Dec 6, 2010
Gardening Tips and Jobs for December
Your gardening tips and jobs for December. A monthly gardening and landscaping guide. Easy to understand subtitles and bulleted instructions to follow. Written by Heather Tait, Compiled by Bridget Bryant
The Vegetable Garden
• Plant Leeks, by drilling holes with a pencil and just drop them in
• Water new veggie seedling each day ay the root area
• Liquid feed around all vegetables and particularly those cropping now
• You can plant ALL summer crops now, particularly cucumbers, zuccini and capsicum.
• Big leafy lettuces are now best planted with morning sun only as they scorch.
• Make sure you’ve got stakes up to 1.8m in for the climbing beans, tomatoes and corn.
Tip: If you are trying crops that you don't eat a lot of, do a little bit of research now about recipes you can try or ways that you can store (long term) your vegetables for a later date. This will mean that you can get the satisfaction of trying new crops, and you can stock up the cupboard or freezer at the same time.
The Flower Garden
• Good summer annuals in the heat are petunias, zinnias, verbenas and cosmos.
• The best annual in the shade is impatiens, although nicotiana (tobacco plants) will tolerate light shade
Tip: Plant now for autumn displays – heleniums, echinaceas and salvias.
The General Garden
• These temperatures get great results from weedkillers.
• Preparing for Mulching: weed around plants – water deeply (otherwise you just lock dry soil), then spread mulch to a layer of up to 100mm.
Tip: Don’t cut back hedges or overhanging trees now – the bright sun will burn foliage.
Lawn Care
• Dig out big perennial weeds by hand or put a tsp of sulphate of ammonia in the middle of them
• Water new lawns deeply once a day.
Tip: Mow often, but set the mower high – if you scalp your lawn it will burn.