Deck the halls with boughs of holly … or any greenery that you feel fits your festive creativity.
December is the time of year when the outside comes into the home in the form of foliage decoration and when gardeners can put their feet up, just for a few minutes – and perhaps do a bit of tool maintenance.
You can easily create a festive candle holder by taking a small terracotta flowerpot and covering the hole in the base with a coin.
Hold a candle upright in the middle, and then fill the pot with rice until the candle feels stable and stands straight.
Arrange moss, sprigs of greenery and berries on the top to hide the rice.
To create a natural look, stand some of your small greenery twigs upright in the rice base. Try using Rosemary, evergreen Yew, Contoneaster with its red berries and small dark green leaves and Pyracantha which has an abundance of yellow, orange and red berries … if the birds don’t get to them first.
There’s plenty of pruning to do at this time of year as well, which means keeping your secateurs in tip-top condition.
Make sure you give them a quick clean and a sharpen.
Simply rub the blade with wire wool or fine abrasive paper to remove plant resin. Then oil the blade so it’s ready for sharpening.
Sharpen using a circular motion on the sharpened side then turn it over and wipe the back of the blade to remove any debris.
If you are growing your own fruit and veg then start planning what to grow next year and order new seeds. You will get a wider choice of varieties now and can plan out sowing times for the new growing season.
But first, go through all you old seed packets and discard any that are out of date – then list any that you need to buy again.
You can also do some research into the best and tastiest varieties, as well as new crops to try, using seed catalogues, websites and magazines.
Consider which varieties worked well for you and which didn’t. If you have had disease problems look for resistant varieties to help you get healthier harvests.
Winter has definitely arrived and as the RHS says … as we approach the shortest day of the year in December you will need work to keep yourself warm outside, with jobs such as digging and tree pruning. Check your winter protection and if you have a greenhouse make sure the heater is working.
Hopefully there are not too many jobs left to do this year so you will have time for some fireside garden planning.
Top three jobs this month – check your winter protection structures are still securely in place, check that greenhouse heaters are working and make sure that you insulate outdoor taps and prevent ponds from freezing.
