On Gardening/Garden Gifts For The Season

12-8-97
Gardeners always welcome gifts that can be part of their hobby. With the Christmas season not far away, a trip to any garden center, nursery or larger hardware store will provide a variety of items and products that can be wrapped for Christmas sharing. Some of the following items would be helpful to just about any gardener or plant lover.

Shallow flats and trays, used to hold seedlings and young plants produced for the spring garden, are a good gift idea. Potting soil and germination media would be a good extra to include with this gift. Related items for the spring garden could be a supply of peat pots to hold the potting soil, or the self-contained peat pellets that expand when placed in water. Labels to identify new plants can be included to round off this gift.

Watering systems are becoming more popular each year, too. They not only conserve water in the garden, but also allow the gardener to maintain optimum growing conditions all season. Trickle or drip systems apply small volumes of water at the base of each plant. Soaker hoses are effective in shrub beds or close-planted row crops. Timer clocks are also available to turn the water on and off on a regular schedule.

Water systems are also available for indoor plants. The wick method allows water to be absorbed from a container below the potted plant. Of the new and interesting types of water cans, some have longer spouts to reach into groups of plants and others are designed with a wand and flexible tubing to water hanging baskets without taking them down.

Watering and fertilizer always seem to go hand in hand, so look for one of the many types of fertilizers available. The soluble types are pretty easy to use and can be used with most watering systems. Or you can select from slow-release materials that are placed into the soil around the root system. These include pellet forms that are either mixed in the soil or applied to the surface. Fertilizer sticks are pushed into the soil in the pot. Larger packages of speciality fertilizer would be welcomed by the outdoor gardener who specializes in plants like roses or azaleas.

With everyone's awareness of proper pesticide usage in the garden, consider a gift that includes a set of measuring tools. Stainless measuring spoons are good for small quantities of pesticides and measuring cups are very helpful for applying fertilizer around individual plants. For larger amounts of pesticide or fertilizer a small kitchen scale can be an important item for the accurate application of materials. A set for the garden eliminates the need to use household items.

To enhance the accuracy of fertilizer applications in the garden, consider giving several soil test gifts that can be put to good use as soon as the soil warms in spring. Many garden centers have these mailing packages available, and all Cooperative Extension offices have the kits for sale.

Gardening and plant books can provide hours of enjoyment during long winter nights. Categories range from how-to books on a variety of gardening activities to reference books. Various plant societies publish crop-specific books for those gardeners with special interests. Magazine subscriptions are also good because they continue all year.

Finally, there is always the book gift certificate. This tends to be safer if you are not really sure what your gardening friends are interested in or what they already have in their collections. Most gardeners have a pretty good idea what books they need or would enjoy.

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**Dr. Robert Nuss is a horticulturist at Penn State. He coordinates all extension horticulture programs. He has bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in ornamental horticulture and has been on the Penn State faculty since 1966.