Garden Planning, Tips and Planting Advice

Gardening Tips: December Lawn Care

Ensure that you have cleared leaves from the lawn using a good rake or blow vac. This is important, as a carpet of leaves can smother grass.

Check the condition of your lawn mower and consider getting it serviced ready for the new season.

Gardening Tips: December Pruning

Cut down all perennial plants that are out of flower and cut back winter jasmine to 30 cm from the base.

You can also prune deciduous hedges and hardy fuchsias.

Container pots and patio plants

If you have delicate plants in container pots on your patio or elsewhere in your garden, you must protect them from frost. If you have room, bring pots indoors. If you do not have room, insulate them with a layer of bubble wrap or Hessian.

Gardening Tips: December Plant or transplant

To plant, the type of equipment you will need includes:

• Trowel
• Shovel
• Rake
• watering can or hose

When planting or transplanting, use compost from your compost bin, manure or purchase compost. Once you have dug a hole big enough for the plant, add 2-3in of compost or manure into the hole to feed the plant. Fill the hole with water, preferably from your water butt and let the water sink in. Place the plant in the hole and water again. Fill in the hole with soil to the top of the root ball and water again.

Examples of the type of plants you can plant in December are:

• Fruit bushes and fruit trees – provided the soil is not frozen, you can still plant many varieties of fruit bushes and trees, for example:
  • apple
  • blackcurrants
  • gooseberry
  • pears
  • raspberry

You can also move any shrubs that have outgrown their current position.

Vegetables

Potatoes and onions, provided the soil is workable and well drained.

Flowers

Bare-root roses, provided the ground is not frosty.

If you receive hardy plants or tress from a nursery and the ground is not suitable for planting, you can keep the plants in bundles for a couple of days. However, after that they should be taken out of their bundles and 'heeled-in'. Heeling in consists of placing plants in a soil filled trench until they can be moved to their permanent position in the spring.