Spreading Christmas cheer with homemade gifts can be easy when you have a kitchen garden. I love to gather cold hardy herbs and small evergreen branches with wintry foliage to create special holiday presents for friends and family.
The Christmas Simmer Pot Kit
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One of the simplest holiday garden gifts to make is the simmer pot kit. I cut fresh rosemary from the garden and add it to a small jar with dehydrated orange slices, cinnamon sticks, fresh cranberries, and a few whole cloves. This is the dehydrator that I use. Add a cute label with instructions (free pdf download below) and tie a festive ribbon around the jar lid.
To use, heat enough equal parts apple cider and water to cover ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Watch carefully and add water as needed. Smells like Christmas!
Materials:
sprigs of fresh rosemary
several fresh cranberries
two dehydrated orange slices
2 small cinnamon sticks
3-4 whole cloves
instruction tag
holiday spoon or small ornament
Herb Finishing Salts
This is another easy homemade gift to make for family and friends using the winter hardy herbs from your kitchen garden. Rosemary, oregano and thyme are wonderful when blended with coarse salt. Experiment with different combinations. I love the rosemary herb salt!
Materials:
half pint mason jar
fresh herbs
coarse salt
jelly roll sheet pan
holiday ribbon
small holiday spoon or ornament
gift tag
To make, lightly pulse clean dry herbs with salt (1:3 ratio) in a food processor until uniform in size. For example, 1/2 cup of fresh rosemary would be combined with 1 and 1/2 cups of coarse salt.
Spread evenly on a jelly roll sheet pan and bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Cool and store in a mason jar. Salt is a natural preservative which will ensure a long flavorful shelf life, but the green color might fade over several months.
Again, top with holiday ribbon or twine and add a festive gift tag.
I find herb finishing salts work best when they are sprinkled lightly on a fully cooked meal for flavor. That's why they're called finishing salts. You can use them in the actual cooking process, but be careful with the application because they can be extremely salty!
Below I've added a free pdf download of the labels I made for my own jars.
These personalized holiday spoons from Miamiabrand on Etsy would look lovely tucked under the ribbon for that special touch!
Dried Herbs from the Garden
Dried herbs is an incredibly easy and thoughtful gift to make for friends and family over the holidays. I like keeping a few ribbon wrapped jars on hand for hostess gifts when attending holiday parties or receiving unexpected guests.
Get started with a dehydrator like this one my husband gave more for Christmas. At the end of summer, harvest a bunch of that yummy basil and dehydrate it. If your season for basil is already over, grab some rosemary, thyme, oregano or sage. They should still be doing great in the fall months.
Lightly rinse herbs and air dry without rubbing to prevent bruising. Arrange leaves on mesh sheet and set dehydrator to lowest setting. Mine is 95 degrees. Depending on the humidity and which type of herb you're drying, plan on running the machine for 1-4 hours. It might even be longer for denser leaves like sage. Monitor carefully and remove herbs when dry and crunchy. Store whole leaves in a 4 ounce spice mason jar and tie some red ribbon around the jar lid or add a festive label.
Read my post DIY Hanging Herb Garden for more herb growing inspiration.
A Homemade Christmas Wreath
If you have evergreen trees/shrubs in your garden, utilize the branches and wintry foliage to make a holiday wreath or swag. Save your cuttings from your live Christmas tree if you have one. You can also score some free branches from the Christmas tree lots to take home. I have found magnolias, cypress and holly in the woods on our property for making mine.
Use a standard wire ring from the arts and crafts store and wrap the branch cuttings with paddle wire to it.
Ginger Tip: The trick is to have clusters of different materials separated, stacked and ready to go.
For example, the wreath I'm making for this post has evergreen branches leftover from our Christmas tree, some cypress clippings with pretty blue berries and magnolia leaves. After using my bypass pruners to cut the branches into uniform sizes, I make clusters with each material like a mini bouquet and line them up in a row on my work table.
I begin by securing the wire to a starting point on your ring like a twisty tie. Working in a clockwise direction, I hold the 'bouquet' on the wire ring and wrap the wire around it with my other hand. Then I take the next little cluster and lay it on top of the previous one's stems and wrap with wire.
No need to cut the wire until you are all the way around the ring.
At this point you can add a wire loop for hanging, bows and any decor that you like. If you have any bald or odd areas on the wreath, tuck some leftover greenery in it or strategically add your decorative pieces there.
Add your finishing touches and a bow. Your handmade garden wreath will make a lovely gift!
Garden Seed Packet Gifts
Another simple holiday gift from your garden is a packet of homegrown seeds. This can require a little forethought in the season, but collecting your seeds makes a thoughtful present for family and friends.
I have plenty of coneflowers and rudbeckia growing in my landscape to harvest seeds. I leave most of the spent flower heads for the birds during the cold winter months, but a few get harvested and saved for gifts!
Better Homes and Garden explains what and how to save seeds in your garden. I found this article informative and helpful.
If you are an arts and crafts guru, make your own festively decorated envelopes to store the seeds. I recommend craft paper instead of thin regular paper to maintain the envelope shape and to prevent seed spillage. Another option is simply to purchase seed envelopes or even coin envelopes. I like these seed envelopes that I found on Amazon.
*Ginger Tip: Label packets before adding your seeds while they are still flat. Include some quick details about the seed origin and planting requirements. These would be perfect on their own or in a gardener's gift basket.
Pressed Flower Arts and Crafts
Create some wonderful holiday gifts with pressed flowers from the garden. Using a wooden mechanical press or heavy book, press flowers for a week or two and then use them to make framed art, bookmarks, ornaments, etc.
I love this wooden press that my daughter gave me for my birthday!
See my full tutorial on flower pressing in DIY: How to Press Flowers.
Use pressed flowers in framed art like I did or try making bookmarks. You can purchase clear bookmark kits on Amazon and add your dried flowers for a unique gift. Remove the plastic film on the front and the back of the bookmark first. Then use clear Mod Podge to glue and seal the dried flower completely to the bookmark. Add a red or green tassel for the holiday cheer. Combine the bookmark with a new book and your gift is all set!
Check out my list of favorite books to read over the winter season when gardening is limited: Novels for the Gardener at Heart.
Homemade gifts from the garden are easy to make and wonderful for family and friends. Enjoy spreading your Christmas cheer!
Need more ideas for Christmas gifts? Read Holiday Gifts for the Gardener.
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