December in the Garden

Checklist

• Check catalogs for seeds.
• Outdoor lights  provide warmth to frost sensitive plants.
• Protect citrus, bougainvillea, & other cold sensitive plants with non-plastic wraps when necessary.
• Keep poinsettias in a sunny, warm location. Feed monthly and soak the soil when you water.
• Keep leaves and debris from piling up; they shelter disease and insects.
• Apply second dormant spray of copper to fruit trees.
• Prune shade trees, and roses, and other sturdy shrubs while they are dormant. Remove leaves from roses to force dormancy.
• Avoid over-pruning of other perennials to reduce their susceptibility to freeze damage in the coming winter. 

Planting Guide

Vegetables & Herbs

• Start seeds in greenhouse or cold frame for Cauliflower, broccoli, onion, cabbage, lettuce, beets, spinach, carrots.
• Plant potato eyes.
• Plant asparagus, rhubarb and artichokes.
• Harvest Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips, rutabaga, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, and turnip

Bulbs and Flowers

• Plant any tulip and daffodil bulbs that you still have stored in your refrigerator. Tulips not chilled will bloom on slightly shorter stems.
• Some common cool-season perennials to plant are cyclamen, hellebores, Daphne, and iberis.
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• Plant asparagus, strawberries, artichokes, and rhubarb.
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• Sow directly in the garden in late winter for early spring bloom: Nigella, Snapdragons, calendulas, and corn flowers.

• Seed tidy tips, baby-blue-eyes, tarweed (Madia elegans), and clarkia into pots and then transplant soil is warm (65 degrees F.)

  EXTERNAL IMA