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9 Great Gardening Gifts for All Square Foot Gardeners 

By February 23rd, 2024No Comments

Written by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin

Christmas_presentsAre you looking for the perfect gift for a green thumbed pal? Here are 9 terrific gardening gifts that are sure to delight Square Foot Gardeners:

1. Rainbow Kitchen Vegetable Garden Seed Collection

When you’re looking for a simple and useful gardening gift, it’s hard to go wrong when you offer a collection of seed packets. 

The Rainbow Kitchen Vegetable Garden Seed Collection includes: 

  • Renee’s Garden seeds

    Rainbow Kitchen Vegetable Garden Seed Collection. Photo via Renee’s Garden.

    One pack of tricolor yellow, green, and purple bush bean seeds, which is a mix of ‘Golden Roc d’Or’, ‘Purple Queen,’ and ‘Green Slenderette.’ 

  • A pack of tricolor yellow, dark green, and pale green zucchini seeds, comprised of a mix of ‘Salman,’ ‘Golden Delight,’ and ‘Raven.’ 
  • A single pack of red, yellow, and orange cherry tomato seeds, including a mix of ‘Sweet Gold,’ ‘Supersweet’, and ‘Sungold.’ 
  • A pack of farmer’s market lettuce seeds with leaves of different shapes, sizes, and colors, composed of ‘Little Gem,’ ‘Tango,’ ‘Outrageous,’ and ‘Cimarron.’ 
  • A pack of “Delicious Duo” red and green scallions seeds, which includes ‘Green Feast’ and ‘Red Robin’ cultivars. 

That’s 15 varieties in five seed packets! 

Give the gift of a rainbow of homegrown veggies – you can purchase the Rainbow Kitchen Vegetable Garden Seed Collection from Renee’s Garden. 

 

Culinary herb seed collection.

Culinary herb seed collection. Photo via Eden Brothers.

2. Culinary Herb Collection

When choosing gardening gifts for those who enjoy having a selection of fresh herbs to elevate their culinary creations, why not offer a collection of herb seeds? 

This culinary herb collection contains enough seeds to grow a complete herb garden, and includes packs of arugula, basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, curly parsley, dill, fennel, flat parsley, and garlic chives. 

Pick a pack of 10 different herbs – you’ll find this collection for purchase at Eden Brothers. 

 

3. Seedling Heat Mat

Seedling heat mat. Photo via Renee’s Garden.

Seedling heat mat. Photo via Renee’s Garden.

When food growers cultivate their own transplants, such as tomato and pepper starts, keeping seedlings warm can mean the difference between success and failure.

A heat mat helps indoor gardeners maintain comfortable temperatures for young seedlings as they germinate and grow. 

Keep those seedlings toasty and warm with the Seedling Heat Mat from Renee’s Garden. 

 

4. Seed Starting Kit

When selecting gardening gifts for those who have never started their own transplants, a seed starting kit is a fun way to help them begin!

Seed Starting Kit.

Seed Starting Kit. Photo via Gardener’s Supply.

Starting frost-sensitive seedlings indoors frees SFG practitioners from relying on nurseries for transplants, and makes it possible to try new and exciting seed varieties. The GrowEase kit comes with two 24-cell seedling inserts, two waterproof trays, two humidity domes, and a bag of seed starting mix. 

You’ll find this seed starting kit available for purchase from Gardener’s Supply. 

 

5. Introductory Course

Do you know someone who has an inner food grower inside them just waiting to sprout? 

Why not offer them some guidance with the SFG Foundation’s Introductory Course? 

The course includes six video tutorials, downloadable handouts and planning worksheets – and can be completed in less than two hours. 

Give a gardening gift of knowledge and know how – you can purchase the SFGF Introductory Course right here! 

 

6. Seeding Square

Seeding Square.

Seeding Square. Photo via Seeding Square.

Once it’s time to start sowing seeds in the Mel’s Mix of your raised beds, there’s a nifty device that turns the process into a breeze – the Seeding Square. By fitting perfectly into a square foot section of your grid, this square foot template with its color-coded holes serves as a guide for perfectly spaced seeding. 

First holes of the proper depth are poked through the template with the help of a graduated dibber (included with the template), and then you simply drop seeds into the holes. Using the Seeding Square makes sowing seeds feel like a fun game – turning it into a great way to help get kids interested in growing food! 

Seeding Squares make great gardening gifts. You can learn more about the Seeding Square and purchase one directly from the creator of this handy product right here.

 

7. Garden Snips

Felco Kitchen and Garden Snips.

Felco Kitchen and Garden Snips. Photo via Renee’s Garden.

Once those seed sowing efforts pay off, before you know it, there will be homegrown food to harvest! 

While any old pair of scissors can be used for most harvesting tasks, plant lovers will appreciate having their own dedicated pair of snips at the ready. 

Weighing four ounces, Felco’s Kitchen and Garden Snips are 7.5 inches long and can be used to collect cut flowers, harvest herbs and greens, or snip cucumbers and melons from their smartly trellised vines. 

Hop on over to Renee’s Garden to purchase these Felco Kitchen and Garden Snips.

 

8. Hori Hori

Hori hori.

Hori hori. Photo via Gardener’s Supply.

SFG is a no-till method, so there aren’t many tools required! However, a gardening implement can be helpful in removing spent roots, stems, and stalks from raised beds in preparation for a new round of planting. Some SFG adepts use trowels for this purpose. 

However, once most food growers try a tool known as a “hori hori,” they permanently trade in their trowels for this far more useful tool. 

Originating in Japan, a hori hori has a pointed, long narrow blade, with one serrated edge. It can be used for digging, opening bags of compost, and cutting off vegetables from their stalks. 

For those who really dig gardening – hori horis can be purchased at Gardener’s Supply.

 

9. Square Foot Gardening Books

Square Foot Gardening books from the SFGF.

Square Foot Gardening books from the SFGF.

While the SFG Method is super easy to learn, even experienced food growers might find themselves in need of handy reference guides on their shelf for when SFG questions arise, such as: 

“How many pea seeds do I sow per square foot?” 

“How exactly do I build a crop cage?” 

“How many days does it take lettuce seeds to germinate?” 

The answers to these questions and so many more are held within the pages of the several books published by Mel Bartholomew and the SFGF! 

Peruse our selection of SFGF books and buy them from your favorite online bookstore here.

 

Top photo by Julie Scribbles, via Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0. 

If you find this blog informative, consider donating to the Square Foot Gardening Foundation. Your support helps us to continue providing tips, resources and the mission of Square Foot Gardening.  

Kristina Hicks-Hamblin

Kristina Hicks-Hamblin lives on a small permaculture-style farm in the high desert of Utah, USDA Hardiness Zone 5b. She is a Certified Permaculture Designer, holds a Certificate in Native Plant Studies from the University of North Carolina Charlotte Botanical Gardens, and a Landscape for Life certificate through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden. Kristina strives to create gardens where there are as many birds and bees as there are edibles, and has been using Square Foot Gardening as a guiding light since 2012.

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