Gardening Chores & Tips for December
Education
Check your local newspaper garden columns for the Master Gardener classes. It's a great opportunity to learn more about gardening and make new friends with a similar interest.
Garden Tools
Get rid of broken tools and any gadgets that have proven nearly useless. Clean, sharpen, repair and oil your tools before putting them up for the year. Also, have your lawnmower serviced before storing. If you find anything that needs replacing, put it on your Christmas Wish List.
Arrangements
Dried seedpods, ornamental grasses, cones from pines and other conifer offer interesting shapes and textures for arrangements and centerpieces. If cut now, they can be fashioned into wreaths, sprays, and bouquets that will last all winter. Boughs of pine, magnolia, boxwood and ivy will last longer in your holiday decorations if soaked in a bucket of water overnight.
Gifts
A tiny envelope of seeds saved from your garden is a lovely gift to enclose in your holiday cards. To equip a beginning gardener, fill a basket with gardening essentials. Choose a sturdy basket that will withstand a long life in the garden. Dress it up by tying a bow to the base of the handle and lining with a bed of tissue paper. Add a pair of garden clogs, canvas gloves, an apron, pruning snips and shears, seed packet and plant markers.
Camellias
Inspect for tea scale that appears as white patches on the underside of the leaves. Horticultural oil is good for control, but don't use within 24 hours of an expected freeze. Be sure to coat the leaves entirely with the oil. Follow label directions. This is also a good time to select and plant camellias for your garden. Plants are blooming now and you can choose the flower colors you prefer.
Check your local newspaper garden columns for the Master Gardener classes. It's a great opportunity to learn more about gardening and make new friends with a similar interest.
Garden Tools
Get rid of broken tools and any gadgets that have proven nearly useless. Clean, sharpen, repair and oil your tools before putting them up for the year. Also, have your lawnmower serviced before storing. If you find anything that needs replacing, put it on your Christmas Wish List.
Arrangements
Dried seedpods, ornamental grasses, cones from pines and other conifer offer interesting shapes and textures for arrangements and centerpieces. If cut now, they can be fashioned into wreaths, sprays, and bouquets that will last all winter. Boughs of pine, magnolia, boxwood and ivy will last longer in your holiday decorations if soaked in a bucket of water overnight.
Gifts
A tiny envelope of seeds saved from your garden is a lovely gift to enclose in your holiday cards. To equip a beginning gardener, fill a basket with gardening essentials. Choose a sturdy basket that will withstand a long life in the garden. Dress it up by tying a bow to the base of the handle and lining with a bed of tissue paper. Add a pair of garden clogs, canvas gloves, an apron, pruning snips and shears, seed packet and plant markers.
Camellias
Inspect for tea scale that appears as white patches on the underside of the leaves. Horticultural oil is good for control, but don't use within 24 hours of an expected freeze. Be sure to coat the leaves entirely with the oil. Follow label directions. This is also a good time to select and plant camellias for your garden. Plants are blooming now and you can choose the flower colors you prefer.