Garden Help Desk: Gift ideas for gardeners
-
- Floating row cover comes in many weights, from thin and lightweight for excluding insects to heavier weights for holding in warmth during early spring and late fall.
-
- Pollinator houses encourage beneficial insects like pollinators to spend more time in a landscape.
-
- With a soil thermometer, it is easy for a gardener to determine whether the soil temperature is warm enough yet to germinate the seeds they want to plant.
-
- A broadfork makes it easy to loosen garden soil when preparing to plant.
-
- A cache pot is an attractive way to hide an ordinary nursery pot.
Courtesy Meredith Seaver, USU Extension
Floating row cover comes in many weights, from thin and lightweight for excluding insects to heavier weights for holding in warmth during early spring and late fall.
It’s been a minute since we offered some fun gift ideas for your favorite gardener. Now that we’re in the gift-giving season again, maybe something on this year’s list will inspire the perfect gift.
- Garden wear: Gloves, a wide-brimmed hat, a lightweight jacket for spring and fall gardening (with plenty of practical pockets) or even a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt for summer sun protection.
- A kneeling pad: Options range from simple foam pad to kneelers with handle grips that make it easier to stand up again.
- Plant tags: Small ones for gardeners who like to start their own seeds or larger ones to identify varieties in the garden.
- A gift card. Nurseries, seed catalogs (2025 catalogs are available now!), retail greenhouses and florists are all options.
- New tools. Good tools make gardening easier. A good hoe, rake, shovel or set of nice trowels might be a welcome gift.
- A pollinator house or bat house. Solitary bees, moths and butterflies are important pollinators in the garden. Bats can eat their own weight in insects every night, giving garden pest management a boost.
- An outdoor thermometer or simple weather station. Having on-site weather information helps with garden management.
- A soil thermometer. It’s inexpensive and lets gardeners check the temperature of their garden soil to determine whether certain seed species will germinate well.
- An adjustable hose nozzle. Being able to change the spray pattern on a nozzle from mist to gentle shower to strong spray is a real timesaver in the garden.
- A garden sculpture or decorative container. There are many styles, colors and materials to choose from, something for every gardening style.
- Membership to a botanical garden.
- Tuition for a gardening class or workshop.
- An LED grow light. High-quality lighting is important for growing healthy transplants. There are several options available that are easy to use.
- A heat mat and thermostat. Gentle heat below seed flats can make germination faster and more uniform.
- A cold frame. A cold frame gives plants several degrees of protection from cold weather, extending the garden season earlier into the spring and later into the fall. Ready-to-assemble kits or plans and instructions for do-it-yourself cold frames can be found online.
- A roll of floating row cover. Floating row cover is used to provide a few degrees of frost protection for early or late season growing out in the garden. Ultra-lightweight row cover is used to exclude insects and keep plants pest-free.
Master Gardener course
Are you looking for a great gift for your favorite gardener? The Master Gardener course would make a fun gift for any gardener who wants to improve their gardening skills, learn more about how plants and soils work together and find better ways to manage pests and diseases in their landscape.
Classes begin on Jan. 21 and continue through March 18, 2025.
We have two class sections each Tuesday and Thursday — an afternoon section from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and an evening section from 6 to 8:30 p.m. All classes will be available virtually, and SOME will also be available in person and virtually. The same class content is covered in the afternoon and evening classes on the same day. Come learn and grow with us as you make new friends, learn lots of amazing things, gain new skills and get involved in cool gardening projects in the area!
All are welcome to participate in the classes. However, the purpose of the Master Gardener program is to develop trained volunteers who provide Utah communities with unbiased, research-based horticultural education and technical assistance in gardening and home horticulture. Class members receive 17 class sessions of college-level lectures and hands-on training workshops taught by Utah State University Extension faculty and industry professionals.
Courtesy Meredith Seaver, USU Extension
Pollinator houses encourage beneficial insects like pollinators to spend more time in a landscape.
In addition to the classwork, students who wish to become a Certified Master Gardener must provide a minimum of 40 hours of approved volunteer service back to their community.
You’ll find more information about the Master Gardener course here.
With a soil thermometer, it is easy for a gardener to determine whether the soil temperature is warm enough yet to germinate the seeds they want to plant.
A broadfork makes it easy to loosen garden soil when preparing to plant.
A cache pot is an attractive way to hide an ordinary nursery pot.
