Gift guide · 12 ideas
Gifts for gardeners
Good tools and clever kit that gardeners will use from the first spring sowing to the autumn tidy-up.
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Gardeners are easy to please if you choose things they’ll use every week of the growing season. Good-quality hand tools, clever growing kit and small comforts for long days outside are all safe bets.
If you’re not sure how keen they are, the cheaper ideas here suit anyone with a patch of garden or a few pots.
Quality bypass secateurs
Secateurs live in a keen gardener’s pocket from the spring prune to the autumn cut-back, and theirs are probably blunt by now.
Kimura 8-inch Pro Bypass Secateurs
£20–£30
- Cuts stems up to 25mm
- Squeeze-to-release safety lock
- Lifetime guarantee from the maker
Japanese SK5 steel blades, heat-treated to 60 HRC, that slice cleanly through stems up to 25mm, on light aluminium handles with a non-slip coating. The lock opens with a light squeeze and shuts with a push of the thumb, and the maker backs them for life.
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.
A closer look: The maker says the blades rarely need sharpening; when they do, a few strokes of a fine diamond file along the bevelled edge only, never the flat back, brings them back. At 230g they’re light enough to carry in a pocket through an afternoon of deadheading.
A garden kneeler seat
Knees and backs don’t enjoy a long afternoon weeding as much as they used to, and a seat to perch on along the border helps.
Crystals 2-in-1 Garden Kneeler and Seat
£10–£20
- Three-pouch tool bag
- Handles to push up on
- Turns over into a seat
Flip it one way to kneel on the padded EVA foam and the other to sit on it, with handles to lean on as you get up. A three-pouch tool bag fits on in either position.
What owners say: Sturdy and comfortable, owners say, folding neatly for storage, giving the knees good support and helping with jobs round the garden.
A closer look: As a seat it stands 49cm tall, close to the height of a dining chair, so you can deadhead or weed along a border without bending double. A wipe with a dry cloth, as Crystals suggests, sorts the frame and foam out after a muddy session.
Thornproof gardening gloves
Pruning the roses and cutting back brambles means a season of scratches, and a tough new pair earns its keep there.
SLARMOR Long Leather Gardening Gauntlets
£10–£20
- Elbow-length gauntlet cuff
- Made for rose and bramble pruning
- Keystone thumb grips loppers
Elbow-length cowhide gauntlets made for rose and blackberry pruning: the long cuff guards the forearm while you reach into the bush, and the palm is full-grain hide, where the wear comes.
What owners say: Owners say brambles and rose thorns don’t get through to hands or forearms, report no rips, and find the leather softens with wear and fits well.
A closer look: The keystone thumb is set into the palm rather than stitched on flat, which lets the glove close round a lopper handle without bunching. Their bright yellow is easy to spot when they’re put down in a border or dropped in long grass.
A metal watering can
Most gardeners make do with a cracked plastic can, and a painted metal one is the upgrade they won’t buy for themselves.
Selections Heritage Blue and Copper Metal Watering Can (9 litres)
£13.99 RRP
- Rust-resistant painted steel
- Long spout reaches awkward corners
- Detachable rose head
- Heavy at 1.2kg empty
Painted steel in heritage blue with copper-coloured handles, rust-resistant and good-looking enough to leave out by the back door. It holds nine litres, with a long spout for awkward corners and a top handle that folds down.
What owners say: Owners like the sturdy metal build and the colour, though they’re split on how easy it is to handle.
A closer look: Nine litres of water weighs 9kg on top of the can’s own 1.2kg, so fill it two-thirds for hanging baskets and pots on a table. The painted finish lasts longest if the can is emptied and left to dry rather than standing full in the rain.
A seed storage tin
Seed packets end up in a shoebox in the shed for many gardeners, and a proper tin makes the spring sowing easier to plan.
Orionstar Metal Seed Storage Tin
£20–£30
A dark green metal tin with four compartments for sorting seed packets, printed with seed lettering and blossom patterns. It comes with 30 seed envelopes, 30 plant labels and a marker pen, and has handles on the top and sides for carrying.
What owners say: Owners say it holds plenty of seed packets, like the dividers inside and the look of it, and find it sturdy enough to last for years.
A closer look: Sorting the sections by sowing season works well, and a larger one takes the plant labels or a small trowel. The latches stop the lid springing open if it’s knocked off the potting bench. It isn’t water resistant, though, so keep it in the shed or a dry cupboard rather than out in a damp greenhouse.
- 4 compartments
- 30 envelopes, 30 labels, pen
- Latching lid
A wooden bird nest box
Retirement means more mornings at the window, and a nest box up by late winter gives them a family of birds to watch in spring.
Supa Multi-Purpose Wooden Nest Box
£10–£20
- Converts to an open front
Two boxes in one: with its front panel on, it’s a classic hole-fronted box for tits and sparrows; take out two screws and it becomes an open-fronted box for robins or spotted flycatchers. A small gap in the base lets the birds clear it out easily.
What owners say: Owners like the quality and appearance and say it goes up easily; how long it lasts divides them, as some had it fall apart with the front removed, and the hole size gets mixed views too.
A closer look: Tilt it very slightly forward as you fix it, so rain runs off the roof rather than into the entrance. At 26cm tall and 680g it’s light enough for a fence post or a tree trunk, and screws rather than nails let it come down easily when it needs attention.
A heated propagator
Gardeners itching to get going in February can start their tomatoes and chillies on the windowsill weeks before it’s warm outside.
EarlyGrow Medium Heated Propagator
£30–£50
A heated tray and shatter-resistant lid that hold seeds at roughly 16 to 21°C to get them germinating early, with adjustable vents to control airflow and humidity. Made in the UK by EarlyGrow, with a sturdy moulded tray and a standard three-pin plug.
What owners say: Owners find it easy to use and sturdy, with good germination, tomatoes especially; some say it gets too hot at the edges and in the centre.
A closer look: With a heater of just 9 watts, leaving it on day and night through February and March won’t trouble the electricity bill much. Once shoots appear, open the vents a little more each day to cut condensation and toughen the seedlings, then move them to a bright sill as soon as they’re sturdy so the next tray can go in.
- Heats to about 16–21°C
- 38 × 24 × 20cm
- Adjustable vents
A flexible garden trug
Every gardener ends up carrying weeds to the compost and potatoes to the kitchen, and a flexible tub with handles takes both.
Tuff Spot 40L Flexi Tubs (set of 3)
£10–£20
Three 40-litre tubs in flexible, shatter-proof polyethylene, each with strong built-in handles for carrying heavy loads. They bend rather than crack, and stack inside one another when not in use, so three take up little more room than one.
What owners say: Owners find them useful for all sorts of garden jobs, like the colours and think them good value; some report handles breaking.
A closer look: Giving each tub its own job helps, say weeds in one, prunings in another and the harvest in the third. The colours are picked at random, so a matching set isn’t guaranteed. Out of season they earn their keep as laundry baskets, toy tubs, car-washing buckets or plaster-mixing tubs.
- Three 40-litre tubs
- Flexible, shatter-proof plastic
- Stack inside one another
A soil thermometer
Tells them when the soil’s warm enough to sow outside, instead of guessing from the calendar.
Thermometer World Compost and Soil Thermometer (295mm)
Under £10
A stainless steel dial thermometer with a 295mm probe that pushes deep into a compost heap or seed bed, and a 50mm dial marked with recommended temperature zones. It’s weatherproof and reads up to 70°C.
What owners say: Owners find the dial clear and easy to read and the thermometer good value for composting; some find the probe shorter than expected, and accuracy and durability get mixed reports.
A closer look: Slide the probe right into the middle of the heap, where the real work happens: once the needle starts dropping back from its peak, that’s the cue to turn it and get things going again. In spring, checking the soil at the same time each morning for a few days gives a truer picture than one reading on a sunny afternoon.
- 295mm stainless steel probe
- Reads up to 70°C
- Marked temperature zones
Garden clogs or short wellies
A pair by the back step saves lacing up boots for every two-minute job, and keen gardeners are in and out all day.
Town & Country Super Soft Garden Clogs
£10–£20
Lightweight, waterproof EVA clogs with a soft lining, a cushioned insole and a slip-resistant sole. Ready for a quick trip to the greenhouse, a wander across the lawn or taking the bins out, and sold in men’s and women’s styles.
What owners say: Owners find them comfortable, light and easy to slip on and off for the garden, though sizing is mixed and some say they run a bit small.
A closer look: Once they’re caked in mud, a rinse under the outside tap usually does the job, and they can go in the washing machine too. The soft lining keeps them comfortable on bare feet on a summer evening, and the waterproof EVA shrugs off dewy lawns and a wet patio.
- Lightweight and waterproof
- Soft lining, cushioned insole
- Machine washable
An RHS gardening book
More time in the garden often means bigger plans, a pond or a raised bed, and this is the one to plan them from.
RHS Complete Gardener’s Manual
£10–£20
The Royal Horticultural Society’s one-volume guide to the whole garden: design, containers, raised beds and ponds, watering, feeding, pruning and propagating, with pests and weeds covered too. Clear step-by-step photos make it as useful for a first garden as for an established one.
What owners say: Owners find it very informative, especially for beginners, easy to navigate and read, and full of good photos.
A closer look: Rather than being read cover to cover, it tends to come off the shelf for a quick check before a job: when to prune, how to plant, how to build a raised bed. The Plant Chooser galleries help with a tricky corner.
- 448 pages, fully illustrated
- Design, pruning and propagating
- Galleries to help choose plants
A gardener’s hand cream
Hands that have been in the soil all year end up rough and dry, and gardeners are the last to look after them.
O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Hand Cream
£8.49 RRP
A concentrated, unscented hand cream for very dry, cracked skin, which forms a protective layer to lock moisture in. It began as a pharmacist’s kitchen recipe for her father, a rancher whose hands cracked from outdoor work.
What owners say: Owners say it works almost at once on very dry hands, leaves them soft and is fairly priced, though some find it quite greasy.
A closer look: A small amount goes a long way, rubbed well into knuckles and fingertips after the last hand wash of the day. Being unscented, it suits anyone who finds floral hand creams too much, and the tube is small enough to leave by the shed door or in a coat pocket.
- 80ml tube
- For very dry, cracked skin
- Unscented
Buying for a gardener
- Look at what tools they use most and what state they’re in. A worn favourite is a good clue.
- Grow-your-own gardeners love anything that gets seeds started early.
- If they have a small garden or balcony, avoid big kit and go for hand tools and pots.
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