I'd love to have a new pair of pruning shears or a pair of the tiny bladed snippers for taking cuttings of delicate plants with.

A gift certificate to a favorite nursery, either mail order specialists such as Brushwood (climbing roses and Clematis) or Hummingbird Farm (Clematis, herbs, and unusual annual geraniums) or mail order ones that sell a wider variety of plants Lazy S's Farm Nursery or Fairweather Gardens or Joy Creek or Plant Delights or some of the wonderful New England nurseries such as Garden Vision Epimedium in MA or Broken Arrow in CT or Variegated Foliage Nursery in CT.

If you don't own a stirrup hoe, they are the quickest and easiest for weeding, and come in widths from about 3" to about 9". I have a narrow one and a wide one and use them both. I've started doing fall cleanup in the perennial gardens with a pair of those old-fashioned wooden handled, long bladed hedge loppers - love them! I cleaned up a large bed for my MIL in about a half hour including weeding and hauling all the clippings to the compost pile.

If you've been eyeing a particular trellis or a special pot, those are possibilities, and heated birdbaths have been a hot topic on the bird photo thread.

A small plant rack with lighting for growing winter greens or plant starts would be nice if there's room.

A membership in Mass Hort or some other garden organization that will give you free entrance to various gardens and arboretums would be lovely if you have the time and inclination to visit places or a book of entrance tickets from the garden conservancy for their Open Garden Days.

Or even a donation to an organization that supports community gardens.

Wind spinners and whirligigs are fun in a garden, and garden gloves (if you're the type who wears them) and hats are always useful.

Claire

Zackey, I have a pair of pruning shears, but your snippers reminds me I need a good strong, sharp pair of scissors for the garden. Thanks.

Babs, youâÂÂve reminded me of a few nurseries I keep saying IâÂÂm going to try. Lazy S and Joy Creek which I have never ordered from. Have bought a lot from Garden Vision over the years.

I donâÂÂt own a stirrup hoe, but I mulch so much, IâÂÂm not sure I could benefit from that, since I hand pull a weed here and a weed there. Sounds like the right tool in other circumstances.

I have been thinking of getting another pair of hedge loppers. My last pair rusted.

Heated birdbath, IâÂÂll have to read up on. I donâÂÂt have electricity where I need my birdbath on the other side of the yard away from the house. Maybe they have a solar one?

I am planning on starting more seeds this winter and I may get a new plant shelf unit with lights. IâÂÂve been on the fence about whether I will winter sow exclusively or start seed under lights.

The Garden Conservancy or NEWFSâ¦Great idea and didnâÂÂt know they have donations for community gardens.

As always you are full of good ideas. :-) Did you ever get the email I sent to you about the spun row cover?

Claire, I love wind spinners. Thanks for the links! We buy those nitrile gloves by the dozen from Amazon, and I have one ugly gardening hat that has a nice wide brim which seems to be lasting me a long time.

Maybe a pair of herons?

Claire

PM2 - You have an email.

I am more of a fan of the traditional herons, which I love but would never spring for, or rusted metal (just one color) garden sculpture than Claire's bright herons, but garden sculpture is a good idea if you have something specific to ask for or you trust the taste of the person doing the giving.

And if you don't like flashy herons, how about a Vermont Garden Cart if you don't have one already? There are several similar ones available.

I have a mid-sized one (probably from Gardeners Supply but I don't remember) and I love it. It's very easy to pull or push (check the video on the first link) and mine has a removable end piece so you can dump stuff easily (or carry something long).

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Sat, Nov 29, 14 at 17:10

Or a Steerable Rolling Seat with Tool Tray? I love shopping at leevalley.com.

Claire

Really pretty sculptures too and I love that riding cart, pretty fancy. IâÂÂve had an old plastic one for years and I keep waiting for it to break to replace it and it just keeps going, so I still have it. [g]

We thought about getting a Garden Cart, but we went for an oversize wheelbarrow instead. I havenâÂÂt found I need more yet.

I remembered I wanted to replace my watering can. I bought one that was painted and decorative and it didnâÂÂt take long before some of the paint peeled off, so IâÂÂm looking for a plain old 2 gallon galvanized can that is high quality and will last a long time. Has anyone tried a Haws can? Pretty expensive, wondering if they are worth it?

My kneeling pads need replacing too. Mine is splitting after only two years. IâÂÂm not seeing much that IâÂÂm interested in on Amazon. The other annoyance I have with kneeling pads, is how toxic the smell of the plastic seems to be on all of them.

So, if anyone has any favorites of those two items, IâÂÂm still making my list.

Just a note on three of the nurseries suggested for gift certificates. At Dave's Garden, they each have plenty of positive ratings, but Lazy S Farm had consistent negatives about shipping and handling and Joy Creek had a number of complaints about getting mislabeled Clematis. Fairweather Gardens looks like they suspended shipping in May of 2013, with the explanation they are on sabbatical until late 2014. Plant Delights has more negative comments than I expected to see too.

I love my garden cart. I might be on #2 since I think my original suffered wheel damage after being lent to family. I probably really need a new hand weeder since my old one had to have the metal shaft re-glued into the wooden handle. My original that was lost was a Cape Cod Weeder. I think a cobra headed weeder might be similar. Really like having a good hand weeder but rarely see them for sale in a garden store unless it's a store that carried very nice tools.

I really like the inexpensive garden gloves that have fingers and palm dipped in a rubbery coating. Makes it easier to pull weeds and if the ground is wet, less chance to get wet fingers.

What I really really want next year is a shrub for the corner of the house. The original viburnum got way bigger than the tag said it would and trimming made it grow wider so it started to block my view from the window. The birds really liked it as a place to perch while waiting a turn at the thistle socks. I replaced it with a halo dogwood which has spent two summer getting some kind of disease and a white edged leaf next to a white house was not a good idea. I have hopes that an Amber Jubilee Ninebark will work. I saw it once last year but didn't buy it and another nursery told me it was too new.

After a visit to the garden center in Exeter (Churchill's?) I think I'd like a small terrarium.

Hi Defrost, yes, lending to family can be complicated. [g] So thatâÂÂs two people who love their carts. IâÂÂll have to check them out next time around.

I think itâÂÂs so odd, that IâÂÂve never used a weeding tool. lol I am really weeding averse I think and so weâÂÂve always mulched heavily to avoid that. And with a small property, 1/4 acre, like mine, I can also work things so there is really not a lot of problem with weeds. We used hated weed barrier in the paths of our vegetable garden and cover that with bark mulch so thereâÂÂs rarely a weed there. I know people donâÂÂt recommend it, but IâÂÂve never had a problem with the newer versions of those, in small amounts. Vegetable beds are raised and wall to wall plants. Lawn. Shrub and perennial beds that are both planted close enough for good coverage, ground covers are used, and a heavy chopped leaf mulch along the back 3/4 of the beds and bark mulch for the front edge of the beds every other year.

I did notice an interesting tool at a very high end website yesterday that interested me, called a Crevice weeder. I do have a paver sitting area that I have to pull weeds out of once in awhile. There is a link below and although this company is really expensive, it might give you an idea of a tool you could use and they might have a sale at some point.

I love those inexpensive garden gloves. I just bought a half a dozen at Amazon, not too long ago, as the last batch were starting to get holes in the finger tips.

I looked up that âÂÂAmber Jubileeâ Ninebark and I love it! I love Ninebark anyway, I have âÂÂSummer Wineâ and itâÂÂs one of my favorite shrubs. ItâÂÂs on the corner of my cream colored house too and it stands out. Just what the house needed. :-) I am going to have to buy that âÂÂAmber Jubileeâ this year, I really like it. Thanks.

Terrariums are the latest thing I guess. I can remember when I was in my twenties, a long time ago [g], Terrariums were very popular too. They are very interesting to make and to have around.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crevice weeder

Lee Valley has a Crack Weeder that is similar to the Crevice weeder and is a whole lot cheaper.

They also have a Telescoping Crack Weeder that you can use standing up.

I have a similar tool, a Deck Flosser that's good for cleaning between the boards on a deck.

Claire

Thanks Claire, that is quite a bit cheaper! And looks effective.

I also checked out the watering cans on Lee Valley. I love the can linked below, except I didn't want one that was painted because those I have that are, have started to peel. I'd rather get one that is galvanized only. I'm also wondering about these wooden handles. I think they should be more comfortable, but I've never tried one. Ouch on the price of these!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Haws Traditional Can

PM2, I am another garden cart fan. I can push it or pull it, and with our having a fair amount of sloped stretches, I often tipped over the wheelbarrow if it wasn't balanced just right. That isn't an issue with the garden cart which is exceptionally stable. I do use the wheelbarrow for mixing potting soil and sifting compost and occasionally for moving really light things, but the garden cart is used for moving plants, building materials, large quantities to the compost, etc.

Defrost, that âÂÂAmber Jubileeâ Ninebark is gorgeous! I don't know if it will stay small enough to be by the corner of the house even though it is being advertised as being smaller than some Physocarpus. (I tend to take plant size estimates as rough approximations.)

Babs, I'm sure I would find the cart much better in many respects than a wheelbarrow. I guess I have adapted to not having one. Maybe a $100. would be better spent going toward a cart than a watering can. [g]

I wonder how much more storage room it takes up in the garage? Our space is at a premium.

That's a good point about the Ninebark. Mine is definitely too close to the house. It's said to reach 4-6 ft tall and wide and I'm going to have to go measure mine next weekend. I haven't pruned mine in years and it is due, so I think it's about as large as it's going to get.

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 1:39

nhbabs, I am worried about how much the Amber Jubilee will grow but perhaps it will take to trimming better than the viburnum. New growth on the virburnum seemed to tall and rangy. I cut off a couple of feet so it got wider and still put out tall growth. It might have gotten some fertilizer from nearby annuals but not a lot. It is probably about 10' tall now and out where it can grow all it wants. In the meantime, my husband stuck a small pine tree between the two thistle feeders so the birds had something to perch on.

Prairiemoon, I'd appreciate the size feedback.

BTW in addition to the garden cart I have an ancient John Deere mower with the mowing deck removed and a small cart with removable rear panel for hauling things. Our weed pile is a long ways from the garden so I use the motorized little lawn tractor. Maybe there won't be so many weeds in the veggie beds next year. I've covered one with black plastic where the creeping weed invaded the squash bed. The potato bed is covered in hay and so is the garlic. Also put a layer of chopped leaves and grass clippings on other beds.

The crevice tool looks handy. I usually let my small brick pathway get unsightly. The boiling water trick works well. The next day or so the weeds are dead and easily pulled. It's right outside the kitchen door so no excuse for not having boiling water handy.

I only use the contractors wheelbarrow for short runs loaded with split wood for our wood furnace. I'm ok on flat cellar floor but I would surely dump it on our irregular landscape. Lots of little hills and slopes.

Defrost, I just looked at this thread and thought I had responded this morning, then I remembered I was going to go out and measure my Ninebark 'Summer Wine' first. lol

So, the shrub is 12 ft wide, which surprised me and it's 7ft tall. I know that is not Amber Jubilee, but I don't think there are any references to my shrub getting that large. All estimates have been 5-6ft tall and wide. So I'd give it just a little more room than what they suggest.

Thought I'd let you all know, that I did receive a Wind Spinner from Wind and Weather and unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the quality and I sent it back. It was too bad because I would have liked one. I will keep looking for another company that offers them. I saw some at Russell's in their display area and they were better quality, I'll probably ask them where they got those.

I did receive one of those HAWS watering cans that I'm very happy with. Hoping it will last a long time. And another squirrel proof bird feeder.

Lee Valley Tools is having free shipping only through today on orders over $40. So I am going to look for a few more things I need.

Thanks for the ideas. :-)