As gardeners, we are uniquely able to come up with a range of home-grown gifts that are far more personal and meaningful than gifts bought at a store. To help you see how you can brighten up someone’s day without looking far beyond your own garden, here are some ideas.

Seeds and Plants

Some of the easiest and most obvious gifts gardeners can give are seeds and plants. These will often be much appreciated by other keen gardeners, but they could also make good gifts for the less green-fingered. 

Why not, for example, create a “start your own food-producing garden” kit, nicely packaged in a glass jar or another pleasing receptacle, with seeds from some of your own favorite crops?

You might take cuttings and propagate plants from your own garden that a friend or relative has admired to give to them.

You might grow a small tree and tend it carefully as a bonsai to give to someone who might appreciate seeing how much you care. Or carefully cultivate another plant that someone without a garden can then continuing growing inside their home. 

Herb Mixes and Other Culinary Kits

If you have a well-stocked herb garden or an established kitchen garden, you might consider some gifts for a keen cook. Special herb mixes which are pleasantly packaged or other culinary kits with home-grown herbs and dried ingredients might go down well. 

Mixing your own herbal tea blends is another good idea, especially if it’s tailored to the person to whom you are giving it. For example, if you know someone who needs to relax or has trouble sleeping, a blend with chamomile might be a thoughtful gift.

Edible Gifts From Scratch

You could also take things one step further and use your cooking skills in addition to your gardening ones. You might create a range of home-baked treats to give to your friends and family using ingredients that you have grown yourself. 

For example, you could bake a cake, some cupcakes or muffins, or make cookies incorporating home-grown fruits and other ingredients. 

You could can some of a favorite recipe to save them time and effort down the line and add some delicious easy meals to their pantry.

You might make some preserves from the produce you have grown—jams, jellies, chutneys, and more—or even make a fruit-infused spirit, a homemade cider, or wine using what you have grown. 

For an extra-special gift, you might even make a whole hamper filled with your loved one’s favorite treats using produce from your garden.

Handmade Cleaning and Beauty Products

A garden can provide ingredients for more than just food. Using things you have grown, you might be able to make a range of other thoughtful, sustainable gifts. For example, you could use flowers and herbs from your garden in making soaps, scrubs, lotions, moisturizers, creams, balms, and more.

Giving fragrant gifts like these can allow you to show someone how much you care by giving them the ingredients they need to take good care of themselves—pampering themselves even, while still taking care of the planet.

Cut and or dried flowers from your garden might also make a great gift to brighten someone’s day. As well as giving simple bouquets or arrangements, you could incorporate dried flowers into a range of craft projects, which can either be a gift in and of themselves, or be used in beautifully and sustainably wrapping and presenting other gifts.

Natural Wooden Gift Ideas

If you have even basic basketry or woodworking skills, you might be able to craft a range of exciting gifts using natural wood that’s been pruned or coppiced from trees or shrubs in your garden. 

The hamper mentioned above, crammed with home-grown goodies, might also be hand crafted using willow or other wood from your garden. You might also make shopping baskets, planters, or other items for someone’s home.

Pruned branches might be whittled or carved. They could also be cut into slices and used to make various gifts, from simple wooden toys to decorations. If you learn pyrography, you might also get creative and burn designs into the wood.

Plant Fiber Gifts

Learning other skills can open up a range of other options to make gifts from natural plant materials. For example, you might be able to craft a range of materials or even make your own clothing or household goods from flax, nettles, or other plant fibers growing in your garden. 

The more you can grow in your garden and the more skills you build, the more sustainable gift ideas you will discover that you can make using things from your garden. The ideas mentioned above are just the beginning.