"Gardening Gifts for Christmas"
Broadcast on: December 9, 2006
Hello!
And happy winter! (Although winter doesn’t start officially for another couple
of weeks!)
And happy frigid temperatures!
And happy white stuff!
Happy second Saturday in December!
Only 15 more shopping days left before Christmas! (Really 16 days if you intend
to do some Christmas shopping on Christmas Day!)
At any rate, the Christmas buying season has officially begun. Those of you who
braved the weather and the throngs to step out (or camp out) that Black Friday
will agree with me on that one!
So today, let’s talk Christmas gifts for all of your favorite gardeners on your
Christmas list. Consider some of these suggestions. How about a gardening
Encyclopedia, a gardening book, or even a gardening magazine?
Try these hefty books – with lots of info, lots of pages, lots of money (some go
for more than $60!).
There's:
The Encyclopedia of Gardening from the American Horticultural
Society
America's Garden Book by Louise + James Bush Brown
Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening
Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia.
All these are really "heavies" with hundreds and hundreds of
pages!
Something on the lighter side?
You can try something simpler like:
Get my drift? (Nothing personal!) But this “Dummy” series is
really helpful, really basic, and really simple.
Consider coming up to our office at Cornell Cooperative Extension if you live in
Lewis County or your own CCE, if you're in another county. We've got some really
great gardening titles like the “Cornell's Guide to Growing Fruit at Home” or
“The Homeowners’ Lawn Care and Water Quality Almanac”, or a couple of great food
presentation books (“So Easy to Preserve” or “Ball's Blue Book”).
Hey - why not consider a gift membership to your Cooperative Extension? Our
membership in Lewis County is a bargain at $12. It entitles you to one or all of
our monthly publications - Connecting Lewis County, the Ag Digest, or the 4H
News. As a paid member you will also get regular notifications of any upcoming
programs up at the Extension office.
Or how about a gift subscription to some major gardening magazines?
There are several out there, but my favorites are:
Now besides books and magazines, you might consider giving your
favorite gardener some cool and nifty garden tools or gadgets like a better hand
trowel or shovel, or a different kind of weeding tool, or a wand sprayer, or a
pair of better quality garden gloves. Try getting something your favorite frugal
gardener wouldn't splurge on himself (or herself)!
And good news - most major stores still have some gardening equipment out on
display.
Be assured this gardening section will probably have a little traffic around
this time of year!
Keep in mind, time is growing short, and there's probably no time left to get a
garden mail order catalog and plunk down an order. HMMM - maybe a garden gift
from online places . . . Hey - let's keep it local! Consider a gift certificate
from a garden shop.
Or you can always give a live green indoor plant. It doesn’t have to be the
traditional, Christmas poinsettia, or a Christmas cactus. Just try to match your
gardener to the plant that you want to buy. Don’t give a difficult-to-care-for
plant to somebody who has difficulty taking care of plastic floral arrangements.
And if you do decide to buy live plants as gifts, just remember to protect those
plants from the cold, harsh elements as you take them from the store to your
house. Don’t leave your live plants in your cold, freezing car while you go
shopping for hours.
Good luck with the rest of your Christmas shopping! (Gee's - there's always the
Chia-Pet…)
Hey - Remember Eat Smart New York!
And - Bye - Talk to you soon!
D
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