Winter has certainly arrived in the past week with a cold snap taking us into the start of Advent. As we head towards the Festive Season we can enjoy lovely clear skies by day and look out onto beautiful frosty gardens in the mornings.
Hopefully, as Christmas approaches, you will also find some quiet time to sit somewhere warm and comfortable, to read some of the gardening magazines and books you never found time to read earlier in the year and conjure up some wonderful plans for your garden in 2024.
Some plants to enjoy in December
Winter-flowering heathers (Ericas), will flower in most garden soils for most of the Winter months and are very tolerant of both cold and exposure. Excellent for brightening up a few pots.
Mahonias are architectural shrubs with pinnate leaves and spiny tips, with beautiful bright yellow Winter flowers with a lovely lily-of-the-valley fragrance. Most Mahonias, such as Mahonia japonica, are large shrubs up to 3m tall, however there are also more compact varieties available.
Holly (Ilex) is a great shrub at any time of the year, but in Winter it provides vibrant green or variegated foliage with bright red berries which are loved by birds and festive decorators.
Sweet box or Christmas box, (Sarcococca) is a compact, evergreen shrub that bears tassels of tiny creamy-white, strongly scented flowers in deepest winter. This plant does well in shady areas.
Skimmias are evergreen shrubs which bear tiny white scented flowers and bright red berries at this time of year.
General Garden Maintenance
• Clean, oil and sharpen your garden tools ready for Spring.
• Keep bird feeders well-stocked with a variety of treats for your garden visitors and ensure water is also available to them in freezing conditions.
• Although it makes sense to water plants sparingly at this time of year, make sure that container plants and pots in the greenhouse don’t dry out completely.
• Protect tender palms and tree ferns from frost. Pack a few handfuls of straw into the crown, tie up the leaves or fronds, and then wrap the whole plant in horticultural fleece or hessian tying it off securely at the bottom. Don’t use plastic sheeting or bubble wrap because on warm days, your plants will sweat and rot.
• Indoors, keep your houseplants happy by moving them away from warm radiators and into a sunny, cool place where they will fare much better.
• If very severe frosts are forecast, float a football on the water in concrete lined ponds. When the water freezes, the ball will absorb the ice pressure rather than cracking the concrete sides.
Fish may suffocate if ice persists for long, so melt a hole by standing a metal pan on the surface filled with boiling water. Try not break up thick ice as this could injure the fish or if the broken ice falls into the water, this will lower the water temperature further and negate the insulating effect of the frozen surface.
Fruit and Vegetables
• Crop parsnips, leeks and winter cabbages as needed.
• Pick Brussel sprouts when they are about 1inch across.
• Dig any potatoes you have planted, ready for Christmas.
• Lift and divide clumps of Rhubarb, replanting the separated sections with lots of well rotted manure.
• Plant and support bare-root fruit canes, bushes and trees, provided the ground isn’t frozen.
• Cover any kale, winter cabbages and other brassicas with netting to protect them from hungry pigeons.
• Prune apple and pear trees to control their size and shape.
• Prune blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants this month to remove a quarter of the old wood and create the open goblet shape to support next year’s fruit.
Alpington and Yelverton 