Even now, you can still find a unique gift

By Jimmy Williams

Santa Claus is real, as far as I am concerned.  Friends have been trying to convince me otherwise since about the third grade, but I never once saw my parents put out all those gifts under the Christmas tree.

True, Santa does need help now and then to be able to please everyone on his long list.  He often engages relatives and friends of his honorees in commendable conspiracies to make sure no one is disappointed.

Here it is mid-December, Christmas is only a little over a week away, and for shoppers it's crunch time.  Many of us (note "us") are still in a dither over gift buying, even at this late date.  Fortunately, there are a number of possibilities if your benefactee happens to be a gardener.

It is too late for mail ordering, so what we must do is find in local outlets gardening fits that will be used, not gimmicky trinkets that will clutter up garages for generations.  Off-hand, I can think of several things that answer that description, and all are available locally.

Anyone with even a minimum of trees or large shrubs should have a pole pruner.  With extension handle and a rope-operated pruning blade and saw, these devices allow the operator to cut small branches (with the pruner) or larger limbs (with the saw) up to 12 feet or more off the ground, while safely standing on terra firma.

After a few adventuresome spells teetering around on a step-ladder (my cheap one tends to walk out from under me) and miraculously escaping serious injury in a fall or two, I broke down and bought a pole pruner.  (Actually I must confess my first one was "inherited" from my wife's uncle.  And I must confess, also, he will still alive at the time.  Later, I did buy another.)  It has been one of the handiest tools I own, and who knows, it might have saved my life, or at least a limb, at some unknown point.

For branches too high to be reached with the pole pruner, high limb chain saws are available.  These have a flexible chain saw blade with a nylon rope 25 feet long or so attached to each end.  By throwing one of the ropes over a limb, then pulling the saw into place, a back-and-forth motion and a lot of elbow grease will (eventually) saw the limb off.  Be warned, you must be alert and quick on your feet to avoid having the branch crash down on you, since you will be working immediately below.

Just a few pruning operations with either of these tools will vastly repay many times over their modest ($50 or so) cost.  Just try hiring a tree man and see what I mean.

Leaf blowers have become as common as fleas on a dog, and deservedly so.  They blow not only leaves, but dust, twigs and even loose gavel with little man-(person?)power.  Electric models have the disadvantage of a cord to deal with, but are cheaper than gasoline-fired versions.  The better electrics will blow as hard as a gas job, but the cheapest electrics don't have the power you need, though they might be about right for blow-drying your poodle.

A good gas model will blow at a velocity of 150 miles an hour or more, and in close quarters you might want to throttle it back.  I find our leaf blower handy for cleaning our grubby garage.  I blow the debris out into the driveway, across it and into a shrub border nearby.  Gas blowers run $100 or more, and electrics can be had from $40 or so up.

For a lot less money, you can get a long-handled bulb planter.   I realize this bulb planting season is over, but there are future years, we all hope.  Besides, the bulb planter is useful for more than planting bulbs.

Long-handled models are the only way to go if there are more than a few dozen bulbs to plant.  The hand-operated instruments of torture could maim you for life with recurring tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.  (Carpal tunnels are not where carp hid, they are in your wrist.)

At any rate, cheap but sturdy long-handled bulb planters are priced at less than $15, with premium models going for up to $100.  They are foot-operated, giving you far greater mechanical advantage.  Most are sized to punch a 2 1/2-inch-wide hole up to 7 inches deep, adequate for most bulb planting.  They are also excellent for taking plugs of zoysia grass for re-planting and punching holes for setting bedding plants.  Many holes can be punched, then all the planting can be done while kneeling, minimizing getting up and down or stooping excessively.