Shopping for gardeners

Shopping for gifts to give gardeners during the holidays is easy because the choices are so plentiful. Here are a few examples.

Folding Garden Kneeler — Hand grips of tubular steel and an orthopedic cushion for your knees make it possible to spend more time on your knees in the garden. Getting up and down is simplified with this item, which doubles as a garden bench. Many catalogs carry it, including the one found at www.growerssupply.com and (800) 476-9715. Price, $35.95.

Posters — The garlic poster has life-sized pictures of 43 garlic varieties, the tomato poster has 25 varieties of tomatoes, the corn poster has 30 varieties of Indian corn and the apple poster has 38 varieties of heirloom apples. These full size, 24-by-36-inch posters in vibrant color are suitable for framing. You can order these or other posters illustrating squash, peppers, salad greens, root vegetables and culinary herbs for $20 each at www.seedsavers.org and (563) 382-5990.

Biobags — These bags look like plastic bags but are made of 100 percent biodegradable cornstarch to reduce the work involved in composting your food scraps. If you use a Biobag to line your kitchen compost pail, you can forget about cleaning out the pail after each use. All you need to do is toss the bag, along with whatever potato peels and apple cores you have saved, onto your compost pile and let them all rot. You can get 100 bags big enough for a 15-quart pail for $23.95 at www.gardeners.com and (800) 427-3363.

Harvesting Sleeves — These machine-washable canvas sleeves cover the lower 18 inches of your arms and prevent painful encounters when you are pruning roses or reaching into a thicket of raspberry canes to harvest. If your skin itches from allergic reactions after harvesting squash, cutting okra pods or handling Leyland cypress, this product may be just what you need. It is available at www.harrisseeds.com and (800) 544-7938 for $13.50 each.

Classic Cotton Hat — This wide-brimmed hat with a sun protection factor of 50+ is embroidered with the Edmunds’ Roses logo and sells for $24.95. It comes in pink, blue, gray and tan. One size fits all. Found at www.edmundsroses.com and (800) 347-7609.

Sauce Master Fruit and Vegetable Strainer — This unit saves time when you are processing various fruits and vegetables. You load the hopper with raw tomatoes, for example, and then turn the handle to make pure juice that is free of seeds and skins. You can also cook a pot of apples, seeds and skins and all, then send them through the Sauce Master to make applesauce. It is sold at www.johnnyseeds.com and (877) 564-6697 for $59.95.

News and notes

Seats are still available in the 2011 Lynchburg Master Gardener training program. For a list of classes and an application, go to www. hcmga.com or call the program’s chairman, Dr. Robert Miles, at 384-0961.

Davis is a retired Lynchburg Extension agent and he can be reached at dodavis2@vt.edu.