December is for most a month of celebration and festivities and the planning and enjoyment of such can really eat into your gardening time. But inevitably there will be bits and pieces to do. So what are your December gardening tasks?
Just took a quick look around the garden, it is still too cold for a longer look. I lost one Lavender but that looks like the extent of the permanent damage. The majority of the perennials have been forced into giving up the green. Looks like my December chores will include cutting back the ugly parts for the most part, two of the Lantana need to be potted since they will be moved to the front yard next spring, the bush Lantana needs to be moved to a more open area. When the ground dries out some, I have a new bed area I created on Wednesday where the other Lavenders will be planted. The potted Rue and Fennel do not like being potted so I need to put them in the ground. Since we still have freezing temps at night and the daytime highs are not very high anyway, I have at least a week before the replanting can be done.
December is the month that I do very little in the garden. Everything that needed pruning has been done and everything is already mulched. All frost hardy plants are taken care of so most of the time that I spend outdoors this month is clearing the pond of leaves, feeding the birds and setting humane traps in the hut for fieldmice. Roll on spring - please!!!
The lawns need a mow which we will endeavour to do tomorrow. A bit of a general tidy up and absolutely MUST fleece the tree fern which we didn't do last year with disastrous consequences. Other than that I can't think past all the Christmas shopping that's left to do!
Here in Essex, the garden is mostly taken care off, altho like you Sharon, the grass could do with a cut, which in turn picks up all the leaves which have finally fallen from the willow! On the allotment I need to rebuild the fruit cage as I have added some more fruits to the plot so need more room. In the greenhouse I am going to sow onion seeds in modules and overwinter them to plant out in March. I am hoping to produce really sturdy young plants which will be able to shrug off the alium white rot which rampages throughout our allotment. I still have loads of veggies growing on the plot, so really it will be visiting as and when I need to restock the fridge.
Our yard is full of oaks, so raking leaves mostly. These will be put on the flower beds. I will fill some large yard bags with them and put some grubs in it to make me some really good dirt. I might try one with earthworms too. I am also going to rake he neighbors yard as they only burn their leaves. I was hoping for my yard vacumn for my riding mower but not this Christmas.
I'm waiting for the first light frost to put a few remaining things to sleep, then there will be a final rush to get those that are only marginally hardy protected, before a hard freeze. The Dahlia tubers still need be dug and stored, as well as a load of Gloriosa tubers. The small Colocasias that I propagated this year are still in pots, so I want to cluster the pots together and shelter them somehow. I'll probably corral them with bales of pinestraw and dump leaves in on top to cover them up. If I'm lucky it may be January before that freeze hits us, or maybe tomorrow night . . . we'll see.
We are supposed to see a freeze tonight, but all is tucked in in the garden. I picked up something called a winter rose today at the nursery. It really is a poinsettia with little wrinkly bracts. Nifty, but expensive. I got only one. Supposed to be a bit hardier than a nonwrinkly poinsettia. We'll see. it can't be outside below freezing. It sits upon the kitchen counter now until it finds a home.
Still raking here. Mainly I will cut all the old flowerstalks to make the beds more open and less attractive to rabbits and field rats.
I didn't get anything done last month bcause of all the rain, so I have alot of tidying up to do. I was going to move a tree, but will probably wait now. And perversely, the grass has had a heyday with the wet and has grown rampant. And my daily bunny chores have yet to be done, they are first to get my attention. Glad it isn't freezing for the forseeable future, so they have access to water readily.
I am getting to dumps of compost today. It needs to go through the winter before I use it except where the grass burs are.I'm told they can't stand good fertilize so here goes.I'm ready to try anything.
Checking on the troops in the little greenhouse from time to time - so far the plastic "make-do" covers over the holes where I need to replace glass panes are working okay. Slowly gathering oak leaves out of the strawberries (needs to be done by hand - the rake just yanks up all the little runners)... Some cleanup of old iris and daylily leaves. Most of the trimming and raking is already done, so not too much happening until Feb when I need to start whacking the old grapes back, and the wind that brings down branches to be picked up usually doesn't show up til January, so this is the quietest month of the year for the yard. (Good thing, Christmas keeps us busy inside anyway) Not stopping me from playing around with my houseplants, of course...
