How to Stuff a Stocking for a Backyard Gardener

Even hard-to-buy-for types are easy to cross off your holiday list if they like puttering around in the garden. Stuff their stockings with sure-to-please and practical yard care items they'll use again and again.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Rubber Boots For Gardening
• Christmas Stockings
• Birdseeds Ornaments
• Gardening Gloves
• Hand Pruning Shears
• Peat Pots
• Rain Gauges
• Soil Or Compost Thermometers
• Watering Timers
• Lip Balm
• Nail Brushes
• Metal Plant Address Labels
• Biodegradeable Twine
• Ear Protectors
• Safety Glasses
• small, folding pruning saws
• garden hoses and attachments couplers, washers and double shut-off valves

1. Choose the stocking. Sure, you can use the same old stocking you've packed away for years, but it can be fun to jazz things up a bit by hanging a large garden glove or small burlap bag on the mantel instead. Or take a clue from northern Europeans, who put their shoes by the fireplace during the holidays so that Father Christmas can fill them with goodies: Buy your favorite gardener a pair of rubber garden boots and fill them to overflowing with little garden-themed trinkets.
2. Stuff the stocking or shoe with a small hand tool, a new pair of gloves, a pair of hand pruning shears, rubber handles to slip on tools to make them more comfortable and easier to grip, or a nail brush to deal with grungy garden hands.
3. Don't forget such useful items as metal plant labels, lip balm with sun protection, a packet of superabsorbent crystal polymers for pots and other containers, bird seed ornaments to hang on outdoor trees, and small booklets and fliers on yard care.
4. Tuck in a rain gauge, a roll of biodegradable twine, a soil or compost thermometer, small peat pots and a pocket knife just for the garden.
5. Find a watering timer, a small folding pruning saw, couplers and washers, double shut-off valves for hoses, and safety glasses or ear protectors to use with power tools.

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