Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden podcast with John Jones. The gardening podcast that helps you master your own garden. With new episodes weekly packed full of gardening tips, how to garden guides, interviews with gardening experts on many gardening topics and just about anything that will help you in your garden whether you are a new or a seasoned gardener. I hope you enjoy.John
Master My Garden Podcast
EP303- Christmas Gifts For Gardeners 2026 What’s On Your List? Gifts Gardeners Actually Want This Christmas
Tired of guesswork and gimmicks? We unpack Christmas gifts that gardeners actually want and use, blending practical tools, cosy comforts, and learning experiences that make a real difference outdoors. Stephen and Eibhlin, long-time listeners at different stages in their gardening journeys, join us to bring fresh ideas that fit small patios, big plots, tight budgets, and thoughtful splurges.
We start with essentials that earn their keep: quality secateurs paired with a holster, gloves that balance dexterity and protection, and the underrated power of a well-chosen voucher to time seeds and bulbs perfectly. From there, we build themed hampers that create a full creative arc—like a dried-flower kit with inspiring book picks, seed packs, a small raised bed, and a brass-framed display to show off the results. Comfort gets its moment too: hammocks for a shaded corner, potting benches that save your back, kneelers that make weeding tolerable, and indoor Click & Grow units that keep herbs going when daylight fades. We even get into handsome Hawes watering cans that deliver precision without spoiling your kitchen shelf.
If your garden’s a bit further along, we go deeper with problem-solvers and statement pieces: waders for pond edits, a mattock that outmuscles most root jobs, salvage-yard gems like character pots and sturdy boot cleaners, and fire pits that stretch summer evenings. We round things out with gifts that grow skills and confidence—courses on veg and propagation, local garden consultations that prevent expensive mistakes, and standout books from Irish experts like TJ Maher, Jimmy Blake, and Klaus Laitenberger. For the dreamers, we plant the seed for garden pilgrimages to Kew or Keukenhof’s tulip spectacle.
Share this with the person who buys your presents, build your wishlist, and let’s make sure the next gift you unwrap actually gets used. If you enjoy these ideas, subscribe, leave a review, and tell a friend who’s planning their own garden upgrades this winter.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
How's it going everybody and welcome to episode 303 of Master My Garden Podcast. Now this week's episode is one that we kind of cover every year and it's Christmas Gifts for Gardeners 2026. And this year I'm delighted to be joined by two listeners of the podcast. This episode, every year, it throws up some interesting gifts, some contrasting opinions, things that I would like to get as a gift. Some of my previous guests on the podcast have been horrified to hear about things like leaf blowers and so on. But this year I'm delighted to be joined by two listeners of the podcast. It's uh Stephen Daly, who's a long-term listener of the podcast, and Evelyn Hudson, who's a long-term listener to the podcast, but we've only recently been in touch with one another and been messaging one another. So it's great to have both of them on. It's going to be great to get the various ideas and gift ideas that you know some of you guys listening might want to get onto your wish list. Make sure you send this podcast to your better halves or people who might be buying gifts for you because you know you'll get your your wish list by by sending it out to as many people as possible. So Stephen and Evelyn, you're very, very welcome to this Christmas episode of Mastery Garden Podcast.
SPEAKER_03:Bye, John.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks, John.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so this episode, as I say, it always throws up uh lots of interesting gift ideas. My ones tend to be pretty much the same over the last number of years, but by bringing different people on, different perspectives on, we tend to get some sort of new ideas. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna I know we all probably have little bits of lists here. We're gonna go conversational on them. Uh we'll go from one person to the next and we'll chat around the various gifts. But um as a way of introduce introduction, yours introducing yourselves, Stephen, you might just tell us where you're from and your your sort of gardening story and so on, and then we'll go to Evelyn and then we'll get into the gifts.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, um hi up. So my name's Steve Daly. Um I'm living in Westmeath in a place called a small village called Carlstown, kind of in between Kinnegad and Mullangar. Um I for I forgot to say congratulations on your well, this is 300 and how many were you saying 300? 303. 303. Yeah, so congratulations. That's a mighty number.
SPEAKER_00:I remember I started listening to your first during lockdown because uh it was only just at the starting of that stage, so so yeah, yeah, you're there because you're there for the long haul.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we just moved into our house, so we we we live in a we had lived myself and my wife Janet and two kids, Evan and Thomas. We had lived in uh estate houses up till now. Yeah, and then just in the end of tw of 19, just before the COVID thing kicked in, we bought a a house on an acre. So yeah, so we we didn't know ourselves. One of the big things, attractions was um to have that space and have that garden. Because I've I've kind of always liked gardening since my my I grew up in uh in on an acre as well. My dad was big into gardening, so um I kind of caught the bug from him. So I was happy with the opportunity to have a decent amount of space, uh, not realizing the amount of work and maybe an acre was a bit too much. But yeah, so that's that's that's kind of kind of the story of of how I how I began listening to you and and and and my garden. Brilliant, thank you.
SPEAKER_00:And Evelyn, I know you're you're uh an aspiring gardener in that you're in the move in the moving process at the moment. And uh yeah, the the garden will come at some time in the near future, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and a bit a bit like um Stephen um was on an estate house, but also will be going to an estate house as well. Um, so I suppose uh that that's kind of where I'm thinking. Um I suppose my bank, my parents are big into gardening, my mother especially. And I grew up like on a summer's day, my mum was waiting for it to cool down so she could get out to the garden. So she's often out till 10 o'clock at night to hibernate during the day uh when it's really sad. So um I don't think any of it really passed through to me. I've been known as having a black thumb. But then I found your podcast and I'm learning, you know. So um, so it's beginning to turn a bit green now. So hopefully, hopefully, yeah, we'll continue.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant, yeah. So yeah, it's it's nice and it's good. Yeah, definitely the the podcast. You'll find something if you're moving into a new house or you're starting a garden. There's kind of lots of stuff there on that, on that, on that front. So it'll be interesting to hear because you're at that stage of your garden. It'll be interesting to hear your gifts because Stephen is gardening for a while, and I'm sure his get uh gift list is going to be quite different, so it's gonna be interesting. But um, maybe we'll start with you. I'm sure your mother has given you some tips as well on on what she might like.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, so when when and you when you kindly asked me, I was like, I had a list already kind of prepared, but when I was like, oh no, I better ask the pros what they would like, you know, so I kind of know what I'm talking about. So I asked my mum and I asked one of my friends who's you're a really good gardener, and both of them had the same two top two, um, which is have been on your list before.
SPEAKER_00:Well, let me guess. One of them is a secretaires.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, yeah. And you know what? It's what it's like, but you can never go wrong with a secretary's, can you? You know, uh you always you always could do it, even if you have one, you can always do it another, or you know. Um so yes, both of them said sackateurs and uh a Mr. Middleton voucher. And I have actually got my mum this in the past, and Mr. Middleton. So I know vouchers are probably not the best, you know, um you know, gift.
SPEAKER_03:But she's on my list, don't feel too bad, they're on my list too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that would be understand the secretaires because um, like everybody, no matter what sort of a garden you have, big, small, urban, rural, fruit, vegetables, flowers, whatever you're doing, you will always have a use for secretaires. And I can understand why every gardener would want one. Um, yeah, and it has, as you say, it has been on the list before.
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, yeah, sorry to start with a boring one, but that's a brilliant one.
SPEAKER_00:That was it's a brilliant one because I suppose the thing about it is if you are listening and you're thinking of getting a gift for somebody who's a gardener, I don't think you can go wrong with that. You know, it's it's you yeah, you could go very wrong with certain things, maybe we'll talk about them later, but definitely a secretary you won't go wrong with. And Mr. Middleton voucher, that's a lovely idea because it gives you a little bit of variety. You can get your bulbs, you can get your gardening, you know, tools, accessories, seeds. So you have quite a lot of options there. So even though some people may not like vouchers, definitely if you're buying a Mr. Middleton voucher for a gardener, they're going to get something that they will like. So I think that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_02:It's kind of the wrong time of year for see, I'm beginning to learn, uh, for certain you know, types of bulbs and stuff like that. Whereas if it was another time of year, so like for birthdays and stuff like that, one could get like you know, some very strange up in daily or something like that, or some fancy tulips, but that's what's the time of year that's in it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and as well as that, I was just thinking about that myself. So you could go very wrong with a tree or uh a certain plant because you know you it has to suit the person's garden. Maybe it's something that you might only have one in the garden, they already have one. So you can get it wrong with it with a plant or a tree, but a bulb, a bit like a secretary's, you can't really get it wrong because if you buy some nice bulbs, it doesn't matter again what sort of a garden they have, they'll be able to put it into the ground, into a pot. It's gonna suit pretty much everybody. I don't think there's anybody that it wouldn't suit. So yeah, to have the voucher that you can buy the bulbs when the timing is right, is a great idea. So yeah, they're two brilliant gifts to kick us off. Uh Stephen, let's see. Did you have a secretaires on your list?
SPEAKER_03:No, I'll tell you what I had, and it's kind of related, but it's not a secretaire's. Yeah, I have uh a nice Felco secretaires that I have for I don't know a number of years. But I'd love one of those hosters, you know, like the little leather pouches that they sit into. Yeah, and they have a whole array of of accessories you can get. I think there's a there's like a sharpening stone you can get. And um, but I I love the idea of just being able to stick it in the on the belt or whatever when you're walking around. And um, yeah, and I think you can get them off Felco brand or other brands, I'm sure, or grand or whatever. But I think that would be quite kind of handy and it's like you know, tied in kind of nicely to what you're talking about there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a that's a really handy one. And yeah, it's it's perfect as well because it does it fits on your belt, or there's a little like clip on the back of it so you can fit into the top of your jeans or your work trousers or whatever it is, your shorts or whatever.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, that's no exactly because I because you know sometimes if you have it in your I find it if I have it in my jacket or whatever, and I'm leaning over something, like you can suddenly get a like a blade into your chest. Yeah, which is not good, yeah. Yeah, so I'm kind of thinking it'll be a little bit safer or more secure if it's kind of down in my belt or whatever. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a nice one to pair to pair with the secretaries, yeah. Yeah. And definitely somebody would use that as well.
SPEAKER_03:Uh but coming the what I did actually have on my list was I that I was kind of thinking of more I don't know, broken down into the topics. And one of them I had was it like a hobby. And uh the the hob hobby I was thinking was dried flowers, like you know, use of dried flowers, okay? And because I know my wife in particular, Janet's big into this. And what I've done before, and I think has been fairly successful. I've kind of bundled a couple of different products together, and it's been it's made up, it's made up a nice kind of package. So I I've gotten a book, so like it's for a bit of inspiration. I think it's called um Everlasting. I was probably uh again, there's loads of other books out there, but it's called Everlasting by Bex Partridge. Oh yeah. And it has these cool designs of what you can actually make. Um and then with that, I've gotten some seeds as well. So some some seed packages from um seed hollock and a couple of others, um with straw flowers and honesty and poppies, Achillea, and a couple of teasels. I have teasels coming out my ears, actually, don't you know to me? Um and with that I I've seen these nice raised, you can get these little raised beds. Um I think you've seen them in Tierlawn, uh, a couple of the country country shops. And then I've also gotten a dehydrator as well, so you can dry out the flowers at the end.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So and then I've also gotten with that, you can get them they're they do these cool little um they're they're glass frames, and I don't know if you've seen them before. So you can you can dry out your flower and you compress your flower, and then you can put it in this glass frame, and it's compressed, but this the flower is compressed and your leaves, you can get little ferns, and it's really quite nice. Um and you and the and that flower is compressed between the the two panes of glass. Brilliant. And yeah, it's they're quite they're quite beautiful. So the idea kind of is that if you're you're giving them all the tools all the way through to from the from the seeds, the inspiration of the seeds to growing the thing and then displaying it at the end. And I thought that was that would make you no excuse not to do with that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a brilliant gift. And you have actually gifted this yourself. You've you've made up this. Wow, that's that's a very good gift. And that book has previously come up on the past podcast. I think it was Julianne uh not last year, the year before on the Christmas gifts. She brought she mentioned that book to be the best that she I think it was her uh the best book for cut flowers. Uh so that's a brilliant book to to start off. Um, the seeds, obviously, then the the raised bed. You're really, yeah, that's a brilliant gift.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I didn't get the raised bed because I already had the bed, but I was kind of thinking if I was to get this from my mom, for example, like she lives in a smaller house and you she'd have to dig the bed and all that malarkey. So if I if I if I just give the raised bed, you can get these really cool ones for about fifty fifty odd euro, and you know, they're at a good working height, yeah, and you can just fill them with you know topsoil or whatever whatever media you want, and and then you're you're set to go, you know. Yeah, you don't even need to dig a bed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that's crossing off one off my list, but in a much better way. But in a much better way, because I have written down hamper, and you know, I was going to talk about different things that you could put into a hamper, a DIY hamper, let's say, but you've really tailored it for something specific there, uh start to finish. So that's that's a brilliant idea. And I suppose you could do that same team for somebody who wants to grow their veg or somebody who wants to start a fruit garden, or you know, whatever the case may be, but that's a brilliant start to finish. Just to go back to the the glass, the two pieces of glass frame and the flowers. Um can you remember where you got that?
SPEAKER_03:Or yeah, I've got I know I got them on Amazon before, and I remember I think I got two of them, and they were ridiculously overpriced. They were they're about I I spent about 25 quid on them, I think. But I know Janet, my wife, saw them subsequently in deals, I think it was, or your local, you know, not nowhere particularly fancy, and they were only 10 or a pop. So yeah. Um and are they frame then?
SPEAKER_00:You is there a frame with it?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and they have a little brass frame all the way around. And a lot of them come with sort of a brass chain coming off them so you can hang them on the wall. And they're beautiful. They remind me of do you know what they remind me of? Do you know those Victorian drawings of of flowers that you see? Well, they kind of remind me of that. Um, like the obviously they're not a no uh a noted or anything like that, but they're they're and they they last really well. Just don't, I think just don't leave them in somewhere in direct sunshine because they'll kind of bleach out the colours. But yeah, they're they're really effective and they're they're quite beautiful when you leave them around the house.
SPEAKER_00:That's brilliant. What would you think of getting a gift like that, Evelyn?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that sounds it sounds really cool. Um uh yeah, especially if you if you're if you're I love the idea of having like a piece of art to kind of capture your um and something something at the end your endeavors. I think when you get yeah, though I'd be afraid I would would wouldn't be able to follow through on at all.
SPEAKER_00:But uh you'd get there with someone you knew your audience very well. So yeah. No, that that I think that's a nice gift, and and at the end, then you have this this piece, and there's I think this is a really important part of gardening, that this pride that you get at the end of it. So whether that's grown veg, grown fruit, you know, or cut flowers, and you have this something at the end, whether it's you know a home cooked meal from your own vegetables or whether it's something to hang on the wall, like like Stephen has mentioned there. I think that's a really important thing that you know the pro you go through that process and then you have this something at the end that gives you that sense of pride. And I think that's that's yeah, that's a brilliant gift. Really, really brilliant gift. So we we'll switch back to you again, Evelyn. What have you got here?
SPEAKER_02:Um so this is a gift I received in the past, um, possibly after giving a hint. Um so it's a click and grow garden. So basically, um I don't know if you've if you've seen these, but basically it's like um a little kind of a pot with you can get a different number of slots and it has a little arm with the light on it, and it uh basically you fill up the tank and you can basically pick a number of different plants and you can have it there sitting in your office or because it's a summer in house that doesn't get light. Um so it's like a mini little greenhouse.
SPEAKER_00:So it's like uh you're you're growing in hydroponics, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And and then you have this uh this light that's so it's mostly used for herbs and things, I would presume, is it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I think you can get um you can get like little small little flowers flowering plants as well. Um so um, but it was great for like you know, me who doesn't have a clue because you can't you can't really go wrong with it, and there's an app as well that you can kind of track, you know, okay, you know, because you and you raise the arm as as it grows as the plants grow. Yeah, so you kind of need to be careful what type of what you're not growing ones that grow too dissimilarly. Um, but no, it was great, and the kids loved it and all this kind of as well. Um, so yeah, it was it was it was really cool. And you could subscribe as well and get different, you know, you can pick different ones every time and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00:And any idea where you got that?
SPEAKER_02:Click and grow.
SPEAKER_00:Click and grow. So that's that was the name of the product, and yeah, and that's what click and grow. I haven't come across that before now. That sounds like a neat idea.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was it's it was it was very cool, especially like in like so you can grow something like in January.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, yeah, yeah. Um so next on your list, what else we got?
SPEAKER_02:Um, so this is one that yeah, that's that I would like to receive. It's like I I you know those kind of really nice watering cans for indoors that you sometimes see with a really long kind of spout that almost look like an ornament. Yeah, um, so I think that would be kind of a nice maybe more, it probably might end up being more of an ornament because I'm not great with the indoor plants, um, apart from a tick and grow thing. But um, yeah, I think they look just really nice, and maybe it might remind me to water the indoor plants a bit better if I've seen oh there's that, yeah. It might it might just make me more likely to not kill my plants, although I can overwater them. So that's a whole minefield.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant. But that is that is a nice gift and a good quality watering can, like, so there's the there's there's really is a lot of kind of decorative cans out there, but if you can get if you can get one that's functionally very good as well, uh yeah, that would be great. That would be great, yeah. So I've I I've seen some really nice decorative ones, and when you go to water out them, they're they're not you know they're meant as a design, as a design rather than a watering can. But there is some uh for example, Hawes, they make a really good one. So write that down and and push it through the push it through the door to your husband there. Yeah, um they make really nice ones for indoor and outdoor, and but they're they're beautiful, but they're also really functional, and yeah, they're very good. And there's I'm sure there's others as well, but that that would be a really nice gift. A really nice gift, a good quality watering can. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I was only looking at one yesterday. Funnily enough, I was in the garden center just meandering around yesterday, and it had it has this um intricate design of the the nozzle as well that goes up and around and twists as well. Yeah, they look really, really good. So you can imagine that you can stick it in the corner of the kitchen or around the house somewhere and it won't look you know out of place or it won't be an ice or yeah, it's cool.
SPEAKER_00:And as you say, it'll remind you then once once it's there's somebody at it somewhere and it looks good, it'll remind you then that yeah, listen, I need to water the water the house plan. Brilliant. So, Stephen, back over to you.
SPEAKER_03:I was kind of thinking of something around the garden, so something that you can, you know, a piece of furniture or whatever. But I know you had people talking about benches and seating before, and I think there that's really valid. I think that's really important because it's often the times it'll be your you're meandering around the garden and you you don't have anywhere to sit, like you say, you're standing the whole time. But then I was because you had said it before, I said I'd go with maybe something that you hadn't, which was um a hammock. So I'd I'd I got a hammock. When was it? Uh at Bloom a couple of years ago now, it's probably about three or four years ago. And um it's by it was from an Irish company called what were they called? Hammocology. They were called.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, I've seen them.
SPEAKER_03:They're always on the entrance there, just when you're coming in into the and they have they they give you, you can get on one side you they you can obviously get the hammock itself. And what I'd say about that particular brand is they're actually quite we've had it in the garden for four years. Now we take the hammock in at winter time, but the the the frame at which it's on um has remained outside for the last four years and it's as good today as it was when we got it. So what the way we use it is we've one side suspended off or tied onto a tree, and then it loops across and it's connected onto this um two by four piece of wood that they you can buy off them.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you sort of you nestle him in the ground, you dig him into the ground, and then you can leave that structure there all the time, and then you bring in and bring out the the hammock as as you need it. Um, but it's really nice. What I find is if we have it, it's we have it down in one of the corners, we have a big triangular site, and down in one of the corners we've this pond, and we've a big sycamore tree. And it's nice to when you get down there, you can in the middle of summer, you're kind of away from the house and away from the kids and all that stuff. If you lie down in the hammock and just you're lying there and you're looking up through the the canopy, the tree in the sun, it only happens maybe once or twice a year, but for that for that 15 minutes, it's worth every penny. Like it's really yeah, it's really quite nice. So, yeah, I that that that that that was. That's a nice gift.
SPEAKER_00:That's a lovely gift. And I actually can I know exactly what you're talking about because there's a the river Barrow, there's a lovely walk about 10 minutes away from us, 15 minutes away from us. And early one Sunday morning, about five weeks ago, the weather was still good anyway, so it must be more than five or six weeks ago. Um, we were down there for a walk, myself and my two daughters, and there's a lovely coffee shop, Barrow Brew, just right on a little, you know, little truck wagon thing, and all their seating is right in the middle of the mature trees. And we were sitting there, but around the corner there's a sauna, and then around another corner there's these um hammocks just just sitting there or hanging there. And the tree of us went around and there was three spare, and we just sat into them, and we spent about 10 minutes in total silence, just as you say, looking up at the trees, and it's unusual for there to be to be silence for that at the time, but it was so relaxing. And I hadn't been in a hammock since actually we were on honeymoon in Australia, which is a long time ago, and it was it was class just to the lighter. So I was just thinking, we have a spot. There's uh Betchula Jack Glamote and they're gone really strong. And I'm thinking of putting a hammock there because it was just a lovely, a lovely feeling lying there for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they're a bit of fun as well. Like when I know the kids are all down, um like I have a nine-year-old and a ten-year-old, Thomas and Evelyn. And like they'd often go down with their friends and they'd be playing on it, and they're never gonna fall more than two foot. So I don't mind them. And they haven't done any damage to it. They're quite, you know, they're fairly robust as well. Uh and and even when if you go down yourself, you can kind of you can kind of sit down in them as well. You don't just have to lie down in them and they're yeah, it's a very, very cheap bench. It's a very, very cheap bench as well. Like, yeah, for sure. So, in terms of the I I I kind of wrote down what I I think you can kind of pick them up for where are they? Uh you can pick them up for about 70 quid just for the hammock itself, and then you can with the frames, you can go as high as I don't know, 500 quid if you really want to go to town, but you don't have to spend a you know a huge amount of money.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and they're brilliant. And they have as well. I've seen I I'm pretty sure that you know when you have it out in the in the summertime and you get some rain, you can just you can just pop it back into a little pouch that hangs on one side. Am I right instead?
SPEAKER_03:100%, yeah. So yeah, you just whip it up and whip it down.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, Evelyn, we'll go back to you and see what's next on your list.
SPEAKER_02:Um so I'm kind of on the hunt for a little a nice little table that I can stick at the back of the shed for potting outside so that I'm not inside the shed making a mess.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so yeah, so I'm on the hunt for for one of those, for something that might be yeah nice to work at, not too big, and a nice little neat little table that won't rot after a year, kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Or yeah, yeah. A potting bench is a lovely, a lovely gift, and it's again something that would you be used for forever so long as it's decent quality and lasts and so on. That's a brilliant idea. I like I like that. What have you got in terms of uh have you a potting bench, Stephen, in your garden?
SPEAKER_03:I had no. I I my brother-in-law has um used to run a coffee shop, so I have an old it's like a square pub table. Um it's the kind of perfect size and perfect height, and it's probably about I don't know, 1200 by 1200 mil, and it's kind of mobile, so I can move it round. Yes, I can bring it out to outside the shed. Um, or he can leave it in the shed or bring it outside the shed. Yeah, it's I was only out there yesterday doing my I was putting on my my perennials actually. Yeah, for the for the for the grow on. So yeah, yeah, that's that's what I'm currently using. It's nice and robust and strong and uh it does the job perfectly.
SPEAKER_00:That's a bit like the watering can. It's a bit like the watering can in the window now. It's after reminding me that I need to pot on my perennials. I know. I've had a jungle in the in the kitchen there up till now, so you have to they had to move on. Yeah, so on the potting bench, I I've seen one recently and I and I can't think of the name of it, but it has so it's not overly big, so it's I don't know, maybe three foot maximum, four foot wide, and there was a on one side of the there was a little hole, and you could put your compost. So you when you were finished potting, you just slide your compost in and it falls into like a storage container or whatever underneath. But it was a cool, cool little one.
SPEAKER_04:I like that.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but it was wood, and I don't think it'll last very well outside. I think you'd need a kind of but it was a brilliant idea. What else have you got, Evelyn?
SPEAKER_02:Um a nice pot or a nice planter, something like that. You can never you know there's always probably room for an a a nice pot. And I think um like particularly bigger ones, because I think we all you know you you always at some point need to pot on. So I think a nice big one. But again, it probably depends on knowing your audience and knowing your the taste of the person you're buying for as well.
SPEAKER_00:So let's say you were going to buy one for your mum. Would you buy a ceramic pot, a nice plastic pot, uh terracotta pot?
SPEAKER_02:What what what do you think it'd um she's good for pots, so it's so it's probably a bad she's probably not a good example for if you were going to receive one, what would you like to do? I don't want to receive one, um probably a nice ceramic one or one of these kind of you know recycled kind of ones where they've done something but that are that but that's kind of fairly plainish, you know, not too ornate kind of thing. Um and ideally one of you know these ones that kind of have you know the the um little castor on it, yeah, or a trap in the bottom so that it doesn't get all the water in the bottom to get it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, so like a water reserve on the bottom.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I've got I've got a couple of um I suppose hang-in pots that you hang um and it had this reserve in it, and that worked out that helped get the hang-in basket. I don't know if you call them a basket if they're a pot, but anyway, the idea. Yeah, and it made it last like the the flowers lasted much longer than had I even lost it completely to my own devices.
SPEAKER_00:If you're dropping hints here, what colour pot would it be?
SPEAKER_02:Uh probably probably a black one, probably black ones or dark darkish colours.
SPEAKER_00:They that would probably tend to it's probably not good because it probably attracts heat, but that's yeah, if it was in uh if it was in plastic, it would definitely attract heat, and you'd find that plastic black pots get yeah, very and and the soil gets very hot in them. But um nice ceramic one in a in a black ceramic would be nice.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, those are the rusty ones, you know those, yeah. Is that it? That's fair play. Um I think they're quite nice actually.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're probably a pretty penny, but they're they're it can be, yeah, they can be, but they're not as they're not not as um you know pricey as they used to be, but they're and and you can get some nice, nice kind of different styles in those, different shapes. Um I've seen some really nice cylinder type ones in them, and they're they're really nice where you get a set. You'd have a big cylinder and then a medium and a small and they kind of nestle in together. And it's a lovely way of staging plants. So yeah, card and steel is gorgeous, really nice. Would you like to get a pot as a gift, Stephen?
SPEAKER_03:Love one. I'd love one. I'd love one of the huge big terracotta ones that cost an absolute fortune. They're about 200 quid or something, and put a I I have a uh twisted hazel, is that a corkscrew hazel? Yeah, I bought it in the uh the garden centre probably about a year ago. And I've I I I'd like to have it near the house so you can enjoy it when it's winter and you don't have to go down the garden to see the the the nice um way that the branches intertwine. Uh but I've left it in the plastic, a huge big plastic pot that it's coming. Uh I'd love it like a big terracotta pot to put that in. It would be would be an absolute dream. So there, if anybody's listening, anybody's listening.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It'd be class. They'll have a job getting that under the Christmas tree though.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's okay, sure. I'll take it anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you can leave it outside. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:I just put a bow on it, it would be alright.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah, so a nice nice pot is always a nice gift. Uh, and I suppose, as you said, Evelyn, if you were give gifting to your mother, she has a lot of pots already, so possibly that wouldn't suit. But if you do know the person and you know their style, then I think a pot you can't really go wrong with because it will be you know, every gardener will find a nice plant to go in that and find a nice spot for it. So yeah, I think it's a brilliant gift, yeah. All right, so we'll go back to you for next one on your list.
SPEAKER_03:No, this is the one that I want, um, which is really practical. I'd l I'd like a pair of waders.
SPEAKER_00:Um for your pond?
SPEAKER_03:For my pond. So we we put the pond in during the when everybody was stuck at home, and I I I dug this natural pond, and it's it's really nice, it's really good, but I know for a fact that it's a little bit I need to get into it now and start taking stuff out. So we're what four years, three years. Years on now, so that needs editing, it needs stuff pulling out and cleaned up. Yeah, but it's you can tackle some of that stuff from the side of the pond, yeah. But you're always conscious it's cold and you don't really want to end up, you know, upside down either. So a pair of waders would be great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for anyone with a with a pond that's yeah, as you say, you can't you can get some of it, but if it's so wide that you can't access it all, it's definitely a must-have. So anyone anyone with a kind of a big a big garden or a big pond in their garden would definitely have waders, and as you say, they need to get in every couple of years to do a bit of moving, move removing and and moving of stuff in there, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it could double up like if you're big into fishing, I suppose you could you could use it for you know that hobby as well. But uh they're not they're not huge expensive. I was having a quick look. You can pick them up for around between 50 and 100, and I'm sure there's good ones and bad ones. Um but I think for 50 quid, if as long as it didn't leak, it'd be sufficient, I suppose. You know?
SPEAKER_00:Like you're not going to be you're gonna be using it once every couple of years, so I suppose it's not gonna get heavy use, but it would be very useful to you when you get it. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's something I've been threatening to get myself for a while, but you know what it's like. It's getting the time and the headplace to think about getting it. And yeah, yeah, it'll be it'd be it'd be it'd be a welcome under the tree gift if it was to arrive.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, nice, nice, nice, nice gift. Uh definitely not one that has been on the list before.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. I haven't been checking now. I haven't I have to say, fair play to you for looking back and and checking up what's been on and what hasn't been before.
SPEAKER_00:No, I'll just remember that that one has never been on. Definitely not. No, pretty good. Okay. So what what's uh what next on your list?
SPEAKER_03:Um I'll keep it practical. Um a mattock. Do you know they're they're like uh they're like an axe, all right? Because I spent when I started gardening my house, there was a lot of stuff that needed removing at the start, and we're kind of surrounded by natural hedges. Yeah. Uh and some we had uh we also had some cherry laurels and we had some um but the bottom line was we needed to get in there and get stuff removed and hacking at stuff and baiting stuff. And I'd always been using a pickaxe for it, all right. Um but I was watching a uh the competition, a guy from um the chap who does he's from he's from Reto, and he does the he does a podcast, he has a uh not a podcast, but he has a um a YouTube channel. Oh John Lord. John Lord, that's the guy, yeah, yeah. And he has a mattock, and I'd see you'd see him walking around the garden centre that he runs and he'd be baiting this big mattock, and it just seems to make you know easy work of absolutely everton around the place.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know brilliant, brilliant idea. Very practical again, but brilliant idea, yeah. For for someone that is into gardening and if you have a mature garden and you ever have to lift stuff, move stuff, remove stuff, you won't get a better tool for the job, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and they're not big again, they're not big money. You can pick them up for 30 30 quid, whatever down the local hardware. But um, yeah, I'd be only delighted to have that all gift wrapped as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you you have a lot of stuff on the way now this year, so you're gonna have a big pot of it.
SPEAKER_03:Plenty of people they all take notes.
SPEAKER_00:Like everyone takes notes and you send it out to everyone, so you're gonna have a big pot with a pair of waiters in it and a mattock. Yeah, happens to me. Okay, Evelyn, what what have you got next?
SPEAKER_02:I'm just thinking you'd be able to open the wrapping paper around the big pot for easily with the with those two.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Exactly, you'd be tooled up to do it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so um, what are these kind of kneelers slash seats for out weeding and all that? Another task we all love. So yeah, so that would be next on my list.
SPEAKER_00:And is this one is this one of the ones that has the little wheels underneath it so you park up at the edge of your bed and you can flip it one way to kneel on it and then flip it back to sit on it. Is that is that the one you're talking about?
SPEAKER_02:Um yes, some something like that. Sounds cool. I thought for a second you said wheels. Oh, you could just slide, you can slide along. Is that it? You can slide on it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that that's the that's the principle of how well removing it.
SPEAKER_02:Now that would move right to the top of the lid.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, there is one with wheels on it. So there's one, there's one and it's like kind of um triangular shaped, and it has a soft top on it.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So you can sit on that. Uh obviously the lid flips off, acts as a tool store. There's three kind of wide wheels underneath that can slide along the ground. I don't know how well they'll slide if you're sitting on it, to be honest with you. But the principle is that you can slide along the edge of your bed and you can be edging and weeding along the edge of the bed, and then if you need to, you flip it over and it it's hollow in the middle, so you can kneel in on it for for kneeling. But uh yeah, not sure who makes it exactly, but I've seen them.
SPEAKER_04:Cool. Sounds good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a good idea. But a a proper kneel, I something a kneeler or proper knee pads for a gardener is I think a really a really good gift because you will inevitably you'll end up working at ground level, you know, whether you're planting bulbs, hopefully not doing too much weeding, but it you know, you'll be always down at ground level. And to have a really good pair of knee pads uh, you know, for that sort of work, I think is a godsend.
SPEAKER_03:Did you ever try ski pants? I I have a pair of old ski pants that I use for getting on my hands and knees and I'm out in the garden. And that they're grand because they keep you warm as well, and they're plenty of kind of padding around.
SPEAKER_00:And no moisture getting in.
SPEAKER_03:And no moisture getting in, they they work an absolute treat.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good idea, yeah. I haven't tried haven't tried that, but a good idea. Yeah, brilliant. So, Evelyn, what's next in your list?
SPEAKER_02:Um, so again, I I go back to my my uh my moment friend, they're both adamant that they'd like a pair of gloves, and I'm like, yeah, I'd also be up for a gloves, and that could be nice, maybe. You know, you mentioned maybe a hamper or something, that a hamper might be nice to have a few of these, maybe a sacredity of gloves or something like that might be nice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a nice I think gloves are a brilliant idea. I know that a lot of people wear gloves all the time, but I think if you're wearing gloves, you're probably going to need to get a couple of different types. Um, so you might need something for the you know, with a bit of dexterity for the tedious work, like you know, potting and whatever else. And then you might need something a bit tougher for if you're digging or pulling weeds or whatever the case may be. So yeah, I think I think gloves is a lovely gift, and there's some really nice quality leather type gloves for gardening now that you know for roses and things like that with kind of longer arms on them. So there is a really nice selection, but I think it would be a case of maybe popping two or three different types together. But yeah, that'd be that'd be nice.
SPEAKER_02:Well, this one might be a bit like a bit sad.
SPEAKER_00:It'll be a stock and filler.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:And would you like would you like colourful ones or would you prefer functional ones?
SPEAKER_02:Um, I don't mind having colourful ones, but the function I think will be the priority. I think the colour is good so that you know that they're mine.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That they don't end up being used for some other you know, other way these things can disappear for other purposes.
SPEAKER_00:Previously they have uh they have been mentioned on the podcast on this podcast, and they've been paired with uh a gardening apron. Would would you wear a gardening apron?
SPEAKER_02:Um I I was listening to that to that and I was like, I didn't know such a thing existed. And I'm like, yeah, that's a great idea. I I I would. I would I do think I'd give it a go.
SPEAKER_00:Again in Europe, um a lot of they're they're hugely popular in France. A lot of gardeners, male and female, wear them. I I I don't know, personally, I don't think I would be comfortable in them. What do you think, Stephen?
SPEAKER_03:No, unless you were like an ironmonger or something, then you'd like the big leather things and you'd yeah, if you're hammering away, it'll be good burning metal, but yeah, not no, I I I wouldn't. I'd I I'd I'd be more into if I could get uh like a like a like a G lay or something. I not that I have them, but you know, like a a waistcoat with with a heat in it, and you can kind of stuff stick your whatever bits and pieces into that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'd I'd be more into that than it than than any kind of um apron. Even the word of apron it kind of reminds me of my mom and my butt yeah, no, I wouldn't I wouldn't or something. Yeah, yeah. No, they look something more than look yeah, yeah, definitely like with the sword and the mattock and the and the shield, I think I'd be well sealed up on Christmas morning.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure. They looked it, they looked to me like they wouldn't be comfortable, and then I just know that if any of the local lads drove in here and saw me wearing one of them, I'd never heard the end of it. Exactly. That's exactly for for two reasons I personally wouldn't, but yeah, no, that's that's another one. Uh Evelyn, what else have you got on your list?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I'm getting to the end of my list now. Um I know on one on a recent podcast, someone had mentioned about a training for someone who may be unwell. And I thought, well, that's actually really nice. Kind of I've never had one. I yeah, I wouldn't mind getting one that again, probably more of a stock confidential. I might know how big or elaborator expensive those things are, but I thought they were they were pretty good. And I don't know whether you can kind of get uh how these vary in terms of price, but maybe some sort of like water feature type of thing that you have. And again, I don't know how how easy these are to gift to people. Um I'd say they're quite easy.
SPEAKER_00:Um I think I think them, yeah, they're they're definitely quite easy because you can get them from you know little small in a singular box, right up obviously to heavier stuff, but they'll be quite easy to gift. I think it would be a water feature would be you'd nearly need to be in the head of someone, or you'd need to be sure that they would like the style of it, maybe.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because there is quite a lot out there. There's there's kind of the the old rustic type ones, and then there's a lot of um, I suppose, oriental style ones, and you might need to know the style, but it water, anything water in the garden is would definitely be a nice gift if you were sure of the person, I suppose.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah, so that's a bit of water of the garden would be good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that'd be nice, yeah. Uh Stephen, what else have you got on your list?
SPEAKER_03:That's that could end up as a water feature and has done a fire pit. You uh you can get these cool their big bowls, um fire pits that I I've got. I think we got ours in um where was it? Kil um Kilkenny architectural salvage. They do they do these big uh goblet type affairs that they have a little stand with them and they're they come they're like they have that rusty finish again you were speaking about earlier on. Yeah. Um and we have it on, we've kind of a patio well uh out the the back of the house. And just during the summer it's nice. You can you can put it down and you know, throw a couple of logs into it, and they're they're they're nice and atmospheric and warming in a cold on a colder evening. It's really nice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fire fire pits are hugely popular, I suppose. Uh what's that program? Oh Love Island does we on. Uh and the gather at the fire pit. Can I have a chat at the fire pit? But it's uh no, it's it's that's a fire pit would be a lovely gift, and I think again it that would suit most people. I think any anybody would find a spot for it, and yeah, they are. They're they're a lovely way of of spending an evening in the garden around around the fire pit. So yeah, um, money either.
SPEAKER_03:Like I remember we paid about 120 or something like that. It's quite big, you know. For what you get, it's it's quite substantial. Yeah. Um and actually that place in in general is quite good. The the the uh Kilkenny Architectural Salvage, yeah. Just going for knickknacks like is quite good. You can go in there and you never know what you might come out with. But um yeah, when you come out one of them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, when you mentioned uh pots earlier on, I was I was gonna I was gonna chat about like there's so many, so much variety in pots. And if you went to somewhere like that, uh Kilkenny Architectural Salvage, like they have the world of options in terms of of pots, whether it's you know your oak barrels to your your concrete ones, your granite ones, granite troughs, um, you know, everything in between. So like it's you have so much options when it comes to containers and container gardening and and pots, like it it there's yeah, multiple.
SPEAKER_03:Sometimes it's nice because if they're old, like they have a bit of character on them already. Yeah, you know, so you're not having to you know sometimes I know we're talking about pots again, but you you can never have too many of them, but when you buy them for yourself, you tend to just get the small but functional ones, they're not particularly nice. But yeah, by going to somewhere like that, you could you could pick up something that you know you you could put at the front door or you know, you put it somewhere where people are going to see. So yeah, it's it's a good spot for for that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant. Uh anything else on your list, Stephen, or are we getting towards the end of it, or how how much have you different?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I have loads, but sir, I'm not going to get to it at all because it'll bore you. Um while we were talking about bows, a sun hat. I know it's not the type of year for sun hats, but you can probably see from the shine the top of my head, I don't I'm not what have i folically challenged, is something they say. But I haven't got a I haven't got a hair on my head. And typically I'd wear a like a baseball cap. There's yeah, or I'd always have a cap on my head, but then invariably I'll be getting a burnt neck, yeah. Yeah. And when you're and you don't notice yourself, and it could often be uh normally in spring as well. You could be out there and it's so warm the first few days and you get caught. Yeah, yeah. So physically I could be destroyed coming in in an evening in April. So yeah, nice and they can be quite inexpensive as well, but a nice wide brim hat that'll stop my neck getting destroyed and keep my uh there's some brilliant ones in that.
SPEAKER_00:If you look at any of the the sort of gardening programs from the US or or Australia, they always have the that that hat. I know what it's not called a sun hat, is it?
SPEAKER_03:Um that it's not sombrero, I'll tell you the one.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know what the name on it is, but but that hat, but they also have the the piece that hangs down at the back.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Those guys do like that. And then you know, if you wanted something without that, there's some brilliant wax versions of it. I know I was in um I was in a farm store recently and they had a whole selection, and there was a there was a lot of them there, so obviously people are buying them, but obviously wax so they're waterproof, and yeah, yeah, that that's a good idea as well, and again, a nice practical gift.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, hats in general, like as you said, something like keep your head dry as well is always good. And I know the lads can get those G lays that we were talking earlier on, but there's some really nice ones, like there's a Dubari do one, and there's other brands, and Shuffle, I think is another one that's quite nice. Um we can get them in Conley's Red Mills, you know. Um what's it called? Red Mills there in in yeah, just outside Kilkenny. That's right, yeah. Yeah, like they their website's actually quite good in terms of the the if you're going to get a nice present for for someone and that's really functional, they the the Giles that they have are yeah, top-notch, really quite nice. And I don't work for them and I don't, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_00:But they also have uh really nice speaking of clothing, like they re have really nice wax jackets and things like that. Um like they vary from you know sort of 100 euros up to I think there was some of them five and six hundred euros, so obviously there's different qualities or whatever. But they they were yeah, there's some beautiful type clothing, outdoor clothing, really functional, but also you know, they look good as well. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because the last thing you want to be is is like cold and wet out there, you know, and anything that's gonna make it easier uh and keep you out in the garden longer is always good. You don't have to look like you need you to have a lovely top on and a pair of ski pants on, but no. But what but some yeah, whatever it takes, keeping yourself nice and warm, it means you can kind of go out and enjoy yourself. Like yesterday was lash and rain um out in the garden and I was doing the potting on. I had my ridiculous ski pants on and of a terrible actually a terrible jacket, but um but I was out there and I was warm and I was happy and I was cozy, whistling away to myself like in Egypt. But it meant I was out there in whatever middle of November. Uh and that keeps uh and that makes that a little bit easier and more enjoyable as good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so what did it say? There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
SPEAKER_03:Just bad clothing's right, 100%. Couldn't agree more.
SPEAKER_00:Is your list finished now, Evelyn? Or have you anything left on it?
SPEAKER_02:I suppose just one more given that suppose that again I'm more aspirational than successful, you know. I think anything to improve one's skills, so like a course or something like that, I think is always a good one uh to do. Um and so again, I suppose that depends on where the person is and or if there's a virtual option and something like that. You know, so um yeah, so I'll be dropping a hint to himself for an old course as well.
SPEAKER_00:So very good. And what what course would you like to see?
SPEAKER_02:I think like I I'd love something that you know, kind of something that's not too like okay, crazy, something that's very doable, something kind of for a beginner, like maybe like to do a little bit of like growing your own kind of food or something like that, or something, or even even how to do it like a decent herb garden um will be will be kind of good. Something something that's yeah, or yeah, so a little bit of something you can do, and then maybe a mix of aspirational as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, and courses we've mentioned them on pr pretty much all of the previous Christmas gifts episodes. You know, there's there's a multitude of them out there. There's um everything from your cut flower growing to propagation to vegetable growing, and there's so many. Um, my own workshops, I'd stop doing them for a number of years, I'd back doing them in the springtime. Um, I'll actually I haven't got the dates finalised yet, but I will be doing two workshops, grow your own food workshops in the springtime and some other ones yet to be finalised. So yeah, they they are a good idea and a good gift for sure. A good option for somebody, and again, but it does depend on where they are in their journey. But if you know that and you're able to get the course that might suit them, um you know, if you're looking for somebody at at the beginner stages, then yeah, you'll you'll find a course for them. But if you do know that, I think a course is a brilliant option.
SPEAKER_02:And if it's I love the idea of doing it with the friend, like that's definitely something me and are kind of like, oh, it's making a day out as well. I think that's great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and I think there is that kind of if you're able to go with somebody, it definitely adds to it and brings a kind of a community element to it, a bit of a fun element to it. Um I know some of like Julianne, who's been on the podcast before, like she does a Christmas Reat workshop. And it's a lot of it's a lot of friends go together to that. So you might get a couple of people going together, two or three people going, and it's a kind of a day out, as you said, Stephen. So you make a full day out of it. You come away at the end of the day with a you know nice read or for your for Christmas, uh, you know, that sort of thing. So there's always something at the end of it, but it's also a nice day out as well. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:100%.
SPEAKER_00:That sounds good. I've got to give you a couple of things off my list as well. Um because I need to drop some hints at the same time. So have the pen out, hold on there now. So mentioned before, but I'm not sure exactly. I think um garden open gardens, but specifically something like a visit or a tour of say Q Gardens in the UK or even the Amsterdam Tulip Festival, you know, to get a trip over to that, you know, make a weekend of it. Again, it wouldn't be something that would be just for the gardener. It you know, it could be something done with your your wife or your partner or whatever, and for the gardener in your life, take in that Amsterdam Tulip Festival, and I think everybody would be happy on that one.
SPEAKER_03:And is that in Amsterdam or is that you go out to the to the farms and there you have the all the tulips in front of you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so it's based it's based in Amsterdam, you go to the farms, and then there's the the Koekenhof um gardens where you go in and they have it teamed. So it's like three or four hundred thousand tulips are are planted specifically each year with a different team. And now you have to pay a ticket to go in and get that and buy your ticket and whatever. But it's incredible. I've only seen the videos of it so far, but they'll pick colours, they'll have like last year. I saw they had um it started as a small stream, so it had uh a certain colour, and as it went down, it was it was to replicate a river, and it got wider and wider and wider, and then opened into a lake. Uh and it was just all the one colour of tulips. It was just incredible. I'm I'd imagine to see that, and if you got lucky enough that you hit it on a day where it was sunny, I think you'd be blown away by it. That's great. Yeah, I think something like that would be would be class. Stephen, I think you have a couple more on your list, have you?
SPEAKER_03:I probably do, but you probably don't want them all.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, we we'll we'll we'll knock off another few and then we'll start round off.
SPEAKER_03:Grant, kind of the experiential or or whatever is I I get a local garden designer, sorry, gardener consultation to come in and and and to to either confirm in your mind that you're not going mental and and designing something terrible or to give you a complete design, I suppose, is it was was was quite good. What we found was and i i if they're local, they have a kind of a real sense of what works in your area. So you were talking about hedge in there on Friday um the last podcast, and they can give you a steer as to you know what kind of works in your local your your local area. Um and then yeah, so that that that was that was something that's reasonably affordable and point it, especially if you're starting off and you're only early, you're in your early stages of um designing your garden or garden in general, just to get the big ideas um out there and designed and nailed down, and then um you don't have like they they don't necessarily not everybody has to go, they're not all um gardeners will have to come in and then you know do all the work for you. They'll just they can just give you the ideas, give you the bones of a bit of a plan over a couple of hours of a day and then rattle ahead. So it I think that that's that'll be really beneficial to somebody who's interested in gardening.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, and just out of interest, uh in in your garden, have you sketched out a grand plan? Yeah, and are you working towards that or is yeah?
SPEAKER_03:So, yeah, absolutely. Again, this is all thanks to Cobra. We had I drew it out. I mean I yeah, uh drawing out things is where I'm I'm better. I could spend a lot of time drawing stuff out. If the executing part that's the more difficult to get the work done is more difficult, but 100%, yes. I I decided where we were gonna put the the veg garden, where we're gonna put the beds, you know, put this is where the the hedge is going between the areas, this is where the wildflower meadows go, and this is where yeah. So I sketched all out broad plan, you know, the hard landscape and bits and pieces. And over the years, there's no panic in this. Over the years, we're gonna you know keep going towards that 100%, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Brilliant.
SPEAKER_03:That's the plan.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I I think that's a good way to do it. I they just in relation to your your gift idea where somebody would come in and do maybe a complete design. I uh like the idea of that, but I think as well you've kind of alluded to it there, you're working towards that. And I think with with with a with a full design, when you look at it, that garden is designed and and needs to be a full garden on day one.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Does that make sense? Whereas when you're sketching you and you have your ideas and you know what you want, you want your veg garden, you want your hedge here, you want your wildflower. And I suppose it doesn't need to be 20 years down the line straight away. It can it can be stepped. Whereas sometimes with a garden design, it needs everything together to to look the way it's supposed to look. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, yeah, it does, it does, and uh only to have the time, money, and patience to be able to do it all immediately would be great. But yeah, I I hear you. Um like it it has happened in in our garden, it has been uh more natural or it's evolved, I suppose. And if we were to just go with if if we had a out-of-the-box plan, we implemented it day one. I'd also have to question, would it be, you know, that was four years ago, the kids are a bit older now. Would uh yeah, would it actually work for us now? And maybe evolving it over time where you do a piece and then see how it fits in with the rest of the space, and then before you continue on with your next step, yeah, maybe that's that's that's as that's that that that can be more helpful. But I think sometimes somebody can also, I think it it is important that somebody with a fresh uh pair of eyes can come in and see things that maybe you can't, yeah, you know, and see potential there in the space that that that that you can't um because of their their experience. I think that can be an invaluable and the same way you may not take everything, there could be little few bits and pieces that you can draw and then go, that's a class idea, and then you rock it, you know, rock on with that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure. And I think the consultation is a good idea as well. Like if you take, say, Evelyn, if you if you you move into a new house or whatever, and you're at those very early stages of development, to have a consultation at that point in time is really beneficial, you know, if you're new to gardening, especially, because it'll it'll give you ideas of what'll work, what what you can try, what you shouldn't do, or what the next step is. I think that's that's something that because in the past I've you know advised people on new bills, particularly. And they have the new bill, and what do we do next? Like literally we have this uh house is finished, we have this space outside, but budget is probably uh can be low or gone at that stage, and what do we do now, or how do we sort of start even outside? I think that's kind of that's kind of good to have advice like that at that stage.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we did something like that. So we got a design, but it's very much on pause because budget is definitely non-existent at this stage. But it is good to have a plan so that you know where you're going to or where not to you know put something or whatever and and where the light is, where you should kind of have your you know, your plants that need sun or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's good to have a it's good to have a plan and a consultation at at that phase, and then it points you in the right direction, and you know, eventually you'll start to do bits and pieces and you'll move through the phases, say like Stephen has now. And yeah, it's I think that's a great great idea for sure.
SPEAKER_03:So anything else on your list, Stephen, before we start to round off, I'll give you one more, and it's kind of Christmassy related, and I've only just realized the reason it could be boot cleaners. So when Santi comes in and he's and he's trailing around in the snow, and his boots are covered in what is slush and everything else. Yeah, like an ornate boot cleaner outside up on top of the roof or out in the back door would be great. They have a little brush on them, and you can kind of you can wedge your foot into it, kind of, and you can lift out your foot. I think one of them would be one of them would be class.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and they have the little uh the little bar that's fixed up that you can drop your wellies down on top of it as well, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:No, this is getting extravagant now, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, um I know that uh can the actual tech architectural salvage, they s they sell one that has like it's cast iron, looks looks that kind of rusty look like you were talking about, has the brush on top, um you brush off your boot, and then for your wellies, you flip them upside down, and there's like a bar with a ball on the top of it, and they sit down over it, so the rain is not going into them and they're sitting at the back door when you want them.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, fantastic! Yeah, that sounds really good. Yeah, because there's nothing worse. You don't want to come in, you know, you walk in, you don't you don't realize it, and then you're after trumping muck around the house, and everybody's giving out to you, so you and that can make life a little bit easier, yeah, it's always appreciated.
SPEAKER_00:So something I'm gonna I gotta just shoot out a few of the last few of my list because um so far we haven't had a single power tool, which is a first. I'm not gonna change, I'm not gonna change that, I'm gonna leave it now that there is no power tool on it this year because I know people are were slagging when I had the leaf floor on previously. Um but I think again, there's some some really brilliant gardening books, and again, depending on where someone is on their on their gardening journey, if it was a beginner's gardening book, um there's some some fantastic ones from Irish writers that we've had on the podcast before. So TJ Marr's book, Grounded in the Garden, from the perspective of matching colours, which you know that could be somebody who's matching colours in a pot or matching colours in a border. Um, his eye for colour is amazing, and he explains how he does that with the use of the colour wheel in the book. But visually, it's one of the most beautiful books that you'll see. That's that's a brilliant book. Uh Jimmy Blake's book, again, these are not new in that they haven't been brought out in the last year, but they're definitely. Up there as being some of the best gardening books that you'll get. Jimmy Blake's book is another brilliant one. On the veg front, I'll try and keep it the I Irish authors actually here. Klaus Leightenberger's gardening books for Irish gardens is a brilliant. He has two or three. There's one for polytunnels and greenhouses, there's another one for just vegetable grown in an Irish garden, and they're they're really practical, but they're they're kind of they will suit anybody at any level, that kind of thing. So I think I think they're brilliant. Other things that I had on the list was things like and I mentioned at the start, these can be tricky to buy, but something like roses, if you were talking about a David Austen rose, for example, um, I don't think there's a gardener that wouldn't find a place for that. Uh even if you were in an urban garden, you would get a pot, a nice pot, and you'd have your rose in it. And I think I think something like that, a classy, a classy rose or a classy plant of some sort, would suit most gardeners. So uh there's other things, the power tools are there, but I'm not gonna read them out. I'd always I'd always uh appreciate a leaf blower.
SPEAKER_02:And will that fit under your tree?
SPEAKER_00:Um that'll fit under the tree, yeah, for sure. Um definitely fit under the tree.
SPEAKER_03:It'll look a bit awkward under there, all right, but uh don't forget the don't forget the petrol on the day every yeah, the batteries you'll need to you'll need to remember the present over here.
unknown:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Um and yeah, I had clothing on my list. I had hand tools, which and secutaires, which I think both of you had on your list. Um just so many good ones out there. I did have the holster as well on the list. I had power tools, didn't delve too much into that. Uh roses, trees, plants, seeds, bulbs, um, which you covered nicely in your Mr. Middleton voucher at the very start. Obviously, the hamper, which there's so many ways of doing it, and like Stephen's example there of um the cut flower one, that was a brilliant one. Start to finish seeds, your way of growing it, your instructional book at the start, and then finishing with your your nice framing piece at the end. So I think yeah, that that's uh a a hamper and a thoughtful hamper like what you put together, Stephen, would be would be a fantastic gift. So yeah, I think uh all in all, quite a good list.
SPEAKER_01:I think Evelyn is a hamper in a pot.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, good idea. There we are, especially this big pot that that Stephen's looking for. So really big pot.
SPEAKER_03:You can stick everton into it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, with a hamper. What else was there? There was the waiters, there was the mattock, um yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh the yeah, the gilet and the the ski pants. I mean, that's why it'll be doing all right.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant, yeah. That's uh yeah, so that's brilliant list of list of um gifts. I think we've dropped a good few hints there. I hope that anyone listening is going to be dropping hints as well and sharing this with their with their better halves because yeah, I think most gardeners would appreciate some form of a gardening gift. Actually, one that has didn't come up this year and has come up every year was a gardening journal. Do either would either of you use a gardening journal? I personally don't.
SPEAKER_02:I I like the idea of it.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I and I do have like ones that I started but then never acting, I tend to use my phone more so than because you know, usually it's raining and you know, yeah. So I like the idea of it, but I probably wouldn't actually use it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I personally personally don't use one either.
SPEAKER_03:Um I've used one once or twice. I've used it once and I uh I was fairly good with it for that particular season for veg and stuff. Um in terms of I set out the times without I did sew things, but then you know what it's like, you get so busy with trying to just do the do the gardening activities to come in come in and have the discipline to write them all down afterwards. You go, no, it's all right. Yeah, but yeah, but it is good to look back on though, it's the only thing I'd say. It is nice to go, what happened in that particular year?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think I think that's that's a good part of it. I I find that you know, even writing out the dates and I sawed it here and I planted it there and I harvested here, I think that's within the season, I think that's hard to do because things get so busy that you forget here, and if you miss a little bit, but from an overall perspective, if you're able to look back at the end of a year and see you know what happened in those various months, even things like weather trends or varieties that did really well for you, or varieties that didn't do well for you. That that's that's useful kind of information gathering for sure.
SPEAKER_03:It'd be good if you could stick it into your polytunnel or down your potential, if you could leave it out. I think then you have to bring you know everyone that if it's out there at the time you've just done the sewing, you'll you're more inclined to actually use it, I'd say. Where if you have to bring it back inside right up, yeah, you're probably not going to bother.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, so Stephen and Evelyn, thank you very much. That was a fantastic list. Um lots of interesting things, some things that we didn't have on it before, some practical gifts, some nice inspirational gifts, some yeah, that kind of touched, I think, something, something in it for everybody. So thank you very much for for coming on this episode of Master My Garden Podcast. You're more welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, John.
SPEAKER_00:Happy Christmas, everybody. So that's been this week's episode. A huge thanks to Steven and Evelyn for coming on. Yeah, some really interesting gifts there. Um, you know, the usual ones come up, the the secretaires and and things like that, but there's lots of I suppose different gifts out there, lots of gift options, lots of lots of different price points. I think it is important to try and think where the gardener might be on the journey if you're you know buying a gift for them. If somebody's you know starting out, there might be certain gifts that would be very suitable. I think pretty much any tools at that stage of the journey will be useful because they probably don't have them yet. And then as they go along, then you know might be you might be changing what the what might be useful for for that gardener. So yeah, there's there's lots of different options there, as I say, loads of different price points and uh something in it for everybody. Definitely if you're listening, make sure you share that podcast with your with your better halves and get them to have a listen and and start gathering these gifts up over the coming weeks. And next week's episode is a good one. We're back on the bare root season, and we're chatting about that uh with a very good nursery. So, but that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening, and until the next time, happy garden.