This year's presents for gardeners include a dwarf pear tree plus bird
A plea at Christmas time: if you're giving to a gardener, go for the best: grand, sturdy things that won't buckle or bend when they meet a wayward stone or a lump of clay. Some of the heftiest hand tools around are the German hand-forged items imported by Fruit Hill Farm in Bantry (027-50710; www.fruithillfarm.com), and available in various other outlets, including Ecoshop in Glen of the Downs, Co Wicklow (01-2872914; www.ecoshop.ie). Prices vary, and if you're shopping by mail order, don't forget to add in the postage. They're not cheap, but they should last a lifetime. The stainless steel hand fork and trowel (with cherry wood handles) cost €30 to €36.50 each, a joint scraper is €9.95, and a gorgeous, primal-looking twin hoe is €17.50.
A no-nonsense wooden dibber (for planting baby leeks and other plantlets) is €7.95 at Ecoshop. The same shop has a string stand complete with an inbuilt blade and a heavy ball of jute twine (€12.95); spare balls of twine cost €3.25. String, as any gardener will tell you, is one of the most important elements in the gardening process.
One of the endearingly abstruse ideas about garden tools is that copper is better for the soil, as it doesn't interfere with the magnetic field, or leave particles of iron behind, which oxidise and cause the soil to dry out. But never mind that, copper looks fierce stylish, and the more you use your tools, the shinier they become. A handmade copper spade with a D-shaped handle costs €135 from Ecoshop.
Swiss-made Felco secateurs are somewhat of a gardening cliché, but one that most professionals and serious plantspeople are happy to use daily. The "Number 2" is the classic and most popular choice, and costs from €52 to €60. If you buy from Mr Middleton on Mary Street in Dublin (01-8731118; www.mrmiddleton.com), they'll throw in a Swiss grafting knife for free (€54.95).
Also available at Mr Middleton is a rotary soil sieve (€59), an ingenious implement for sifting garden compost and soil. As anyone who makes their own potting medium will tell you, an old-fashioned riddle (which looks like a flat sieve) may be excellent exercise for the belly muscles, but it's purgatory on the back. Some swanky wouldn't go amiss - such as the important-looking wooden ones from Ecoshop (€5.25 and €10.50). Clean up the mess with a pretty rice straw or, if the space is confined, with a smaller, children's broom (Ecoshop: €9.95 and €6.95).
Some gardeners like to go about their business bare-handed, but others (myself included) prefer to protect their hands, especially while doing heavy and mucky work. Most of us go through several pairs of gloves a year. You can get good gloves from Avoca in Kilmacanogue (01-2867466; www.avoca.ie), both made by Briers: blue washable split leather (€14.95) and yellow leather with insulated lining (€17.95).
Of course, slathering the hands with unguents before and after gardening helps keep the skin soft, and prevents it from acquiring that characteristic etched-black-lines look. Irish-made Potters' and Gardeners' Handcream is extremely rich and leaves the gardener smelling like a tasty salad dressing (€19.95 for 200 grammes; available at Ecoshop and EcoLogic, Windy Arbour, Dundrum, Dublin 14; click on "links" at www.enniskerryessentials.ie for other suppliers).
Gardeners are prone to a long and interesting list of aches and pains - as anyone who has lived with one has noticed. The Stay-Warm cherry stone pillow (Ecoshop, €26.50) can be bunged in the microwave for three minutes, or in the oven for 15 minutes, after which it will emit a gentle, healing heat to soothe the sore gardener.
The gardener is also a martyr to midge-attacks: no laughing matter when her previously perfect skin turns into a landscape of itchy lumps and bumps. Avoca's "anti-bug mug" (€14.95) contains a citronella candle that helps keep the critters at bay. After the candle is finished, the mug may be used for restorative cups of tea. Two further mugs, for the "Gardening Goddess" or "Lawn Ranger" (€15.95) come with lids to keep the heat in and flying things out.
Is there an outdoor worker who isn't a weather watcher? A digital weather station (Mr Middleton, €59.95) offers both indoor and outdoor temperatures, the forecast, indoor humidity, and the time and date. A huge, enamel, wall-mountable, outdoor thermometer (Avoca, €45.95) will satisfy those who want to know just the current temperature. Those of a scientific bent will be kept happily employed with a soil testing kit (Mr Middleton, €21.95) which has plenty of little bottles and vials for ascertaining the soil's acidity, and levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Most gardeners are bird lovers, and will welcome gifts of feeders and food for their feathery friends - widely available in garden and DIY shops. Havahart, the American company that started life as a maker of humane traps, has moved into rather swanky bird feeders (available at Ecoshop), such as the Cape Cod Silo (pictured) with six compartments (€24.95).
Let's not forget that special plants make welcome gifts. Little citrus trees are available in good garden centres, with perhaps the best selection in Avoca in Kilmacanogue (€27 to €69.90, for lemon, calamondin, kumquat and tangerine). Orchids may be bought in many shops, and are terribly sophisticated-looking. If it's going in to a centrally-heated room, choose a Phalaenopsis. Murphy and Wood (Johnstown Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin; 01-2854855) have richly-toned oriental hellebores (€12), with plum-coloured, pink and deep-red blooms. The same garden centre offers the most literal gift of the season, a partridge in a pear tree (€28.50): a dwarf Conference pear with a dinky little birdie and a couple of faux-pears - to keep it going until next year, when it will produce its own live, pears.
The gardener who has it all (including plenty of space) might like a free-standing Janssens conservatory (Avoca, €2,250 to €6,000). For greenhouse or conservatory owners, a coir mat (Avoca, €15.95) and a pair of Haddonstone reconstituted stone urns (Avoca, €149 to €750 each) will mark its entrance, while its plant life can be kept moist with an automatic watering system (Mr Middleton, €79.95).
Finally, gardeners like nothing better than putting their feet up at the end of the day and reading about, well, gardening. A year's subscription to the Irish Garden magazine (10 issues) costs €44 (01-2947712; www.mediateam.ie;), while a year of Garden Heaven magazine (six issues) is €30 (01-2789377).