Flower of the month: Rose
December is the calm-before-the-storm-month for the majority of gardeners. However, there are exceptions in regions facing bitter cold and snow where gardening goes into hibernation.
Autumn colour is gone, spring is a colourful thought away and, on the whole, there is surprisingly little in bloom but if you have been a little conscientious, the vegetable garden should be bursting with scrumptious organic food and general well being.
This is not a month in which gardeners can put their feet up and relax as there is much to be sown and grown for the month and years to come.
Winter doesn’t mean no work in the garden. It’s time to sow fruits, vegetable, flowers and herbs
To help you in your December gardening, here are some suggestions for you to get to grips with.
Vegetable seeds to sow this month include: Spring cabbage, loose leaf and quick-growing pointed cabbage, cauliflower, black mustard, giant red mustard, mustard mizuna, mibuna, Chinese salad greens, Chinese cabbage, bok choi, chopsuey greens, texel greens, turnips and turnip greens, Swiss chard/leaf beet, spinach, many types and colours of lettuce, calabresse, radish, spring onions, beans, broad beans, peas, snap peas/sugar peas, potatoes, swedes, celery, chicory and endives. Tomatoes of all varieties may also be started off as long as they can be given suitable protection on cold nights from cold winds.
In the herb garden: Green mint, apple mint, white mint, peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon mint and other members of the extensive mint family can be sown now as can lots of jewel-bright nasturtiums in climbing, bush, dwarf or trailing form. Also sow generous amounts of versatile calendulas, flat leaved and curly parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, marjoram, coriander, chives and garlic chives, rosemary, chervil, borage, chamomile, watercress, landcress, lemon balm, lovage, aniseed and dill. The first half of the month is also ‘last call’ for fast-growing lavender species which, with correct care and attention, can be enjoyed in bloom in as little as four months after sowing the seed.
In the flower garden: December also gifts a final chance at creating an exhilarating display of seasonal flowers for a late spring showing with the following, simple to grow, contenders ready and waiting to vie for the best spring garden mix: gently waving cosmos, drifts of Queen Anne’s lace, nemophila, sweet peas, bellis, ageratum, larkspur, sweet sultan, phacelia, cornflowers, linaria, ‘brachycome’, pansies/violas, linum, petunia, arcotis and blaze upon blaze of annual poppies.