Dee Dee on the radio

I'm in New York City today...just finished a live interview on the Martha Stewart Living channel at Sirius XM Radio. This visit, my 4th, focused on gifts from the garden and gifts for gardeners. The show's host Mario Bosquez, who is such a skilled interviewer, and I talked about making herbal gifts, sachets, jams and jellies. And then I suggested some good gifts for serious gardeners. I had a list of some really great things - like the new Cape Cod weeder, a well-crafted tool for weedding in small spaces; and an electronic soil test tool called the Rapitest that I got from cleanairgardening.com. This small meter can tell you the pH of your soil, the moisture level and the levels of NPK (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous in the soil so you will know how much you may need to fertlize. Then there's the cute wood and metal hod from Burpee. The hod is similar to an English trug -- a basket-like carrier that is ideal for holding veggies as you harvest them. It would make a great gift - it could be used for harvesting, displaying and transporting. I also like Burpee's SunCalc - it's a clever tool that will measure how much sun your garden is getting in any given location. It's an important thing to know - most fruiting vegetables need 6 to 8 hours a day; and unless you stand around and watch the sun as it crosses the sky through the course of a day, you may not have a completely accurate picture. Spending money on gardening tools, if it gets you in the garden and keeps you working there, is money well spent. You'll grow more plants; and with a little effort, you'll become a better steward of the land. If you take good care of your tools, they'll last so you won't have to replace them - very frugal.