I have those gloves and they are wonderful! Great for gripping and pulling weeds. I keep an old worn pair in my vehicle for handling bags of mulch, etc. I got mine at Rural King (a "farm" store). I've seen them at Home Depot.

For me a new watering wand with a shut off would be nice. It might stick out of the stocking, though ;-)

Deb

I have those gloves too and came from Costco in a 6 pack of such bright colors so never get lost . I used one pair all season and finally wore hole in a couple fingers but may have been from painting in them too. Best gloves and great price too. They feel like you have nothing on your hands and so great for weeding and planting

You should order a new root knife from Lee Valley Tools. It costs only $9.50 and this knife will do anything! It goes right through mature hosta clumps easily. You should order one today...you will not be disappointed.

Root knife from Lee Valley Tools

The website says they are temporaily out-of-stock. However, I ordered some two weeks ago when they said they were out-of-stock and I have already received them.

NOTE: When you receive your new knife, you should tie a piece of orange survey tape on the handle...so that when you lay it down, you won't lose it...and have to order a new one like me!

Similar looking as above root knife, though with a foldable handle, are small pruning saws for branches just too thick to cut with bypass pruners. Bypass pruners and small foldable pruning saws you can buy at big box stores.

Thanks for the root knife tip don - there is a Lee Valley store close to us - it is my favourite "toy store"! And I have one of those foldable saws - what a practical design. Good idea too about marking tools with survey tape. I don't understand why manufacturers make tools in easy-to-lose brown or green. Bright red and yellow make more sense don't they?
Jan

I agree with you Jan that manufacturers should make tools in brighter colors. I also agree that the gardening gloves at Costco are great. Perhaps a stocking stuffer you may like to have would be a pair of gardening gloves that are lined. When gardening in the cooler temperatures, it adds a bit of warmth to your hands. I own two pairs. One I think is an Atlas and cost about $5. The other I bought a month ago at a dollar store for $3. They also are nitrile coated.

I don't do stocking stuffers, so I don't know if this qualifies---but if I had one, there could be a lot of tissue filling it, then a nicely wrapped box with a special note inside---"you have a prepaid copy of the 2013 issue of the Hosta Finder coming in February."

A can of pink or orange fluorescent paint to paint the handle of my root knife, so I don't lose it and have to order another one, only to find the old one 2 days after the new one arrives. Or maybe I should say I need the paint so I don't lose the two knives I own and have to order a third. LOL By the way they work very efficiently.

Bright colors only work when you can see them. I seem to have that habit to 'temporarily' put pruners into a deep bucket which lateron I fill with weeds, and then dump the whole thing into paper bags for curb pickup without looking. But I try to improve by resting tools always in the open. OTOH I get new pruners when I lose the old ones.
Bernd

Yes Bernd - i don't have to sharpen pruners - they don't hang around for that long!! And even Martha Stewart (who can do little wrong in my estimation) designed her collection of garden tools with rather neutral coloured handles. WHAT????
Jan

Somewhere I found a small headed rake, short handled too--maybe it was a child size--but it works if I rake beneath plants in the flower beds, without tearing up the leaves. The handle telescoped down, but somehow I jammed it open, now cannot close it for compact storage.

I used spray hot pink florescent on the handles of my tools for the reason I dropped them and then tripped over them, or forgot to take them in and they disappeared. I also went through a time of spraying all my plant stems and pots, because we had a "plant thief" who, when caught, revealed her plan to begin her own nursery. It affected my choice of planting sites, with cheaper shrubs going in the front yard near the street.

I love the Felco pruners, lost a few, replaced them, found the old ones, and now have a generous supply including one left handed version. They have red, but red sort of disappears in the grass, orange would be much better IMHO. Or black/yellow stripes.

Who was it on here who recommended the digging forks, and I got one, then in the process discovered a really neat wide hoe which was good for making trenches for irrigation pipe, about 4-6 inches wide, and about 6 deep. Great long handles. And a great digging shovel with space to put your foot on either side, fairly good price from EasyDig.com

And I like Lee Valley Tools in general.