Your Garden In December
By Colin Dale, Notcutts Garden Centres
December is a month when the gardening work slows down, so there is a chance to reflect on the past year and plan for the year ahead. There are winter-flowering shrubs to enjoy, many with a delicious scent, and evergreen shrubs and conifers to admire for their form and colour. Visit your local garden centre to look at the range of shrubs and conifers available to add interest to your garden through the winter months. As long as the ground is not frozen, this is an ideal time to plant these.
Tender plants, such as melianthus and cordylines are best grown in large containers, where their evergreen leaves will add an exotic touch to your sitting areas or borders. These plants should be moved to a cold greenhouse through the winter months, or at least protected with horticultural fleece and moved to a sheltered part of the garden away from cold winds. Continue to dead-head Winter-flowering Pansies and Violas to stop them going to seed and keep them flowering to brighten up your garden through the short days. Make sure that containers do not go short of water as they will dry out quickly if not checked a couple of times each week.
Canny gardeners will still be harvesting winter crops, such as parsnips, leeks and winter greens from the vegetable garden. This is a good time to dig over vacant areas and plan the plot for next year's production. Incorporate well-rotted manure into areas that will be used to grow brassicas, peas and beans and remember to rotate your brassicas to avoid club root disease. Plan your seed requirements and ask your local garden centre when they will take delivery of seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic bulbs, so that you don't miss out on the best varieties!
If you grow bedding plants from seed, this is a good time to visit your local garden centre and buy your chosen varieties. Varieties such as Lobelia and Begonia can be sown in a propagator or heated greenhouse next month and grown on in small pots, until they are large enough to plant into hanging baskets or containers and kept inside until risk of frost is past.
Mark out new borders in the garden and dig over the ground in preparation for planting in spring, when your local garden centre will have a large range of spring and summer flowering plants in stock. When preparing the ground, remove large stones and any perennial weeds such as docks and dandelions. Incorporate a base dressing of fertiliser such as pelleted chicken manure and some well-rotted manure or garden compost. Plan the border to give maximum interest, be it with flower colour, leaf shape or evergreen form.
Don't forget to bring some of your garden inside through the festive season - be it flowering bulbs, scented winter shrubs or evergreens to decorate the house.
Top Ten Tips for December
1. Continue to dead head winter pansies and violas so that they continue to provide colour through mild weather. Make sure that containers do not go short of water during windy weather as they will dry out very quickly.
2. Protect tender evergreen plants, such as melianthus, cordyline and phormium with horticultural fleece or a layer of bracken or straw wrapped around the plant.
3. Move planted containers to a cold greenhouse or a sheltered part of the garden, away from cold winds. Wrap the container in bubble wrap or Hessian to help prevent the roots becoming frozen and prevent the container from cracking.
4. Take down shade netting or wash off shade paint from the greenhouse to allow in the maximum amount of light. Open the vents on mild days and water very sparingly through the einter months.
5. Bring forced bulbs such as hyacinths and narcissus 'paperwhite' into the house to enjoy their scented flowers as they develop. Water sparingly and provide support where necessary.
6. Visit our Plant Centre and choose from the range of evergreen shrubs and conifers to plant now. As well as providing valuable winter colour and form in the garden, they will be useful in future years to decorate the house.
7. Mark out new borders planned for the garden and dig over the area, removing perennial weeds and any large stones. Plan your plant purchases for next spring.
8. During dry weather, continue to dig vacant areas of ground in the vegetable garden. Hoe between winter crops to keep weed seedlings under control.
9. Plan production for next year’s vegetable garden and check with Plant Centre staff on their deliveries of seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic bulbs, which usually arrive early in the New Year.
10. Enjoy your garden on warm days and take advantage of the many winter-flowering shrubs, such as viburnum and shrubby honeysuckles, which are often deliciously scented.