Gifts on themes of empathy, usefulness, delight
Plenty of joy to be found in the simple pleasures of the season to get away from the less-positive aspects of Christmas
It’s with two minds that I approach the “holiday” season. There is pleasure in familiar rituals, such as stringing lights on the sprawling strawberry tree by the front door and cutting fir, cedar and sweet bay boughs to place on windowsills. There will be enjoyment in making favourite meals from his childhood for my visiting son. We’ll relish Brussels sprouts, his most relished vegetable, fresh from the garden. We’ll see old friends and watch a few films together.
Such simple traditions contribute to a happy, peaceful Christmas, a time to celebrate cherished essentials of the season.
Another, less-positive, aspect of Christmas, one that is hard to ignore this year with daily news of suffering and need, is the excess of the season, as often superfluous gifts are exchanged among those who already have so much.
I’m no Grinch. I love beautiful things, delicious food, treasured garden plants, a few lovely pictures on the walls. But surely, the time must come when an accumulation of possessions is enough.
Consider giving a little extra thought in selecting gifts for gardening friends and family members this year. You could, for example, make choices on the themes of empathy, usefulness and delight.
Empathy. What does the person really need? Are they perpetually cash-strapped? A gift card from a favourite local garden centre would likely be more than welcome.
You might have noticed someone is missing a basic tool, one without which your own gardening would be more challenging.
Maybe a person needs help more than anything else. A gift “IOU” for a specified period of time of help in the garden would be a thoughtful gift. Offer “mentoring” sessions to a keen beginner gardener who is struggling a little. A loose, airy cover-up shirt or a wide-brimmed hat would be an empathetic gift of protection for a gardener who works long hours in the hot summer sun.
Simple gadgets can ease some watering problems. I attach a brass shut-off valve to the end of a hose that goes from an outdoor tap to the centre of the back garden. That allows me to shut the water off without having to return to the house when I want to stop watering or change sprinklers. A Y-valve, also brass, is a two-way adapter that allows for two hoses to work from the same tap.
Usefulness. A few essentials accompany me at every gardening session.
• Gloves. I wear the same gloves year-round in the garden, except when I am transplanting and want that intimate contact with plants and soil as I settle transplants into place. Gloves with waterproof palms and breathable fabric backs are ideal.
• Secateurs. I’ve put my No. 6 Felco pruners through more than a dozen years of punishing use. This is one essential tool that can inflict extreme frustration if the quality is not there.
• Container for holding removed weeds and garden debris destined for the compost. I use a flexible poly round tub with handles that can be easily gathered together for one-handed hauling to a compost heap.
• Weeder. Many styles of weeder, long and short-handled, are available. There are claw cultivators for uprooting weeds. Others have pointed pick-style working ends. Popular is the Garden Bandit, a B.C. made hand weeder with a looped steel blade for uprooting weeds. The HoriHori is a multi-purpose Japanese garden knife with one serrated edge. Its broad blade is also used as a trowel, transplanter, and weeder.
• Shovel. Almost every gardening session involves digging. A long-handled shovel with a sharp-edged, rounded digging end is most efficient and easy on the back.
For specific projects, other tools are indispensable: trowel, hoe, an iron rake and an adjustable wire rake.
Delight. Though gardening is work, it is also pleasure. Every garden should have one or two little reminders of that — sights, sounds, colours that inspire, amuse, and delight.
A natural and absorbing source of amusement in a garden is bird activity. I enjoy observing birds darting about and hearing the familiar whir of hummingbird wings. Bird feeders and bird houses are attractants for these entertaining creatures.
A garden fairy ornament or garden elf, laughing Buddha, brightly coloured planter, and even the gentle rustling of muted wind chimes are the sort of things that can help gardeners stop for a moment of appreciation for the little plot of earth they have to care for and delight in.