Help me xmas/gardening

[trailrated]

My SO went with the "lets not get each other anything for xmas" trap.I figured she has been wanting to garden for a while so I was going to throw together a little gardening kit with an IOU on building some planter boxes for her.

1) I know nothing about gardening but I have access to tools and can build some shit
2) Do you have any ideas on what I should throw together for the "gardening kit"?
3) If you can point me in the right direction for plans for a DIY planter box that would be awesome

[pbkmaine]

Lots of diy plans on ana-white.com, both indoors and out. Why not buy her some packets of herb seeds?


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[Mr Dorothy Dollar]

If you do not know what she wants exactly I would just get her generic tools and a note promising to build her what she wants. Will she want raised beds? Will it  be a flower garden? Will she pick things that climb? Does she want a fruit bush or tree? Really the setup should be dictated by what you want to grow and the room needed. Stay away from pressure treated wood or other that has chemicals which may leach into the soil for consumable gardens. I use the hoses that drip water and it has been a very effective way to water a large garden and prevents weed growth because other areas do not get water.

Generic tools include:
-gloves
-knee mat
-hand digging tools
-hand rake
-bucket to pick weeds/harvest
-hand trimmer

[Mr.Tako]

Don't forget the shovel.  If she's going to garden, you'll be moving dirt around, compost, manure, etc.  A shovel is a indispensable tool.

[trailrated]

If you do not know what she wants exactly I would just get her generic tools and a note promising to build her what she wants. Will she want raised beds? Will it  be a flower garden? Will she pick things that climb? Does she want a fruit bush or tree? Really the setup should be dictated by what you want to grow and the room needed. Stay away from pressure treated wood or other that has chemicals which may leach into the soil for consumable gardens. I use the hoses that drip water and it has been a very effective way to water a large garden and prevents weed growth because other areas do not get water.

Generic tools include:
-gloves
-knee mat
-hand digging tools
-hand rake
-bucket to pick weeds/harvest
-hand trimmer

Incredibly helpful and informative, thank you! I need to clarify exactly what she wants to grow but I am pretty sure she is going to want some herbs then tomatoes, peppers, and other veggies. The reason for the IOU on the planter box is because I am pretty sure most of those things will not grow till winter passes (could totally be wrong as I know nothing about gardening). More info to come. :)

[MsPeacock]

A lot of stuff will be out of season. I garden a lot and I have to say that really good gloves are a big deal, and you can find them all times of the year. Look for work gloves, sized for women's hands (not those giant huge one size fits gorillas and everyone smaller gloves).

Good pruners. The handheld ones. You can maybe find these in the winter.



Both gloves and pruners are garden tools where quality matters a lot and would make good gifts (IMHO). A garden store (vs. Home Depot) likely has some gardening supplies in stock all year. Seed freshness is important, so you may not be able to find seeds at all in the winter. The other stuff, like a good shovel, a good trowel, etc. a garden/nursery will likely have all year.

There are lots of good videos on youtube on how to build raised beds.

ETA: As a gardener I have also gotten cubic yards of mulch as a gift. For a raised bed you likely will need dirt. An IOU for either of those things would be useful in a garden gift. (Of course, not everyone would be excited about getting literally dirt as a gift.)

[horsepoor]

Will this be a container garden or in ground garden?  Since you said planter box, that made me think of self watering g containers.  If thats the case, you can Google plans for them.

A hori hori knife is a great multi purpose hand tool that would make a great gift.

[MayDay]

My dad brought me a tub of compost for my Christmas present.

Big shovel, small shovel, bucket, gloves are the basics.

[Another Reader]

As someone that lives in your area, I can tell you that unless you want to go the route of heavy duty roto-tilling and annual soil amendments, you are better off with containers and raised beds. The soil is clay in most areas, with some rock mixed in up in the hills. 

In the winter, a decent pair of pruning shears and a quality trowel should be easy to find.  Bare root season is just starting, so fruit trees and bagged roses are showing up in the nurseries if you are interested in those plants.  My Granny Smith apple tree is very productive, but fruit trees are a lot of work because of the pests.  It's a little cold for some of the citrus, but lemons do very well here.  A dwarf or semi-dwarf lemon tree is very handy to have.  Mine has at least 60 lemons on it right now.  A five gallon lemon tree is a good way to get started.  If you are renting, you can grow a dwarf lemon in a barrel, although it's a lot of work to move.

Most herbs are easy to grow, but you have to stay on top of watering, especially if they are in containers.  Because this is a "Mediterranean" climate, Italian and Greek herbs generally grow well.  Rosemary is a landscape plant here.

Big shovel?  A pick axe is more useful....

[Indio]

How about getting her a gift card to Home Depot and a labor coupon for her to redeem with you when she is ready? You could also download pics off of Pinterest with raised bed designs and blooming veg gardens to help her figure what she would like to do. Or a subscription to an organic gardening magazine to go along with it. I love drooling over the gardening magazines and seed catalogs in Winter, when there is plenty of time to plan for Spring.

[herbgeek]

Lots of seed companies already have next season's seeds available.   You could get a gift cert for seeds.  Container gardening is easier to start doing, it doesn't require nearly the commitment as in-the-ground gardening.  You'd likely want to grow organically if growing food, fish emulsion is a good fertilizer. 

Some favorite places for seeds:  growitalian- they sell Franchi seeds which come in HUGE packets, Johnny's Seeds has everything including all the implements, fertilizers you could want, Select Seeds sells heirloom flowers, Pinetree Gardens has reasonably prices seed packets.  High mowing seeds is another organic only seed company I've had luck with.  Seeds are easy for herbs, if she's never gardened before you might want to start with seedlings.

[spokey doke]

to support and add to the recommendations above...here are basics that get used alot in our garden-centric home:

gloves (she likes the fabric ones with the rubberized palm/fingers)
a Tubtrug (flexible tub with handles - great for loading/emptying soil/compost/veggies/leaves/etc)
hand trowel
a good garden spade and spading fork (which may not be so important if you are using planters for all your gardening)
a compost bin
a watering can
garden hose with good watering nozzle/wand attachment
something to hold the hose above (lots of options)