Gifts for Grandma

Nineteen LEDs sit behind the flat head, with three colours from 1800K to 6000K, each at five brightness levels, and it remembers the last setting. Clip it to the back cover rather than the pages and bend the metal gooseneck so the head sits just over the top edge. The lowest amber setting is enough for a paperback once your eyes adjust, and the gentlest on anyone asleep alongside.

What owners say: Owners rate it for reading at night, with brightness and colour to suit, from a softer orange to plain white, and are pleased with what it costs. It works well on a music stand too, and one has it on a desk as a mini lamp.

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It runs to 448 pages with clear step-by-step photos, and covers design, containers, watering and feeding as well. Rather than being read cover to cover, it comes off the shelf for a quick check, when to prune or how to plant, and the Plant Chooser galleries help with a tricky corner. It’s as useful for a first garden as for an established one.

• 448 pages, fully illustrated
• Design, pruning and propagating
• Galleries to help choose plants

What owners say: Owners find it very informative, especially for beginners, easy to navigate and read, and full of good photos.

The Japanese SK5 steel blades are heat-treated to 60 HRC and slice cleanly through stems up to 25mm, on aluminium handles with a non-slip coating. They rarely need sharpening; when they do, a few strokes of a fine diamond file along the bevelled edge only, never the flat back, bring them back. At 230g they sit in a pocket through an afternoon of deadheading, and they suit left-handers.

What owners say: Owners find them extremely sharp and built to last, making short work of thick branches, and say they’re easy to use, smaller hands included.

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Winsor & Newton has made Designers Gouache since 1935, and illustrators and designers still use it. A little goes a long way: squeeze out a pea-sized blob and mix from there. Paint left on the palette softens again with water next time, it dries flat and matte, and every colour is sold singly, so favourites can be topped up one tube at a time.

What owners say: Owners rate the quality as superb, with rich, creamy colour that covers well from a small squeeze, and call it an ideal set to start with.

There’s no needle threader or speed control, so thread the needle in good light and let the foot pedal set the pace. The flat bed slides off to leave the free arm, and an LED lights the work. Brother covers it for three years, and took over Manchester’s Jones sewing machine company in 1968.

What owners say: Owners find it a gentle way in for beginners, helped by clear instructions and the DVD, and say it stitches neatly for simple clothes-making.

It’s 4cm of high-density EVA, 43 × 28cm, with room to shift your weight, a non-slip pattern on both faces and a built-in carry handle. Water doesn’t soak in, so mud hoses straight off and it dries quickly in the sun. Ohuhu also pitches it for cleaning jobs.

What owners say: Owners find it comfortable and easy on the knees through long spells in the garden, rate its thickness and durability, and say it’s handy beyond the garden too.

It’s ready in one to three minutes, and a fold-out stand holds it between joints. Heat-resistant rubber covers the cap around the nozzle, which helps keep fingers off the hottest part, and the switch on the gun turns it off without a trip to the wall. It takes standard 7mm sticks, and the supply in the box goes a long way on cards, decorations and small fixes.

What owners say: Owners say it works as well as bigger-name guns, heats quickly and stays hot, and is light and easy to handle, smaller hands included.

The questions sit in six chapters by life stage and suit every kind of family. Handing it over with a good pen and a gentle target date helps it get finished rather than sit on a shelf. Some grandmothers prefer to talk while a grandchild writes the answers down, which turns the prompts into lovely afternoons together. Once it’s complete, scan or copy it so every branch of the family has one.

• Over 200 questions
• Space for handwritten answers
• Six chapters by life stage

What owners say: Owners find the prompts meaningful and see it as a keepsake that helps younger generations learn the family’s history.

Soil doesn’t stick to the stainless heads, and the narrow transplanting trowel is the one for bulbs, plug plants and seedlings in tight spaces, where a broad trowel would disturb the plants around them. Spear & Jackson guarantees the set for ten years, so keep the box and receipt; the firm was founded in Sheffield in 1760 and is still based there.

What owners say: Owners say they’re very strong and durable, with comfortable handles, and admire the stainless heads.

It holds 623g of wax and burns for 110 to 150 hours, enough for weeks of evenings. Trim the wick to about 6mm before each lighting and keep the wax pool clear of bits, as Yankee advises. Yankee began in 1969, with a 16-year-old Mike Kittredge melting crayons into a candle.

What owners say: Owners say it lasts for ages, fills a medium-sized room quickly and has a relaxing, spa-like scent.