December Gardening – What To Do In The Garden In December

“I wander forth this chill December dawn: John Frost and all his elves are out, I see.” Now the frosts have arrived, and with limited daylight hours available, December gardening this year feels like a real scramble to get everything done before Christmas. There’s lots to clear away, and plenty of December gardening jobs still to do too. Welcome to my December horticultural update, let’s take a look at what to do in the garden this month.

What to do in your garden in December

For my gardening by month guides, I split my posts into flowers, vegetables, jobs, and wildlife for easier reading. And this month I’ll also share some December gardening tips, as well as some jobs for the Winter garden. Cat yoga not included 🙂

December flowering plants – flowers that bloom in December

As I’m writing this post, we’ve had our first frosts, and are due to have a few more days of icy weather. So, for the last time this year, here are the annuals and perennials lighting up our December garden. Starting with the cover picture of our glowing red cyclamen in a pot by the front door.

Annual Plants

Annuals are defined as growing from seed, flowering, setting seed, and then dying, all within one year’s growing season. We’re still experiencing some vivid December gardening colour from our blue Cornflowers and blue Borage*, and my all-time favourite Spanish Lavender – all sown from seed this year, and all edible too. (Technically, lavender is a perennial, but this is a very tender variety, so I sow afresh every year, just to be on the safe side).

And we’re making the most of the colourful purple and white blooms on Cobea Scandens vines* (aka Cup and Saucer plant because of the shape of her petals and sepals). As soon as we get a prolonged period of frosts, these will die off though.

Perennial Plants

Perennials are plants and shrubs that die back at some point in the season and come back again the following year – you can never have too many of these great value garden essentials. Not all perennials die back in Winter though, as this lovely red Skimmia in a pot by our front door and the little red Cyclamen in our flower bed testify. Gorgeous jewel-like colour to light up any outside space.

Other glowing hits of colour come from this tough-as-old-boots Vinca Major, aka Periwinkle, growing rampantly by our small frog pond. And my favourite hardy Geranium Rozanne in another of our flower beds. When in doubt, plant a geranium, they are brilliant plants that will not let you down.

The frosts have sadly done for our salvias now, all their leaves have turned black – I took these photos of our purple and red salvias a couple of days ago. So, I’ll cut them all back down to just above ground level and give them a good mulch. These are tender perennials but as long as their roots are protected, they’ll grow back next year.

Winter fragrance is very welcome when there’s less colour to enjoy, and our honeysuckle is beginning to throw her sweet perfume around at the front of the house. Unbelievably, we still have a handful of very late flowering scented gladioli murielae too, which makes planting out those 400 corms earlier this year all worthwhile!

Not to be outdone in our orchard, the sweet-scented yellow Mahonia, and heady Daphne Odora are also full of Winter fragrance, which is most welcome when we’re raking up all the leaves.

Despite the cold weather, some roses are still putting out new blooms – this is one of our stalwart bush roses. And my favourite Hydrangea is turning from brilliant white to a speckled pink. Tip: leave the faded flower heads on your hydrangeas until Spring, as they provide frost protection to the newly swelling buds further down the stems.

The frosts have called time on our dahlias as well now, all their leaves have turned black too. December gardening dahlia tip: if you can’t be bothered to lift and store your dahlias somewhere dry overwinter, do what I do and cut them back to ground level then mulch them heavily to hibernate in peace. As some flowers fade, others are reborn: the first of our Winter hellebores are emerging, as is one of our little self-seeded wild primroses. I think it’s probably too soon to say, “Spring is coming” though!

Seeds

Since many of our flowers have died back, we’re now enjoying some beautiful seed head structures – from left to right, Acanthus Mollis, Lunaria, and Sedums. I’ve harvested seeds from both the Acanthus and Lunaria for sowing next Spring – fingers crossed for some new plants.

While on the subject of seeds, I also sowed some sweet peas into Rootrainers* last month – look at them now! They’re quite leggy so as soon as they develop two pairs of proper leaves, I’ll pinch out the tips to encourage bushier plants. Then I’ll leave them to over winter in the greenhouse.

The very last flowers to plant in December are my 280 tulip flower bulbs for bursts of Spring colour next year. Now we’ve had our first frosts, as tulips do better in colder ground, I’ll be making full use of my long-handled bulb planter* to help me plant them all.  Tip: if you’re planting in pots, don’t let them get waterlogged over Winter, pop them onto bricks so they don’t sit in puddles.

What to do in the vegetable garden in December

Vegetables in December

December jobs in your vegetable garden include any final clearing and digging over of the soil. Tip: pile some chicken pellets or well-rotted manure on top – the worms and frosts will break up the clods for you. And then start off some seeds indoors for lettuces, cabbages, cauliflowers, spinach, salad onions, and turnips next year. Last month I sowed my broad beans* in Rootrainers* and they’ll over winter in our unheated greenhouse. Depending on how big they get, I may plant them out next March and cover the tender new plants with cloches*, polytunnels*, or horticultural fleece* to protect them from frosts.

Fruit in December

Caring for fruit trees in December is quite easy. Now is the perfect time to prune apples, pears, and any grapevines, to maintain an open, balanced frame and increase their productivity. Leave any soft fruit trees until Spring, although you can take hardwood cuttings from currant plants to make new plants. The cuttings should be 25-30cm (10-12″) in length, then buried in compost to about half their depth. It’s also time to remove any large, unripe figs, leaving the very small buds behind as they’ll carry the fruits for next year. If you’re really lucky, you might still find the odd small wild strawberry too 🙂

December gardening jobs – things to do in the garden in December

First up on your December gardening to do list is moving any tender plants inside that you haven’t done so already. Our pelargoniums are in the conservatory and on hand for rose or orange flavoured herbal teas. And our potted fuchsias and one potted dahlia are in the unheated but frost-free greenhouse.

Earlier this summer our aloe veras, avocado, and lemon tree enjoyed their time outside, but they’re inside our conservatory now too, keeping the Christmas Cactus company.

December lawn care is all about collecting the last piles of fallen leaves (Alan uses a leaf blower*) and stuffing them into biodegradable leaf sacks* to rot down into leaf mould. This is a brilliant – and free – organic matter soil conditioner for your garden plants. Tip: avoid walking on your lawn when it’s blanketed by heavy frost or snow, as this damages the cellular structure of the grass blades.

Other winter gardening jobs to add to your monthly gardening checklist include making time to dig over your compost heap or compost bin, to aerate the contents. And continuing to mulch any tender plants with a with a thick layer of my favourite Strulch*. Straw + mulch = Strulch 🙂 This not only acts as an insulator and soil conditioner but also a great slug/snail deterrent too.

Now’s also a good time to hard prune any overgrown shrubs and hedges while they’re dormant – we’ve just had our hedges done. And lastly, wash down all your garden tools and give the metal parts a good squirt of WD40* to help prevent rusting. Good quality garden tools are expensive, so it’s worth maintaining them to make sure they last for many years to come.

Gardening for wildlife in December

Alan is topping up our bird feeders daily with quality wild bird food* and high energy fat balls*, to keep our feathered friends well fed this Winter. And as we have plenty of berries and seeds for them to graze on elsewhere, we’re lucky to have lots of birds visit us: robins, tits, finches, thrushes, blackbirds, crows, jackdaws, pigeons, magpies, and more. Caroline has a great list of UK birds you can keep a look out for this month.

December pond care has started in earnest. The old red football in the water prevents a solid edge-to-edge ice sheet forming and suffocating all the fish, frogs, newts and other water denizens.  But if you do find ice, please don’t shatter it as that will send shock waves through the water and alarm, or even kill, any hibernating amphibians or fish. Tip: hold a saucepan of boiling water on the ice for a few minutes to melt it.  This works more slowly but it’s a far gentler approach.

We’ve also left a few leaf piles in corners of the orchard, for the hedgehogs to have somewhere to hibernate safely. And cleared the undergrowth away from two hedgehog holes in our orchard fence, so they can come and go more easily until then. Tip: if you’re getting a boundary fence, please consider cutting a hedgehog hole at the bottom. Hedgehogs have huge territories and can travel miles in search of food. Let’s not make it harder for them, especially at this time of year.

December gardening – a summary

And that concludes my December gardening update, the first of the Winter months but the last of this year. Being able to spend time outside, watching the magic of the changing seasons is something I never take for granted. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t, but that’s all part of the joy of gardening. You should never be afraid to try new ideas, I promise you Nature is a very patient and forgiving teacher. For now, I’d like to wish you a very peaceful and restorative festive period, and I hope you’ll join me again in the New Year for the first of your virtual visits to our garden and orchard in January 2023. 🙂

Have you been doing any gardening in your outside space this December? Did you find any of my tips useful? And if you’ve been following all my gardening calendar updates this year, which was your favourite of 2022?

* This post features affiliate links but all opinions are my own (see my Disclaimer).