Do all the gardeners on your list and the rest of the world, a big favor and choose your gifts well. Quality, recycled and Fair trade are items they'll appreciate the most.
-Don't buy cheaply made anything. If it's just going to break, why waste your money.
-Give seeds from your garden last summer. Ok, maybe you've already used them. Fun to plan for next year.
-Save hair from your next hair cut. Don't think I'm crazy. Hair is an excellent composting material and a good mulch. It has more nitrogen than manure and is slow to release.
-Composting worms would be a nice gift for your friend that doesn't like to turn their pile very often.
-The ashes from a fire are great for soil here in South Florida, any where for that matter. Since very few homes have fireplaces here, have a party with the bonfire and then give the cooled ashes for the present later as a remembrance of the fun.
-Please don't buy anything remotely made by slave, underpaid, underfed labor. (Almost anything made cheaply by large corporations or anything not certified "fair trade.") The fact that you and I are both reading computers means we're rich by World standards. The idea that any of us would buy something made by a poor soul that left their agrigarian life to move to a factory to be sitting all day long to assemble meaningless gadgets for us to give as a gift to someone who has the privledge and choice to grow a little garden on the side is ironic, wrong and sad.
- There's a bonus to looking for real tools, made well, by folks who use the money directly to support their families and give work to the neighbors. You'll probably need to shop in a locally owned store. Many Ace hardware stores are locally owned. Look closer. You'll find some. Antique, thrift and second hand stores often have old tools. They've lasted this long, they'll last the gift receiver.
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Garage Sales!!!! I have found that garage sale are incredible events to find great tools and gardening equipment. Especially, terra cotta pots. Even estate sales, were the organizer has the value of each bric and brac down to the last dollar, most have no sense of value for the plants and pots scattered around the yard. Plus, I find them to be an awesome chance to voyeur other peoples private gardens. Often, they are moving or having some life transformation. A simple question about a favored plant and often I find myself immersed in a wonderful story from someone I just met.
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