Creating a Summer Gift Giving Garden in the Winter

Getting ready for summer is hard enough when the sky is overcast and the winds blow cold, so getting ready for summer and next Christmas can be super hard! If you want to give gifts from the garden, now is the time to begin planning.

A gift garden doesn't have to be that big. It all depends on what you want to give. At the bottom of the article I have some instructional articles using the garden as the source of gifts. You may want to look them over. There are recipes for everything mentioned in the article. If you want to have a small garden, start with herbs.

Give herbal vinegars and butters. Start planting those seeds under a grow light and get a few healthy herb plants. The best vinegar that I have made was a basil/oregano one that was in red wine vinegar. Mixed with a little olive oil it was a delightful addition to a salad.

A small herb garden can provide enough herbs for an entire Christmas package. I am not crazy about the smell of sage, so if you have an aversion to the smell of cat urine (That's what drying sage smells like to me...poor little Kitkat got blamed when it was drying inside.), dry all sage outside.

Besides the recipes below you can also give herbal soaps, lotions and toners. I will be adding those starting October to the list of homemade gifts.

Give snacks; grow pumpkins, popcorn, or sunflowers. Sunflower seeds are wonderfully healthy. I have a few ideas in the article on a survivalist garden, but will be writing more this fall. A batch of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds can be a healthy and tasty treat for anyone on your list. I included popcorn, but find that it takes too much room and time and is far cheaper to buy a bag at the grocery. If you have never grown popcorn before, you may want to try it just for the experience. It is a lot of fun and tastes better than store bought!

Grow Indian corn or decorative corn for centerpieces and gifts. Cornhusk dolls and wonderful centerpieces can be made from Indian corn. Since it is not as easily found in groceries everywhere a few plants can be a great addition to your gift garden.

Make loofah soap or give back scrubbers. The loofah squash can be grown in a pot and allowed to climb if you have very little room. To save money for the next year, save those seeds that you remove from the sponge, for next years garden.

Give perennial plants and decorator plants to a friend. Start plants outdoors that can be brought in during the winter. Campanula is a perennial that is usually grown as an annual in colder climates. The Blue bells variety is exquisite. If you start these early, cool to 40 degrees for about 15 weeks, while maintaining a short day grow light and then extend the day and warm the plant to room temperature slowly, about mid or early November, you should have it blooming by Christmas.

Give a hot pepper plant at Christmas. These can be started mid to late summer (Read the package directions for maturation and plan accordingly.) The nice thing about the pepper plant as a gift is that you are buying the seeds late in the season and the packages are usually dramatically reduced in price. If you buy a package early, grow some to dry and give and save a few for plants to give at Christmas.

Jellies and jams from the garden are wonderful. You can start by setting out a few strawberry plants that are first year producers, it will tell you in the blurb about the plant if they are. You can also order or buy quite a few of these plants and grow them in pots that have opening all the way down. Purchase the pots on sale at year-end, transfer some of the strawberry plants from your garden. Allow them to cool but not freeze, as the roots are not as protected in the pots and then warm them for Christmas gifts about 6 weeks before the holiday.

If you are planning for the future, try berry bushes and fruit trees. Once these are established, you have Christmas gifts for years to come, and some tasty fruit for your family.

There are so many gifts from the garden that I could write many more pages. I hope these few have helped. The links below show how to use the plants for gifts.

Herbal Vinegar

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/436378/homemade_herbal_vinegars_and_baskets.html

Herbal butters

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/435229/homemade_seasonings_and_butters_as.html

Gifts from the Garden, Loofah soap and Catnip

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/431040/growing_christmas_gifts_in_the_garden.html

Relaxing Facials

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/364140/recipes_for_relaxing_facials.html

Fennel

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/364263/fennel_beauty_usefulness_and_a_great.html

Hot Garden Relish

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/418881/hot_garden_relish_use_tomatoes_to_make.html

Apple uses for Gifts

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/420283/making_a_driedapple_wreath_for_christmas.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/423573/apple_recipes_healthy_homemade_christmas.html

Pumpkin and Pumpkin seeds

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/420612/save_halloween_pumpkins_for_this_christmaspie.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/420693/pumpkin_puree_ideas_pie_bread_and_more.html

Zucchini Bread

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/420333/gift_breads_homemade_zucchini_bread.html

Popcorn

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/430275/homemade_popcornchristmas_gifts_wreaths.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/430366/christmas_popcorn_ideas_garlands_ornaments.html

Cornhusk Dolls

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/439246/create_a_cornhusk_doll_for_gifts_the.html