I know I’m a little biased about gardening and growing your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables, but I love giving vegetable seeds as gifts for holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions. In truth, though, I don’t think my gift giving is that far out of line. A lot of people love the idea of growing food, even if it’s only a few herbs or a favorite tomato plant. 

I’m also aware that part of the fun of both giving and receiving gifts is in the thoughtfulness that goes into a gift. So giving seeds as gifts requires a little more than just handing someone a packet of seeds you just bought from the big home and garden store. 

In fact, a school local to me recently made block-printed seed packets, and now I want to do it myself!

For garden enthusiasts with extensive outdoor gardens or those with the perfect little kitchen herb garden in a window box, here are some ideas that can make gift-giving a little more exciting for both of you. 

10 ideas for giving seeds as gifts to friends, family, and acquaintances

One way to approach giving seeds as gifts is to make your own package of seeds. If you save seeds or have extras from the seeds you buy, you can put together a little hand-curated garden set. You can keep it simple with a few small packets wrapped in ribbon, or step things up and include a bag of vegetable potting soil and a few appropriately-sized containers. 

1. Dinner Garden Kit. There are a lot of ways you could go with this. Put together a ratatouille garden with eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and bell peppers. A soup selection is nice, too. Perhaps potatoes and leeks for a nice stew?

2. Fall Harvest Seed Set. Here’s a fun option for putting together a set of seeds as a gift. Go with a fall harvest theme and include Brussels sprouts, kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, leeks, and cauliflower.

3. Herb Garden Starter Kit. Even for gardeners without much space, a small herb garden is a true luxury. Fresh herbs can lend wonderful aromas and flavors to a meal, and what’s better than picking your own? You could probably go with seeds or cuttings, depending on the herbs, but a small window box of perennials like rosemary, thyme, and oregano is one option. Or you could opt for a specific culinary selection, such as herbs de Provence (savory, rosemary, thyme, and oregano, and sometimes tarragon, basil, marjoram, and lavender). 

4. The Melon Garden. This one might take a bit of space, but it sure would be tasty! Is there anything better than a cool, fresh watermelon or cantaloupe on a hot August day?

5. The Root Garden. I love root vegetables as a food, and also because it’s so satisfying to pull these fantastic plants from the soil. You could design a lovely root vegetable garden with all sorts of vegetables: carrots, beets, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, parsnips, onions, shallots, garlic, and sweet potatoes. I’m probably missing a few, but clearly, this could be quite a large garden!

6. The Salad Garden. The possibilities here are almost endless: leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, red onions, carrots … I could go on, but you get the idea. 

7. A Salsa Garden. Here’s a fun idea to put together a collection of seeds as gifts. Make a salsa garden with tomatoes, hot peppers, cilantro, and garlic! Add tomatillos for a delicious version of green salsa.

8. Spring Harvest Seed Set. I love, love, love when those first spring vegetables come in. After a long winter, spring vegetables are a very welcome sight. This seed set could include radishes, peas, kale, beets, spinach, leaf lettuce, arugula, and pak choi. 

9. Buy them a seed subscription. While not hand-curated by you personally, there’s not much better than packets of heirloom seeds appearing at your door every so often. There are several options out there, but if you want to stick to vegetables (rather than flowers), something like Seed Bank Box seems like a good option. They offer a monthly plan, a six-month plan, and a yearly plan, and subscribers get a mix of edible flowers, rare varieties, root vegetables, fruit plants, and so on. 

10. Native Flower Seeds. Many of our vegetable plants wouldn’t be able to produce fruits without pollinators, and one way to get pollinators into your garden is by giving them their favorite flowers. In many cases, those favorites are flowers that are native to your region. So while this wouldn’t be giving vegetable seeds as gifts, it’s pretty darn close. 

Do you have a favorite way to give seeds as gifts? I’d love to read about it in the comments. 

Note: Food Gardening Network contains links to affiliate websites, including Amazon and Rakuten Affiliate Network, and we may receive a commission for any eligible purchases made by you through links on this page. Any reviews are based on honest reviews of the products.