepping stones make a garden more welcoming and can be customized to give a more personal touch. Blank stones can be customized and painted by you or by kids to give them a more personal touch. 23. Plant Labels Plant labels can come in many forms, such as small stones and metal or plastic “signposts”. Plant labels are helpful to keep track of what was planted where, just in case there is any confusion. This is helpful because different plants have different requirements in terms of water and fertilizer, and it can be hard for a beginner gardener to tell the difference between plants before they get more established. You can buy blank plant labels and decorate them yourself to make a personalized gift for your gardener. 24. Wind Chimes Wind chimes can go anywhere in the garden, and can be a pleasant sound to go along with a pleasant cooling breeze in the middle of a hot summer. Wind chimes are another nice effect in a garden, and make you stop to reflect when a breeze comes in. You might make your own wind chimes if you are crafty, but you can probably find some for less than $20 if you look around. 25. Garden Ornaments For The Christmas Tree Finally, you can buy some type of garden-oriented ornament for the Christmas Tree. This could be a trowel or shovel shaped ornament, a greenhouse, or a hanging snow globe that contains garden scene. Of course, you can create custom ornaments as well. This is something the kids will probably love to help you with, and it will keep them entertained while you finish making the holiday preparations. Conclusion Now you have a good idea of the wide variety of gifts you can find for gardeners that are under $20. Maybe this list gave you some inspiration on other ideas you can use to buy or make something for the gardener on your list. If you have a more experienced gardener on your list, then check out my article on gifts for older gardeners. You might also be interested in my article on gardening gifts for under $10, or my article on gardening gifts under $50. I hope you found this article helpful – if so, please share it with someone who can use the information. If you want to read some of my most popular posts, check out the “Best of GreenUpSide” page here. Enjoy! ~Jonathon