We started our Celtic Farm Gardening Gift Store because the “gifts for gardeners” selection online was limited, of low quality and similar across sites. In running our small flower farm, we needed quality tools, quality garden apparel, and quality options for spreading our love of gardening…essentially, a great set of stuff for us, and gardening gifts to spread the love.
As we expand our offerings, and take feedback from our great customers, our goal is to get better and better, and provide you with a broad set of options for both women and men gardeners.
Here is a quick list of some new and old gardening gifts that are amazingly popular:
The Hori Hori – There is no tool like the Japanese Garden Knife, or Hori Hori. First crafted by Japanese samurai sword makers, this unique gardening tool is a chameleon in the garden: weeding, digging, cutting, slicing, marking, measuring and more. It is by far our best seller, and you can buy one here: Hori Hori Garden Tool and Knife.
The Apron – about 18 months ago, we worked with a handful of manufacturers to test samples of garden aprons. This was our second product idea, and we wanted a durable, fashionable apron that was functional for the gardener or florist. Since then, we have sold thousands of these great aprons, with an amazing string of 5 star reviews. This is a great gardening gift for any gardener, and an amazing “tool” in the garden.
The Journal – I wanted a better way of keeping my notes, plotting my dreams and future endeavors on the farm and for our property. The spiral notebook does little to inspire, and gives me flashbacks to school. We worked hard to find the best quality, flexible journal system that was in market, and now offer our Gardening Journal. With three types of paper, and endless expansion capability, it is already a winner on our site. A great and unique gardening gift any gardener will cherish.
The Gardner’s Tool Belt – Here in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, it gets just plain hot in the summer. No, I mean like hot hot. Wearing an apron while sweating profusely during chores just doesn’t cut it. So we created a “Bat Belt” for the gardener. A small gardener’s tool belt, that is lightweight, waterproof, and has enough storage for your primary tools. Our Garden Tool Belt is a sure winner as a gift for any gardener.
The Garden Tool Set – “Most gardener’s already have tools.” Investing in a nice set of tools is rarely something a gardener will do for themselves. They’ll use that cheap plastic handled trowel, or that cultivator they picked up on sale at the hardware store that has a loose head. A great gardening gift is a nice set of hardwood and stainless tools. You can view our gardener’s hand tool set here: Celtic Farm Garden Tools
The Dibble/Dibbler – back when we started making items in our shop, the first item we made by hand was the dibbler. There are a ton of variations on the market, but our is made of hard maple, etched with measuring marks, and has evolved over time based on feedback from customers and use on our farm. You can see our unique quality dibbler set here: Hardwood Garden Dibbler Set
Pruners or Secateurs – having a great pruner by your side as a gardener is an absolute must, and the market is filled with junk. Our green handled pruners are stainless steel, and maintain a sharp, sharp blade. Handsome and with a handle made of aluminum, they are light and will put a smile on a gardener’s face. Stainless garden pruners.
Garden Gift Box – gardeners can be a strange lot, and sometimes will forgo an update in their tools, apparel or garden in general. We have assembled some great gift sets that can provide a great kit for the veteran gardener, novice or mid-range soil lover. Browse our gift packages here: Garden Gift Box
How to find the Right Hori Hori Garden Tool for You
When you buy gardening tools, there are soooo many different choices online, and the Hori Hori Garden Knife is no exception. With everything from the basic Japanese inspired version, to the futuristic Hori Hori that looks like a battle weapon, its difficult to figure out how to pick the best garden knife for your needs. Here is a Hori Hori breakdown to help you buy a quality tool that will help you in the garden for years.
Our Hori Hori Packaged for Giving
Required Quality Hori Hori Features
The Hori Hori Blade – did you know Hori Horis became popular in Japan as Samurai sword makers transitioned to peaceful times? There are a few things you should look for in a blade. First off, it should be made of stainless steel, you don’t want a rusty hori hori. If its black, or edged in black, it will rust. Secondly, it should be concave (curved). I use my Japanese tool to scoop constantly, and if its not curved, you can’t scoop. It should have a serrated edge for cutting/sawing, and a smooth edge. Your Hori Hori should have measurement marks on the blade to help in planting and digging. Lastly, it needs to have a full tang. What’s a tang? The part that goes into the handle of the blade.
The Handle – Plastic has no place in the garden. It’s an environmental no no, and its just ugly, am I right? A Hori Hori is a traditional tool, and there are some that are nice to look at, and just feel right in your hand. A wooden handle keeps tradition, wont melt or warp in the sun, and just looks damn good 🙂 We prefer rosewood, for its durability, aesthetics and how it sheds water. Also, when looking closelyl, the handle should have a hole. Why? I use my Hori Hori constantly as a row marking helper. With a hole you can run marking string through the hole and make accurate lines. Lastly, there are several Hori Hori’s with round handles as compared to a flat handle. The flat Japanese blade handle is the traditional handle for a reason: it provides strength and stability when digging.
Rivets – the garden is a relentless place for any tool, including the hori hori. Sun, water and dirt make up a nasty trio that can dessimate poorly constructed items. Some horis are made with two rivets, and I had some early models where those just fail over time. Look for handles with 3 steel rivets that go through both handles.
Buy From A Reputable Source with Experience – Would you have a painter do your plumbing? Buy your Hori Hori from a source with experience, and that actually uses what they sell, and that has reviews from gardeners/farmers on their site. How can you tell? Inquire and ask a question.
Read the Reviews – There is a ton of misinformation out there, and the best source of real, usable info? Other gardeners that have purchased the same tool. Review will give you insight into wether the product is really good, or just bleh. Look for passion and ooomph to make sure the purchasers really mean what they say about their Hori Hori Tool.
So, short and sweet. We have quite a bit more information on Hori Horis on our site, as it is our favorite tool on the farm for just about everything in the garden and landscaping.
What Holidays do You Give Your Favorite Gardener a Gift?
First off, let’s get something straight: Any time is the right time to give a gardener a gift!! We are loving, accepting people with an affinity for fun stuff. But seriously, I asked myself a question the other day during the Mother’s day gift run, and thought about what days/occasions are perfect for garden gift giving. So, here is a list:
Holidays
New Years – what better way to start off the year in anticipation of a whole new gardening season in spring. Great garden gifts here: Hori Hori, tool maintenance kit, new garden tool set, garden scissors, etc.
Groundhog Day – Not your traditional, but a cute idea to give your favorite gardener a gift on this day.
Valentine’s Day – What better day to adorn your sweetheart than with a gardening gift they will cherish for years.
St. Patrick’s Day – in our Celtic tradition, the green holiday is perfect for garden themed gift giving.
Easter – Our favorite holiday, the harbinger of spring blooms, is a time to celebrate all that is beautiful in the garden.
Mother’s Day – if your Mom loves gardening, then gift giving on this special day should always include a garden gift.
Earth Day – need we say more. Sustainable, earth loving gardening gifts are always a big hit on this day, even if it is just a small thought.
Ok, I have to admit, when I first used them out in our fields, I felt kind of funny. It’s like bringing a steak knife out to do cut lavender, right? Were they really up to the demands of the flower farm? We decided to evaluate a bunch of different garden scissors to find a set of these so called garden secateurs to see which ones we would put in our gardening tools section of our store. We used them to snip, cut, and prune. We ended up with a stainless steel garden snip that had a smooth action, was light and had nice small handles. Why stainless? Other garden scissors we tested (the black metal ones), rusted when they got wet, and became stiff, and did not fare well in the garden and farm environment. We love these scissors, for the following reasons:
They are beautiful. You have to look stylish when out and about 😉
The scissors are easy to hold and manipulate. When out in the fields, you need to be able to maneuver and snip at odd angles.
They are light. If you spend hours in the garden clipping, your hands can get tired from using the wrong, heavy garden pruners.
They remain sharp. Stainless steel scissors don’t rust and remain sharp even after snipping flower after flower, or stem after stem.
They fit perfectly in our apron. What good are garden pruner/snips if you can’t have them with you all the time. They fit perfectly in our garden apron.
Check out these great snips for yourself or a garden gift recipient and enjoy them today. You can read more about our garden tool sets here: Garden Tools and Gardening Tool Sets. You can also read more here: Garden Tools
There are a lot of poor quality florist’s aprons out there in the market, and when arranging flowers in a shop or in the field, the flower trade can be demanding: dirt, water, coffee ;). A high quality apron can be a decent investment, and you want it to last, protect your clothing and most of all make your duties easy by having what you need easily accessible. Here are our requirements that every florist or flow arranger should use when shopping for that shop apron that will provide years of use, and look stylish:
A good florists apron material is waxed canvas. It has to be of significant weight material (they call it heavy), and treated so it shuns water.
Linen aprons are fun and fashionable, but soak up water and rip over time (no pocket strength).
There should be ample apron pocket space, and they need to be arranged well: a place for snips, scissors, tools and your phone!
Main pockets should be double stitched for strength and durability in the florist’s apron.
There should be a towel holder on the apron for a quick drying of hands or rapid cleanup.
Smock Straps should cross in the back to distribute the load and be comfortable.
It should be easily adjustable.
A good apron will cost you between $30 and $50, and you get what you pay for! We offer an affordable, high quality florist’s apron that will last years and the best part is, its what we wear on the farm and while arranging!
