Jobs for December’s garden
Hello everyone and hope you are all well and keeping warm?
Winter is now well and truly with us, and we’ve had several hard frosts, a little snow and a fair amount of rain. In fact, I want it to stop raining now as our soil is plenty wet enough and starting to hamper work in the garden. When it is fine and dry I’m trying to do as much work outside as possible and at the moment I’m starting to prepare some new beds by lifting the turf and forking over the areas to allow frost in to break up the soil. The plan is to have these new areas prepared and ready for planting in March when the soil is warming up. Any work in the garden at this time of the year is of course hampered by short days. By half past three it’s starting to get dark and time to gather my tools to put them away. Fortunately, I can still potter in the greenhouse or potting shed when it’s dark outside because we have a light in the greenhouse! The greenhouse is full of plants being overwintered, so imaging my shock recently when I went into find an amazing crop of poppies! Unbeknown to me, Mrs Fish had draped nets of knitted poppies that are used in the village for Remembrance Sunday to dry before being stored for next year. I’m tempted to leave them as they add a splash of colour.
Jill and I have also been busy out and about giving talks and demonstrations to groups and it’s been great to catch up with lots of you and of course. During the talks season Jill is busy making parsnip cake and beetroot & chocolate cakes for tastings on our Gardening on the Menu talks and I feel it’s also my duty to sample every cake as part of the quality control! They are both delicious and the recipes are on our website in the ‘In the Kitchen’ tab – simply search for the vegetable ingredient.
With Christmas just a matter of weeks away, we would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas.
Jobs for December
To add some winter colour to your patio or front door, plant a container with a selection of evergreen plants to give winter colour and interest. In ours I’ve included Nandina with red foliage, Skimmia with its colourful buds and a lovely low growing Abelia with variegated leaves.
Once herbaceous perennials start to die down, they can be trimmed down to ground level with shears or secateurs. However, any with attractive seed heads can be left over winter to add structure to the garden and for the birds to feed on.
If you are overwintering borderline hardy plants in a greenhouse, on frosty nights drape a couple of layers of fleece over them to keep the frost off and don’t allow the compost to get too wet, just damp is ideal.
Make sure water butts are secure and connected to the down pipes to fill up with rainwater.
Evergreen foliage from the garden can be used to make lovely, natural decorations in the house over the festive period. Just like cut flowers, after cutting, stand the stems in water in a cool place overnight to charge up with water and then arrange and enjoy.
Poinsettias make ideal Christmas houseplants, but they need to be kept warm as they hate being in a cold room or on a draughty windowsill! Protect them on the way to the car, then when you get home stand the plant in a light, warm position and make sure the compost is kept moist, but not soggy.
Hardy vegetables such as kale, Brussels, leeks and parsnips can all be harvested fresh from the garden as you want them.
Continue to prepare the veg plot for next year by clearing away late weeds and spread a few inches of garden compost or well-rotted manure to improve the soil.
There’s just about time to plant garlic cloves in the garden if you can still get some. Even though it’s cold, they will root over winter, ready to grow when the weather warms up in spring
If you want some flower and veg seeds for spring sowing, Kings Seeds are offering a 10% discount on seeds purchased from their web site www.kingsseeds.com by quoting the code PT2025. It’s valid until the end of 2025. (T&Cs apply)
For more weekly gardening tips and advice, you can watch our gardening videos “Pots & Trowels” on Facebook or subscribe on YouTube for free. And don’t forget our weekly P&T podcast where we chat to gardening guests, give a few jobs for the week and answer your gardening questions. Available through your normal podcast provider or listen on www.potsandtrowels.com
Happy gardening
Martin Fish. www.martinfish.com