December Gardening

It is not advisable to dig or disturb the earth when it is either saturated or frozen. Mulch any unused areas until conditions are more favorable for planting or digging. Consider placing your potted plants in semi-protected areas (up against the house, out of heavy wind) to give them a little help in winter.

Most of the leaves have fallen off of deciduous trees by mid-December, so it’s a good time for gutter cleaning.

Watch for too much moss on the roof or walkways. We sell moss killing sprays for roofs, which can make the physical removal easier. To remove, use a long-handled, bristle scrub brush and scrape only down the slope of the roof. Scraping up can damage the bond between shingles. Moss and algae can be slippery, so it’s important to always take precautions when working on roofs!

If you have pottery that you won’t be using for winter, it is usually a good idea to empty and store them in a dry area free from frost. Terra cotta is especially prone to breaking when frozen. Bird baths can also freeze and take damage if made of clay or stone. That said, birds still need water when the air is below freezing, so you might consider placing some temporary plastic outside for the season. Early winter is a good season for starting a regular winter feeding schedule of seed and suet for local birds.

Pansies, ornamental kale and cabbages, dusty miller, and some evergreen perennials and grasses can all help to brighten up containers on porches, patios, and entryways. They can also be planted in the ground if your soil is still workable (i.e. the soil is not waterlogged or frozen). With our infrequent snowfall, there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to enjoy a little color in winter. Pansies usually can take a pretty hard freeze and be back in flower within a few weeks.

It might be a little late for any division or moving of in-ground perennials, unless your soil is workable. At this point, the sooner the better—unless you wish to put the task off until spring. Dead annuals and frozen perennials can be cleaned up to make the garden a little tidier. As a possible alternative, stop to think about which of your plants might have seed or fibers still on them that would be good food or nesting for birds. You might consider leaving such plants in place.

Empty garden beds can be mulched with leaves, straw, compost, or bark if this has not already been done. If your mixed beds contain trees or shrubs, do not pile mulch around the wooden trunks. Keep in mind that compost will improve the quality of soil, while bark and leaves are better for weed control.

If you have nice evergreen trees or holly, you might be tempted to take some clippings for holiday decorating. That is fine, but pay some attention to how the plants will look after you make the cuts. With conifers, do not cut back into the hard wood. The plant may not be able to re-sprout from where you cut. Also, do not remove the central leader of a small tree. We offer many cut greens for sale to round out your selection of greens.

We carry a great selection of living Christmas trees at both locations. If you choose to decorate with a living Christmas tree, we recommend limiting its time inside to one week (at most). Of course, you can have a decorated tree on the porch for the entire holiday season. For other holiday color, look for the outstanding Callicarpa (beautyberry), Ilex: hollies, or the Cornus spp. (red twig dogwoods).

Many deciduous trees prefer to be pruned during late autumn to early winter. Acer species (maple), Betula species (birch), Carpinus species (hornbeam), Fagus species (beech), and Salix species (willow) all fall into that category. Other trees—like Styrax (snowbell) , Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle), and Cornus (dogwood)—can handle pruning at any time throughout the winter. 

Most fruit trees should not be pruned yet. If you have to make any major cuts on your shrubs (renovation pruning), it can be done in winter—althouhg most shrub pruning is recommended in other seasons. Most deciduous shrubs can be pruned now, but if they are spring flowering, you might want to wait until after they bloom. This is an acceptable time to prune grape vines.

See our Pruning article for more information.

Remove leaves from the lawn. If you are using your leaves as mulch in garden beds, it might be beneficial to shred them with the lawn mower before raking. The smaller pieces turn to compost more quickly, improving the soil in the spring. It is too late to fertilize your lawn effectively, and it is not a good time to seed, de-thatch, or aerate. If your lawn has bald patches, consider mulching the patches until spring to prevent weeds, then reseed in the new season.

Moss is probably starting to encroach. You can use a moss control product, but it will most likely continue to grow back over the rest of the season. If you do use a control product, make sure it is labeled for lawns, as some moss control products can damage or kill your lawn. We do sell some of the products useful for this.

Few vegetables should be planted in December, though kale may be an option. If you are working under glass or in a cold frame, other cold tolerant greens might work as well. Overwintering garlic and onions should have been planted by now, but you could have one last chance to get them in.

Slugs can persist throughout the winter, so keep an eye out if you are growing susceptible winter annuals or vegetables such as primroses or lettuce. Slug baits can still be used, though they might wash away in winter rains. Many weeds continue to grow in winter, and any weed you pull now will result in many less being present in spring.