Gardener’s Gift Guide: Garden Favorites

Planting at the right time is one of the most important parts of gardening. My perpetual planting calendar, created for the low desert of Arizona, shows exactly what to plant each month.

This perpetual calendar also has pictures from my garden of what can be harvested each month. A practical gift that is also well-made and will last for years. 

When I head out to my garden each morning, I take one tool with me — and this is it. These Felco garden shears are a garden favorite for sure. This tool handles all the day to day jobs in my garden. I feel out of sorts if I’m in my garden and don’t have this tucked into my back pocket. 

I like to keep things simple and easy to understand. That’s exactly what I tried to do when writing this book. How to Grow Your Own Food – An Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Container Gardening identifies 50 common, easy-to-grow edible plants, from herbs to vegetables, along with detailed care instructions. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I love ollas for watering containers. Give your gardener the gift of time with an olla from Growoya. The vessel is buried underground and you keep it filled with water, which saves water and time to grow better plants. Use code GROWING to save. 

Harvests happen year-round in my garden. This harvesting apron holds harvests big and small without being bulky or hot during the warmest months of the year. I love filling it up and dumping it into a favorite harvest basket. 

Testing your soil used to be expensive, time-consuming, and complicated. Not anymore. This soil testing kit is a game changer. I love it when innovation and good ideas make my life easier. Testing my soil at least once a year has made a considerable difference in the health of my garden. Soil testing gives you the knowledge you can’t come by any other way. It takes the guesswork out of when to add fertilizer to your garden.

I remember first seeing the garden grids from Garden in Minutes on Instagram. I was struck by what a good idea it was. Garden grids solve the problem of even watering and dividing your beds for square-foot gardening. All these years later, I’m still adding them to every new raised bed I install and recommending them to all my friends and clients. I love these watering grids.

From planting onions and garlic to planting seeds, I use my wooden dibber ALL THE TIME. A must-have at planting time. 

This gift may not fit in a stocking, but I can guarantee the gardener in your life will love it. I’ve spent years mixing my own soil, and I couldn’t be happier that Arizona Worm Farm now does the mixing for me. I partnered with them to create this mix. The best part is the soil contains their famous compost. If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, they are definitely worth checking out. They offer pick-up and delivery.