Some Christmas gifts are too high maintenance. All those techie gadgets that require some sort of battery that you always seem to forget, can be a drag. Especially since, on Christmas day, everything is closed, so you are forced to wait an entire day to play with your shiny new toy. Gardening gifts, however, are quite the opposite. Like this windowsill fragrant herb garden, no batteries are required. Hopefully, you have some access to water, though.

Herb gardening can be an easy way to relax and mellow out. In addition, these great herbs can be grown right from the home – without a need to ever step outdoors. This is one of the reasons why herb gardens are so perfect for urban living, or apartments. When looking for new gifts this year, this windowsill fragrant herb garden is certainly one way to go. It sells for $9.99, and comes with three herbs – Lavender, Thyme, and Oregano.

The kit itself is a 13 inch galvanized steel try that fits perfectly on a windowsill or in any area that is close to a window or natural lighting. The three herbs that come with this kit are great – lavender is known as a mood booster, and is also widely used in French cooking. Thyme is an amazing compliment for lamb, eggs, and other dishes. Oregano – well, we all know that oregano is a perfect pairing for many Italian dishes, and smells great to boot. This herb garden can be your answer to “what should I get (insert name here) this year for the holidays.” It’s an excellent gift idea, not only perfect for the holiday season, but it also makes a great anniversary gift, a birthday gift, a Hanukah gift – the possibilities are limitless. Whatever the occasion, this herb garden is a great way to go.

If you know someone who loves tomatoes, this year, you should give them some for Christmas. No, we’re not talking about wrapping up a bunch of tomatoes in a box with a bow, we’re talking about the gift that gives tomatoes.

The tomato is that wonderful hybrid that has vegetable and fruit like qualities. It’s versatile and tastes great. It’s absolutely ornamental in a wide variety of things, such as salads, salsas, pasta sauce…the list is virtually never ending. That being said, another great thing about tomatoes is that they are easy to grow, and nothing beats the taste of fresh grown vegetables and fruits from one’s one home. Even for the urban gardener, a tomato hanging basket kit can be an ideal gift idea this holiday season. Gardening gifts can always be highly popular, especially around Christmas time, because they serve as a reminder that gardening is fun, and that the season is right around the corner.

This tomato planter gift in particular retails for $12.99 and is perfect for a porch or a balcony. All that is necessary is light and water. The kit comes with a basket, moss, soil, chain, and seeds – everything one could ever need is included. As long as proper care is maintained and the soil receives ample sunshine and water, there will be many tomatoes grown in no time. It’s an ideal gift for gardeners, or just those who have a little bit of interest in gardening. It can be the “creative spark” that ignites one’s passion for gardening. This Christmas season when looking for a new and creative gift idea, consider a hanging tomato basket – it’s the way to go.

My kid knows everything about bugs. It’s my fault really; when he was just a toddler I used to tell him that whales were insects and giraffes lived in the ocean and all sorts of nonsense. I never expected him to believe this stuff but when he started school and found out I’d been messing with his head he set out to find his own answers rather than asking me. Well, it’s paid off because now when I come across some insect in the back yard I just drag him away from the video games and get him to identify it

“Son, what’s this one? Should I kill it?”

“No Dad. That’s a Patagonian whooping caterpillar…they kill mosquitoes and find truffles. People pay good money for these”

“Oh …How ‘bout this one?

“That’s the dog, Dad. Not an insect,”

“Are you sure? He looks kinda shifty…”

“Yeah…See, the collar? That’s our phone number there…it’s a dead giveaway”

“That’s our old number…that’s why I thought….”

“Trust me”

I think he’s just getting revenge on me. If you don’t have a entomologist for a son, or just don’t trust the little monster this DVD could help. It’s 50 minutes long and was made by filmmaker who also is a organic gardener. It teaches you which bugs are which and which ones are helpful and which ones will eat your socks. The Garden Insect DVD is available from Clean Air Gardening for $24.99

 Every since I was a kid I’ve been creeped out by wasps.  While exploring my Grandfather’s farm I found an old fallen down farm house with a hand pump water spigot.  Being a curious lad, I had to give it a couple of pumps not realizing that a family of wasps had set up housekeeping in the pump body and were none too happy to be disturbed.  I learned an important lesson that day — wasps are not your friend. 

Sure, if you have a wasp problem there are a plethora of effective poisons you can buy in a spray can to take care of the problem but there is a better solution: These glass wasp traps. 

All you have to do is hang these specially designed glass containers with a bit of fruit juice in the bottom wherever you see the wasps hanging out.  The wasps fly in, can’t find a way out, and eventually drown.  It’s an earth friendly solution that is non-toxic, reusable and best of all doesn’t harm the more useful bee population.  You get three glass bottles when you order the Glass Wasp Trap set from Skymall for $24.99

 Honestly…I mean, I guess it would have to be obvious but I never have really considered the idea that there was such a thing as cricket poop.  Conventional wisdom is that you should never kill a cricket because if you do his friends will come and eat your socks and if it eats, well it just follows that….

But even if it had occurred to me it certainly wouldn’t have occurred to me that Cricket poop is something someone would offer for sale on the Information Super Highway.   But today is a day for learning new things;  new to me anyway, I’m sure it’s pretty much business as usual to the crickets. 

And today what I learned is that Cricket Poop is not like other similar products produced by similar creatures.  Our noisy little sock eating friend produces a dry, sandy-like odorless substance that works as an excellent fertilizer (it has an NPK value of 8.48).  To me, life is too short to try and raise a big enough herd of crickets to fertilize much of anything.  And can you imagine the noise level of that many crickets in one place.  Luckily, as I alluded to above, you can get pretty much anything on the internet.  And that internet includes Cricket poop from:

Organic Cricket Poop Fertilizer from Clean Air Gardening for $14.99 for a 5 pound jug. 

Here’s another great product to help you with your fall gardening chores. Biotal Leafmould / Leaf Compost Maker quickly turns your leaves into quality compost, faster than through a normal decomposition process.

Here’s what they have to say about the product:

Leaves – converts leaves into rich leaf mould in months rather than years

* 10ml of Compost Maker, mixed with a full watering-can, treats about one-and-a-half bin bags of waste.
* Compost ready for use after ten weeks of rotting.
* Can be used to re-activate partially-composted or dead heaps.
* Suitable for use in all types of compost bins

Anybody used this stuff? Does it work?

Sprouts are one of the healthiest things that you can eat. They are low in calories, but extremely high in nutrients.

Now you can grow your own sprouts instead of having to buy them at the grocery store.

When you have your own seed sprouter, you can grow different types of sprouts that you can’t typically find at a grocery store or market. Different seeds have different tasting sprouts and different nutrients, so you get a big variety.

The Easy Seed Sprouter is available at Clean Air Gardening. $14.99

Serious organic gardeners will tell you that worm castings (aka worm poop) makes for one of the best ways to improve your soil. You can use it in houseplants, flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, on shrubs, and just about anywhere else.

You can buy worm castings, but it’s easy to get your own with a worm composting bin like this one. Even better, you can use it to start recycling all of your food scraps that you would otherwise throw into the garbage.

Measures 16″ x 16″ x 21″ for a 3 tray system. Worm Bin becomes 3.5″ taller for each tray added.

Made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

Recycled Plastic Worm Composting Bin, $109 from Clean Air Gardening.

Here’s a fun organic fertilizer gift for someone who loves their houseplants! It is an OMRI listed organic fertilizer with an NPK of 4-2-3. Comes in two 1 1/2 pound bottles.

Available from Clean Air Gardening.

If you’re looking for a fun way to get your kids involved in composting, try out a worm-composting bin that uses red wiggler worms. Worm composting (also known as vermicomposting) is a clean, safe, and odor-free way to compost your family’s kitchen scraps. This is way more fun than an ant farm, and better for the environment, too! Worm composting also allows you to compost year round, as you can move the bin inside your garage during the coolest months of winter.