Gardening A-Z
December is a good time to...
Keep planting your gourmet veges (like fancy lettuce and spinach) and herbs (like basil, coriander, and rocket) so you have a continuous and regular supply.
Remember to keep watering and make sure you do it in the morning, not at night, so the sun has a chance to dry the moisture off your leaves. If you water at night the moisture will rot the leaves over night. If your pot plants look like they’re getting a bit dry, put a thin layer of stones on the top to retain the moisture.
If it’s really dry around your tomatoes, put a thin layer of newspaper and then some compost on top to keep the moisture level steady. Stake your tomatoes. Avoid tipping water on their leaves so as not to cause blight.
Start digging up your new potatoes for Christmas dinner.
Keep applying pea straw mulch on your vege, herb and flower gardens. Watch out for aphids. Start deadheading your roses for their next flowering in autumn. If they’re hybrid teas, cut them back to where the branch is as thick as a pencil – so the next shoot that grows from there will have enough growth to produce a flower.
