25 Holiday Gifts to Make from your Garden

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I love making and getting homemade Christmas gifts. It feels special to put your heart into your gift. There are so many holiday gifts to make from your garden. For unique gift ideas for everyone on your list, check this out. 

The garden is overflowing with gifts year-round, but have you thought about growing and creating holiday gifts with the bounty your garden gives? 

Herbs make a wonderful gift from your garden. During the late part of summer, when the herbs are going nutso producing and spilling out of every space in the garden, grab a pair of scissors and cut as much as you can. Bundle them up with string and hang them in your pantry to dry. Click here to see how to dry herbs.

 
Once your herbs are dry, remove them from their stems and package them up in cellophane bags or mason jars. It’s super simple to do by just rubbing the stems between your hands over an open paper sack or cookie sheet. Beautifully dried herbs make wonderful gifts from your garden. 

Let the crumbles fall and gather them up. You can compost the stems or throw them in your soup stock for extra flavor. Make cute tags for your bags of herbs and as easy as that, you have some gorgeous gifts from the garden.

Christmas gifts to make

You could also gather bunches of herbs and tie them. Then you can arrange them on a wreath and give that as a wonderfully fragrant and beautiful garden gift.

Another great gift idea is using your garlic or onions from the garden to make homemade onion flakes, onion powder or garlic powder or salt. Yummy things to cook with are always fun.

The dried herbs from your garden can be used to make these super helpful bug bite sticks. They work wonders on itchy bites, it’s amazing. Click here to see how to make them. 

Herb mixes can be made from your dried herbs. Italian seasoning mix can be made with rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, and sage. Experiment with the ratios you like. I tend to go heaviest on oregano and then thyme and less of the others. Personally, I usually leave out the rosemary. It’s all about what you like.

Flavored oils and kinds of vinegar are super cinchy to make. To make herb-flavored vinegar, pour vinegar into a mason jar and add a handful of the herbs you prefer. Let steep for 2 weeks and strain herbs out. Pour into a pretty jar and make a nice tag. Who wouldn’t want unique garden gifts like these?

Unique garden gifts

Flavored oil is easy to make too. Just add your herbs to some good olive oil and allow it to steep in the refrigerator for 3 days or more. Strain out the herbs and pour into a pretty jar.

Make sure to keep the oil in the refrigerator and tell the person you’re giving it to do so as well to avoid any bacteria growing in your oil. Note that olive oil taste and color is affected by refrigeration as well.

Pesto sauce makes a wonderful gift from the garden. You can freeze it or refrigerate it and give it within a day or two of making it. Pesto is healthy, fresh and delicious and makes wonderful unique garden gifts.

Homemade gifts from the garden

Simple syrup is a delicious treat to sweeten teas and other drinks. You can use a ratio of ½ water and ½ sugar. Bring the mixture almost to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and steep a handful of mint, lemon balm, or another herb for about 5 minutes. Strain herbs out of syrup and refrigerate until ready to use.

Dried mints and other herbs can be used to make beautiful gifts from the garden. 

Garlic makes a beautiful gift. Who wouldn’t love some gorgeous, chemical-free garlic to cook with? I love to braid my garlic gifts and hang them to dry. You have to let the garlic cure for a couple of weeks and begin to dry out.

Once the leaves are brown, you can braid them and tie a loop in the top for hanging. When the garlic gift is received, it can be hung on the wall and when they are ready to cook with it, they can cut a head off and use it. I always have dried peppers and garlic braids hanging in my kitchen to use. 

Garlic oils and vinegars can be made just like herb oils and vinegars. Place the garlic in the vinegar or olive oil, steep (make sure to keep the oil refrigerated) and strain before packaging. What beautiful garlic gifts!

Garden gifts

Ornamental corn can be dried and give to be used as décor.

Hot peppers can be strung on a needle and thread until the string is full. Then tie a loop at the top for hanging. Allow the peppers to completely dry.

Dried peppers are so pretty! I keep some in my kitchen for décor anytime I have some. They are so handy to have for cooking. Note: Remember to try to fit as many peppers on the string as possible as they will shrink some when drying.

You can also dehydrate tomatoes, corn, and peppers and make a taco soup in a jar that makes a gorgeous and delicious gift your loved ones can use any time they want.

Pickled vegetables such as pickles, pickled okra, pickled tomatoes, pickled squash and cucumbers, pickled dilly beans, pickled spicy dilly beans, and pickled peppers. A jar of these would make amazing Christmas gifts to make from the garden.

Roasted tomato sauce is simple and tastes divine. Who wouldn’t want to receive that?

Growing drying beans, drying them and shelling them into a sweet jar is a super thoughtful gift. This can be used immediately or stored for quite a while for later use.

Tabasco sauce is so tasty and super easy to make. You can get some tiny jars from the store to give it in because you don’t need to give much. All it takes is 1/3 C. tobacco peppers (or any hot peppers you like), ¾ c. vinegar (any type you prefer), a clove of garlic, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. sugar.

Put the peppers in the vinegar and heat in a pan on the stove until boiling. (Be careful and have your room well ventilated for this part, it makes the air very spicy) Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients and blend well until sauce forms. Refrigerate.

Homemade salsa is always a welcome gift around these parts. Everyone loves it. 

Fruits and vegetables can be dehydrated and made into beautiful gifts. Dried fruit candies are delicious and make a wonderful gift. Dried vegetables can be made into soup mixes and given as gifts as well. There is nothing better than homemade Christmas gifts from the garden.

Luffas sponges make amazing gifts and you can grow them at home. You can package a couple of luffas in a basket with a bar of soap, some sugar scrub, just on their own, or even with a small packet of seeds and give them as a wonderful holiday gift.

Luffas can also be made into beautiful soaps. Click here to see other things luffas can be used for. 

Birdhouse gourds are easy to grow and can be made into lovely holiday gifts. See how easy they are to grow and turn into a birdhouse. 

There are some gourds that can be made into spoons. Wouldn’t it be fun to grow your own spoons? I’m going to try it with the kids soon! Any gourd can be turned into a wonderful unique garden gift.

Christmas gifts to make from the garden

Saving your own seeds is simple and is super fun to give as a holiday gift. They can be packed in pretty envelopes and shared with friends. Click here to see how to save seeds from your garden. 

Lavender can be woven into all sorts of lovely gifts including wands and little baskets. Click here to see how to make gifts from lavender for unique Christmas gifts.

One more wonderful holiday gift from the garden is to plant starts. Many plants can be propagated with cuttings and rooted and shared with friends. There are so many Christmas gifts to make from the garden, just think outside the box a little and you’ll come up with tons of them. 

The garden just keeps on giving and giving and blesses us all. Look to your garden for some wonderful gifts to share with your friends this holiday season. They’ll thank you for it!

Click here to see a garden wreath that would make a wonderful unique garden gift.