Let It Grow: 10 Gardening Must-Haves from Allandale Farm

Photograph by Michael Piazza, Prop styling by Kara Butterfield

1. Botanical Interests seeds, $1.69–$5
This company prints its packets with gorgeous illustrations and detailed directions and tips. “We’re plant nerds here, so we love as much information as we can get,” says Allandale horticultural manager Helen Glotzer.

2. Atlas “Bamboo Gardener” bamboo-rayon gloves, $7
“With a lot of garden gloves, you feel like you’re wearing bricks on your hands,” Glotzer says. But with this breathable pair, “you have dexterity.”

3, 4. Composite pots, $38 each, and Burley Clay Products pot, $13
The farm has a rainbow of planters to choose from, including American-made vessels from Burley Clay Products, which Glotzer says creates “designs that are very simple, rustic, and elegant.”

5. Secret Garden Herb Farm cast-cement artichoke, $32
This whimsical cement figurine was hand-poured by a Rhode Island artisan.

6, 7. Curly kale, $2 per bunch (in Ball jar, $2), and Hakurei turnips, $1.60 per bunch
In summer, almost all of the vegetables for sale at the stand are Allandale-grown.

8, 9. Spear & Jackson “Kew Gardens Collection” dibber, $20, and E-Z Digger, $19
More-esoteric tools can be found among the shovels and trowels in the garden center—Glotzer calls this dibber, used to make holes and furrows for planting seeds and bulbs, an “old soul.”

10. Dramm “ColorStorm” soaker hose, $37 (pictured with Dramm brass shutoff valve, $24)
“Soaker hoses are an amazing way to save both labor and water,” Glotzer says.

259 Allandale Rd., Brookline, 617-524-1531, allandalefarm.com.