What to do in your garden in December

Keep your garden in good condition by working through our checklist of jobs to do in December. You can still sow flower seeds this month and, to keep things ticking along in the propagator, have a look at the hardy vegetable seeds to sow in December as well.

As mid-winter approaches, it’s a great time to browse through our website and plan your garden beds, borders and vegetable patch for the year ahead. Christmas is getting closer too – our selection of gifdt ideas is just the thing for hard-to-buy for garden lovers!

General December garden jobs

• Prune dormant perennial plants back hard to improve their growth next season.
• Service and correctly store your favourite garden tools and mowers to make sure they last for many years to come.
• Sweep patios and driveways so that any slippery algae and leaves are cleared away.
• Clear up leaves so that slugs and snails can’t shelter beneath them.
• Repair fences, trellises, and pergolas, replacing any loose posts or any that might be rotting at the base before they collapse and cause damage.
• Treat timber with preservative or wood colouring when perennial and annual climbers have either died away or lost their leaves.
• Clear the remains of any old crops away, adding these to your compost heap or to your garden composter.
• Spread a layer of compost over cleared soil using one of your best garden forks to work the compost in.
• Clean greenhouse pots and seed trays ready for next year.
• Keep your greenhouse warm using a heavy duty greenhouse fan heaters. You can also use bubble film as insulation. Wash the glass first to maximise light levels.
• Remember to keep the greenhouse and shed gutters clear of any leaves or debris.
• Keep an eye out for pests overwintering on plants, as small infestations of red spider mite, greenfly and whitefly rapidly spread. Use a mix of pest control methods now to reduce the pest population.
• Provide a supply of bird food to help migrating birds in the garden this month. Remember to hang bird feeders beyond the reach of cats.

Vegetables in December

• Sow broad bean outdoors and sow broad beans under cloches.
• Sow large onions during December and early January, transplanting the young plants outdoors in spring.
• Dig over frost free vacant areas in the vegetable plot ready for sowing and planting in early spring.
• Lift Chicory roots at this time after cutting back the growing tops. Pot up the lifted plants to force them to produce blanched, tender chicons with whitened leafy shoots. Make sure that light doesn’t reach the leaves by placing an upturned pot over the plants.

December pond care

• Cover your pond with netting to catch any falling leaves or debris.
• Remove filters and pond pumps so that they don’t suffer any damage from freezing water during the winter months.