I go through a set of garden gloves every season. Cheap or expensive it doesn’t seem to matter much, though the truly cheap don’t last more than a month.  The problem usually is I break through a finger tip even with the really short fingernails that are a hallmark of a gardener. I have never had a pair that made into the next year until now.

Granted this summer I did not garden as much because of the extreme heat and number of other reasons but I think these are the most rugged I have ever had. So here is my first suggestion for a holiday gift for the gardener in your life—a pair of West Country “ Work” Gardening Gloves.

I like the yellow color because if you drop one you stand a better chance of finding it. I can’t quite understand why garden tools are green, brown and black—the very colors of most of a garden. This is why no one needs to buy me trowels because I keep losing them, get a new one and then the Earth gives me back the old one, often exactly where I looked before.

I learned early on not to leave gloves crusted with soil because the same mechanism goes into effect that turns leaves to compost. So you really need gloves that are labeled as washable and these are.

They fit my small hands extremely well. I can do a lot of relatively delicate things without taking them off. I even noticed in a photo, that I can’t now relocate, that Michelle Obama had what looked like a pair on while working in the White House vegetable garden.

Here is my next wearable item suggestion for your gardener. This one I don’t own, but every gardener needs a hat and this one seems infinitely practical. I would like it if someone bought it for me. It is easy to get sunburned on the back of your neck and this addresses that problem.  While you might not win any fashion awards, Project Runway does not often cross paths with a community garden plot. In fact usually gardening is a relatively solitary affair.

With venting along the sides, it seems like it would help keep your head cooler than a regular hat. The string will keep one from having to chase it down the road on a windy day.

To the hat gift, you could add a Garden Conservancy membership with discounted Open Days garden tour tickets and you would truly evoke the name the “Sunday Afternoon Adventure Hat.”

Continuing the theme, another clothing item for your gardener is a bandana square to tie around their neck. Why?  It is another item that keeps sun off the back of your neck and helps absorb sweat.  It can become a head band under extreme circumstances or even a temporary Band-Aid, or a cradle for some unexpected garden harvest.  In other words, it is something relatively inexpensive, yet multi-functional. 

It can be a homemade part of the gift.  A light-colored, garden-patterned fabric square measuring  at least 21 by 21 inches is all you need. You can finish with a zig-zag stitch, basting stitch or even fringe the edges by pulling out an equal number of threads from each side.

Or you can pick from one of these other pre-made options I found. These purport to have an added cooling effect. This one matches the hat perfectly, though it comes from a different source than the hat.