December in the garden: what to do, plant and harvest at this time

December has arrived, cold and frost go hand in hand. The festive atmosphere of the end-of-year celebrations warms us up despite the temperatures that are close to negative outside. Most plants have gone dormant. However, make no mistake: there is still work to be done in the garden! In addition to the pretty Christmas decorations that are enthroned among the greenery, the plants must be prepared to face the cold. This is the time when mulching becomes essential, when watering is reduced to a minimum and when the greenhouses need to be ventilated. Didn’t you think you’d stay by the fireplace all winter? December in the garden: find out what to do, plant and harvest at this time.

In the vegetable garden:

• Sow under chassis: summer head cabbage, garden cress, Parmex round carrot, broccoli cabbage, spring cauliflower, parsley, chervil
• Sow in the ground on a warm bed: salsify, lettuce, peas, leeks, early carrots
• Plant: gray shallot, spring onion, tarragon, yellow onions
• Transplant: lamb’s lettuce, winter lettuce, head cabbage
• Keep: cabbage, leek, beetroot
• Blanch: capuchin beard, curly chicory, cardoon, escarole, endive, celery, fennel
• To harvest : asparagus, jet broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, endive, spinach, lettuce, lamb’s lettuce, parsnips, leeks, salsify, Jerusalem artichoke
• Abut : leek, early peas, broad bean
• Mulch: rhubarb
• Protect : winter vegetables
• To clean : the vegetable garden after harvest
• Cutting: mint, horseradish, rapunzel

Fruit and orchard:

• To harvest : bigarade, clementine, lemon, tangerine, orange, grapefruit, pomelos, yuzu, pomegranate, persimmon, pear kumquat (late varieties), ware apple
• Plant: plum, cherry, peach, jujube, persimmon, olive, vine, kiwi, gooseberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black currant, cranberry
• Cutting: black currant, gooseberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, vine
• Fertilize: plum, cherry, peach, vine
• Cut: kiwi, blackcurrant, plum, cherry, peach, vine
• Treat : apricot tree, almond tree
• Multiply: hazel
• Protect : lemon tree, orange tree, clementine tree
• Cure : all fruit trees
• Rid : the trunks and branches of mosses and lichens using a wire brush.

In the ornamental garden:

• Plant: hellebores, all shrubs, witch hazel, daphne, osmanthus, all roses, crocuses, snowdrops, narcissus, tulips, clematis, honeysuckle, Virginia creepers, wisteria, imperial dahlias
• Cutting: alder, oakleaf maple, flowering currant, paulownia, all shrubs, conifer, turkestan knotweed, actinidia, Virginia creeper, wisteria, myoporums lætums, acanthus and paniculate phlox
• Cut: bamboo, summer or deciduous shrubs with decorative foliage, bougainvillea, ivy, honeysuckle, summer-flowering clematis
• Protect : camellia, cenote, cistus, sage, palm, stem and weeping rose, cordyline, dahlia, canna, begonia, gladiolus, crinum, nerine, amaryllis belladonna, calla lily or arum, pansy, milkweed, sambac jasmine, lawn and turf, the roots of chilly plants with a thick mulch of dead leaves
• Check : the effectiveness of ties and trellising
• To harvest : the berries of the garden in order to sow botanical roses, viburnums, mountain ash, pyracanthas, holly
• To delete : mistletoe that clutters the branches of trees and weakens them
• Weeding and loosening: the soil between the clumps after weeding

Indoor plants:

• Treat and water: all green plants (yucca, dracaena, monsterra, etc.)
• Water: Indian azalea, Christmas tree, phalaenopsis orchids, cymbidium, miltonia,
• Cure : cyclamen, gloxinia, achimene, caladium, smithianta
• Fertilize: carnivorous plants nepenthes
• Clean regularly: dead leaves and faded flowers
• Reduce : minimum watering
• To avoid : fertilizers
• Mist: orchids and smooth-leaved plants
• Protect : drafty tropical plants
• To return : the bulbs to be forced inside

General maintenance in the garden:

• Fertilizer : bring a basic fertilizer in the vegetable garden
• Protect : fragile plants that are not cold-resistant with mulch or veiling (semi-hardy perennials prefer veiling)
• To avoid : trampling the lawn in freezing or snowy weather
• Maintain: the mower and keep it dry until the return of fine weather
• Remove : snow that accumulates on the foliage of evergreen trees and shrubs
• To place : frost protection irrigation system
• For the pool: lay a bundle of branches or floats to prevent the entire frost

Source : Rustica, Gammvert

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