A Broom
Around the house, a whisk broom comes in very handy for tidying up after a seed starting or repotting session. Elevate the task with a beautifully made, hand-tied, “turkey wing” whisk broom from Havencroft, $35, or find them on Etsy.com.
I am partial to the undyed broom corn, but some of the colors are gorgeous. You can special order; understand you may not receive it until sometime in 2025.
Havencroft also makes a potscrubber broom, which I love for, well, scrubbing plant pots; it is available as part of a set of mini kitchen brooms for $30.
For more delicate brush-ups, the Niwaki Shuro brush is lovely. The soft, dark brown bristles are wrapped with copper wire. Its small size makes it useful for brushing dirt from pot rims without damaging your plant and you will feel very elegant doing so; $18 from gardenheir.com.
Stocking Stuffers
Garden-y stocking stuffers are fun. Pemberton Market in Cambridge has a few garden-themed items from Kikkerland. A “Seeds Garden Kit” to make collecting and saving seeds easier has 20 envelopes for storing seeds, labels, and a marker, all in a nice metal box about the size of a deck of cards, $9.99.
After the seeds are started, they will need labels. A packet of wooden labels with one end dipped in black paint, the better to show off the (included) chalk, is $4.99.
Somewhat more expensive, but still small enough to fit into a stocking: a brass mister for houseplants, $30.99.
For the gardener who has everything (and loves their houseplants): microfiber leaf-cleaning gloves from We the Wild, found at the New York Botanical Garden, NYBG.org, $28.
If your favorite gardener bemoans the rabbit population, get them chicken wire cloches from Gardener’s Supply. These will protect and coincidentally highlight choice plants, be they tulips or lettuces. Similar cloches are available elsewhere, but these are the most attractive, gardeners.com, from $27.99, with the option to purchase various height and width extensions.
In the dry goods line, I suggest gloves; Womanswork.com has a wide selection, including some for men. I am a fan of the leather gauntlets, $56.
Or contribute to their gardening wardrobe with a “Native Seeds of the Northeast” T-shirt from The Wild Seed Project. The beautiful illustration is screen-printed on soft (I can attest) organic cotton. Available in adult (fitted or not) and youth sizes in a handful of attractive colors, from $19 to $30, wildseedproject.net.
Tools and More Tools
All gardeners like tools. Three of my favorites are my trug (well, trugs, as I have several), my garden fork, and my Felco 600 folding pruning saw. Felco tools have been gardeners’ favorites for years. The saw is great; the six-inch blade cuts well and folds and latches securely, making it small enough to carry around safely and easily. A.M. Leonard has it, $39.49, amleo.com.
My garden fork is probably my favorite tool. I use it for lifting and dividing plants, digging holes, prying up roots and stones, and tossing compost. If I needed to replace it, I would purchase the “Ergonomic Ash-Handled Digging Fork” from Lee Valley (leevalley.com $79.50); it looks to be quite sturdy and I like the D-grip handle.
Finally, trugs, those colorful, double-handled, flexible, much-wider-than-a-bucket containers that everyone can use. Gardeners Supply carries them, as do many others. I have an assortment: a shallow one which is perfect for containing the mess when potting up houseplants and then dunking the pot for a long drink of water, and four others from small to very large, all well-loved. They are useful for carrying tools, hauling plants, holding weeds and other debris, and are the perfect container for whipping up a batch of potting mix. Grip the handles together and use them as a watering can. Or load them up with gifts for your favorite gardener. What’s not to like?
