December Gardening Tips

While gardening tasks and activities might be the last thing on your mind in December, it’s important to make sure you have your garden properly ready for the winter and prepped for the new year. To help you out with what to be doing throughout December, see our tips and advice below.

Gardening tips:

While the harsh weather conditions can badly impact upon your garden’s health and appearance, it’s essential to make sure we are doing everything to maintain it for the new year.

Check your winter protection is still securely in place to prevent any damage to your plants

If you have a driveway and paths that are regularly used it’s important to keep these salted for safety, but keep in mind any borders and that salt does not spread to these and kill any planting of lawn

Continue to clear any fallen leaves and debris from your lawn to prevent any markings on your lawn

Additionally try to avoid walking on your lawn if there is hard frost as this will cause the grass leaves to fracture – this causes marks to be left on your lawn once the frost lifts.

There are still many vegetables such as; brussels sprouts, kale, leeks, parsnips and broccoli, which you can planted over the winter period – advantages to growing veg over the winter period is that it can provide a great source of vitamins and nutrients.

Greenhouse owners, make sure your greenhouse heaters are working, using appropriate heating can make sure you are saving on price, and using minimal energy

Remember to turn off any water supplies to outdoor taps to prevent any burst pipes and leaks.

Indoor gardening:

Continue to ensure you have plenty of moisture for your plants and that they aren’t drying out with the increase of heating within your house over the winter period

Try to maintain your indoor plants in a steady temperature-controlled room – keeping away from artificial heat sources and ensuring no drafts are getting in.

Wildlife:

Now more than ever it’s important to look out for the wildlife around you and ensure you have plenty of feed and water available for them. Fat balls are a great thing to provide birds with the appropriate nutrients and care.

Further wildlife advice would be –

If you have a water bath for birds make sure this is regularly checked and not frozen over

Avoid cutting hedges until the end of winter to prevent damaging valuable shelters for birds

At the end of winter remember to clean out any bird boxes so they are ready for nesting in spring

Throughout the festive period there are many fun activities you can do:

Creating a bird feed Christmas tree – using a variety of nuts, fat balls, seeds and berries, you can create edible Christmas decorations that are friendly for the wildlife and hang these on a tree outside
Making ice sculptures – using water and small pieces of bird feed, leaves, twigs, you can create miniature building blocks which children can then use to stack and create ice sculptures, the best part is once you leave them outside and if they melt they are only leaving behind natural objectives or feed for the wildlife.

HTA – ‘Plant away the winter blues’. For some inspiration this December and the magic of enjoying your winter garden read here.