December
Garden Tasks 2007
The weather stayed warm longer than normal this Fall, and after a
rudely hot Summer many of the roses are still looking fantastic. I
will hold off pruning them until after the holidays. Peach trees and
figs and grapes are all in prime pruning season. Many of the
ornamental grasses have gone down for the winter. I cut them
back to the ground.
I have left the last layer of fallen leaves from the Ginkgo tree to
give the garden some color. They will hold their color for most of a
month, much of it on the ground. This is the most colorful aspect to
my garden right now.
The rain seems to finally have convinced the weeds to grow. It is
time to make sure that all of the bare dirt is covered in mulch. The
nitrates that fall with the rain encourage the bacteria and fungus to turn
that mulch into the soil. The insects and worms do all of the hard
work and drag the little organic bits down into the soil, giving that
earth the structure it needs so that your plants can thrive. Having
a few lazy gardener tendencies, a little hard work now goes a long ways
later.
I am pruning in earnest trying to get it all
done. Many of the fruit trees have lost their leaves. I start
in on the winter pruning as soon as that happens in order to have time to
get to all of the plants that need it before Spring starts to push.
It always seems that some of them are starting before I can get to them.
Grapes and figs are generally finished for the season so they get if first
then the peaches and apricots. I might start in on some of the
climbing roses but hybrid tea roses will wait until January.
Plant your bulbs. Many of our bulbs have
started to grow. Narcissus and late iris are blooming. The
soil is still warm here and this is a great time to plant even if the
nights are a little chilly. The weeds are easy to pull and there are
plenty of them. It is best to tramp in the beds as little as
possible when they are very wet as it compacts the soil. So much of
the work in the garden is aimed at keeping the soil loose that it is a
shame to mush it all while it is wet and close up all of the space where
the water flows and the roots grow. I love the moist earth for its
scents and the renewed ease of digging. I transplant many of
the plants that have overstepped their bounds or have been crowded by
others. I am dividing plants to fill in gaps in my gardens.
I am using rose hips for holiday decorations.
The persimmons and pomegranates are a seasonal favorite of mine. I
put out cyclamens and also poinsettias in warmer areas. If you like
succulents Crassula falcata will be in bloom with its red flowers. Bush
marigolds and Mexican
Sage will be blooming in areas that don't experience deep frost.
It is difficult time of year to have projects
still going as many places have a full entertainment calendar. So I
try to wrap things up or at least get them to a good resting point through
the holidays. The extra energy is spent on keeping everything
"spot on".
December 2006
I am pruning in earnest trying to get it
all done. Many of the fruit
trees have lost their leaves. I start in on the winter pruning as
soon as that happens in order to have time to get to all of the
plants. It always seems that some of them are starting to push their
spring growth before I can get to them. Grapes and figs are
generally finished for the season so they get if first then the peaches
and apricots. I might start in on some of the climbing roses but
hybrid tea roses will wait until January.
Many of our bulbs have started to
grow. Narcissus and late iris are blooming. The soil is still warm here and this is a great time to plant
even if the nights are a little chilly. The weeds are easy
to pull and there are plenty of them. It is best to tramp in the
beds as little as possible when they are very wet as it compacts the
soil. So much of the work in the garden is aimed at keeping the soil
loose that it is a shame to mush it all while it is wet and close up all
of the space where the water flows and the roots grow. I love the moist earth for its scents and the renewed
ease of digging. I transplant many of the plants that have
overstepped their bounds or have been crowded by others. I am
dividing plants to fill in gaps in my gardens.
I
am using rose hips for holiday decorations. The persimmons and pomegranates
are a seasonal favorite of mine. I put out cyclamens and also
poinsettias in warmer areas. Crassula falcata will be in bloom with
its red flowers. Bush marigolds will be blooming in areas that don't
experience deep frost.
It is hard having projects still going as many
places are having their entertainment calendar as full as it gets.
So I try to wrap things up or at least get them to a good resting point
through the holidays. The extra energy is spent on keeping
everything "spot on".
