Garden experiences at home
There are lots of garden experiences when you go to visit gardens and immerse yourself in the joys of beautiful places which someone else has worked on, or attend a workshop or short course at a garden where you are hands-on in one way or another.
Did you know that there are also garden experiences (of a sort) you can do from home? If you're on a tight budget, these may be preferable to the garden experiences here.
Grow your own
Have the joy – or frustration – of growing your own, be it on a balcony, a kitchen window sill, garden borders etc. Grow your own herbs, vegetables, tea, flowers – the choice is endless. But there’s nothing like tucking in to food you’ve grown yourself, or cutting flowers to put in the house, or watching the wildlife flock to flowers and plants you’ve put in specially for them.
How about a Monthly Tropical Houseplant Seed Subscription Box?
Grow Your Own Indoor Tropical Jungle with Four Different Types of Houseplant Seeds
Every Month with In-Depth Written Instructions.
For 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. From £13.95 from Not on the High Street
This Personalised Windowsill Herb Planter Kit is available from Getting Personal.
It's available in three different finishes to match your home decor.
And the planter can be stamped with a message on the aluminium strip.
It comes with the choice of two herbs - grow your own! For £30.99 from Getting Personal
Tree2mydoor.com have this MIni Potted Christmas Tree
for £36.00. It's perfect for small spaces and it comes with decorations!
You can plant it outside (it's okay in a pot) too!
You could also give a seed pack to them – perhaps something which encourages wildlife, such as flowers – these can make great Secret Santa gifts!
For gin lovers, you could give them this Grow your Own-Botanicals kit - 
Infuse your gin with botanicals at home!
This grow kit will have everything you need to get you started.
Cheers! For £15.99 from Into the Blue
Or you could give bees and butterflies a treat - give your loved one a pack of wildflower seeds!
Give wildflower seeds for our amazing bees and butterflies!
They really, really need our help!
The RSPB has a number of different wildflower seed packs starting at £2.75.
And they've got a special offer on some of their packs - you can buy 2 for £10!
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Give wildlife a home
There’s nothing like enjoying your own nature show! This afternoon I had a relaxing, restful and enjoyable time watching a chirpy robin, his head on one side as he pondered life, and it gave me great joy to see him with his beautiful red breast. And as well as enjoying the sight of birds and wildlife, you can also take part in surveys such as the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch (the last weekend in January) and the Big Butterfly Count for Butterfly Conservation (July-August) and have the experience of being a citizen scientist! (You can go to your local park to do these surveys, you don’t necessarily have to have a garden, by the way.) There are starter packs as well which could make an idea gift for someone who wants to get started with feeding the birds, for instance. Give the experience of sharing a garden with wildlife.
This Starter Kit Wild Bird Feeding Bundle is available
from Garden Wildlife Direct for £18.99.
If you prefer, they've also got homes for wildlife
such as hedgehogs, bees, insects, frogs and toads.
You could also think about giving them a pair of binoculars
so that they can study the wildlife from home.
These are the RSPB Puffin® 8 x 42 binoculars,
great for older children and adults -
even as a second pair! For £85.00
See the full range of RSPB binoculars here.
And they've got a guide for you if you're not sure what to look for when choosing binoculars.
Actually we found that once we started, we really wanted to do more and more and the variety of birds we’re now seeing is wonderful. We put a tiny pond in during lock-down and we have a frog and dragonflies who comes to visit who gives us great joy. The butterflies are loving our verbena, a colourful and tall purple flower, and our two buddleias. Note to me: I must plant more of it next year.
Do a workshop or course online
Technology gives us all the chance to learn online now and even gardening is no exception! Garden design, growing your own, zen gardening, garden design and maintenance, self-sufficient vegetable gardening courses, online container gardening, design and create your own country garden, floristry, flower and plant photography, the Online Peer RHS Level 2 Plant Nutrition and Roots Course, there is quite a choice - take a look at Red Letter Days, they have a list of them, plus a lot of other online experiences as well.
How about craft kits that will give you something for the garden?
Virgin Experience Days have this Windowsill Garden Kit by Crafty Hen for £30.00 and Craftiosity have a Woven Bird Feeder Craft Kit. Baker Ross also have a number of craft activities for anyone who loves gardens or to get the kids stuck in. If you’ve got someone who cannot get out and about, or who is very stressed, crafts can be a very good way to relax – colouring-in sheets for instance can be very mindful – just as sitting and watching the clouds or stars in the sky can be too.
Virgin Experience Days have this Windowsill Garden Kit by Crafty Hen for £30.00
Customise a trio of plant pots, sow your seeds and watch them grow!
This Woven Bird Feeder Craft Kit is available from Craftiosity for £27.95
There's a National Trust Build Your Own Dana Feeding House Kit for £20.00
Build your own feeder and watch local wildlife feed in your green space!
There's a Winter Gardening And Art Wellbeing Box™
available through Not on the High Street for £39.99
Nurture yourself & nature as you discover the daily pleasures of gardening & art
with this delightful Winter to Spring Activity Box!
How about a garden journal and planner?
So that they can plan their garden. Depending on how they are laid out, garden journals and planners can give them the chance to sit down and really think about what they want in their garden, or what they want to be different. What does someone need to add? Can they make better use of this corner, or that area? How can they make it more wildlife friendly? Do they need to make it easier to manage? Put more water features in it? What do they want to DO with their garden? Sometimes it’s a great way to just have a bit of a revamp and reinvention.
It's got a 52 week garden planner, so that you can record your weekly to do list
and reminders for next season. There's gardening advice, dot grids to help you sketch out
and plan your outdoor space, and charts to log the plants you're growing
and track how much sun your garden gets.
£16.55 from Hive.co.uk
So you see, you don't have to go to a garden to have an experience. You can create your own experience at home!