Holiday Gift Ideas for Container Gardeners

• Womanswork Paisley Gardening Hat
• Tilley Hat
• Wallaroo Hat
• Ribbon Hat

Even though you can find lots of info about gardening on the web, it will never replace the feel and beauty of a good gardening book.

Here are some container gardening books that I recommend:

• Easy Container Gardening, By Pamela Crawford
• The New Terrarium, by Tovah Martin
• Container Gardening: 250 Design Ideas and Step-By-Step Techniques, by the Editors of Fine Gardening Magazine

Some general gardening books that make great gifts:

• Canadian Vegetable Gardening, by Douglas Green
• You Grow Girl, by Gayla Trail
• The American Horticultural Society's, A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants
• Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
• The Garden Primer, by Barbara Damrosch

Until this year, I have never been a big fan of gardening gloves. I think it's because all I had were crummy old ones that gave me the heebie-jeebies every time I had to put my fingers in them. Now however, I wear gardening gloves all the time. Here are two of my favorites.

• Ethel Gloves
• West County Gloves

I spend a lot of time with a gardening hose in my hand and I have tried all different kinds and most make me want to scream with frustration because they kink. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a Charlie Chaplin movie or that I'm being "punked" when I'm trying to water my container gardens. As soon as I walk to where my container is and try to water it, the water flow suddenly stops. I've even given it a name - watering interruptus. This hose is the first I've tried that doesn't make me want to stamp my feet and swear. And that's a good thing. Oh, and it's also drink-safe, so won't spray your gardens with lead.

The Excalibur food dehydrator would make a fabulous, albeit huge gift. It isn't cheap, and it takes up a fair amount of counter space, and there is a good chance that whoever you give it to will become a food dehydrating maniac.

I even dream about new things I can dry out - how weird is that?