Gardening jobs for December

If you need an escape from all the Christmas preparations, your garden offers the perfect place to go. Most plants may be resting but work you do now will help get you in good stead for the new year to come.

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Garden maintenance for December

Feed the birds

Putting out high-fat (high-energy) foods for birds in winter will help our feathered friends to get through the worst of the weather. Adjust the quantity you put out according to demand, regularly wash bird feeders and throw away old food. If squirrels are a problem in your garden, take a look at our Best Buy squirrel-proof bird feeders.

A tray is good for ground-feeding birds, such as blackbirds, starlings and chaffinches, but be aware of rats, which may also be attracted. One technique that can prevent rats climbing poles to reach hanging feeders is to thread the pole through an upside-down plant pot.

Here's our round-up of the best fat balls for feeding birds. 

Brush leaves off hard surfaces

Leaves can make hard surfaces, such as paths, incredibly slippery, especially during wet weather. Brush the leaves off and either put them in black bin bags or a chicken-wire cage so they can rot down and make leafmould, which is great for mulching borders and beds.

Learn how to buy the best leaf blower

Sharpen secateurs

Sharp secateurs cut much more cleanly than blunt ones, so it’s well worth spending some time sharpening them. Clean the blades with wire wool to remove any plant sap that’s stuck to them and then sharpen the blade with a whetstone. Alternatively, Felco secateurs can be sent to the manufacturer for sharpening and repair if needed.

Tidy the shed

Take everything out and think about whether you used it during the past year. The Conservation Foundation (conservationfoundation.co.uk) takes donations of broken tools for prisoners to repair that then go to local schoolchildren and community groups. Wall hangers are good for keeping your remaining tools tidy.

How to choose the best shed

Grow-your-own-veg jobs for December

Remove all yellowing brassica leaves

Keep winter brassicas tidy by removing any yellowing leaves. The low light levels in December mean that even cold-tolerant brassicas can’t maintain many functioning green leaves. Removing old ones to compost reduces the slug habitat and also allows you to spread the annual mulch of 3-5cm deep of compost around the stems of Brussels and broccoli plants, to be ready for spring.

Learn how to control slugs

Watch out for parsnip canker

Parsnips can be harvested at any time of winter, but if your soil lies wet they may develop canker, a brown rot around the shoulders. It can be cut off but reduces what you can eat.

Read more about parsnip canker

Pick Brussels sprouts

Homegrown Brussels, sautéed rather than boiled and still bright green, are a highlight to any meal at this time of year. If yours are poor, make a note to sow the variety ‘Doric’ around mid-May next year, to plant around the middle of June. Pick the sprouts from the bottom of the stems up, as the lower sprouts are more mature.

Harvest leeks

Leeks of summer varieties (sown in April like other varieties, but maturing earlier) with long stems, want harvesting now as their shanks are at risk of frost damage. Leeks of spring varieties will grow a lot more in mild weather so are best left until March or April. If you’ve multi-sown your leeks like I do, you’ll have more than one plant per station. You can either lift the whole clump or insert a knife and cut through the roots to remove one plant without damaging the rest.

Learn how to grow leeks

Mulch asparagus and fruit

Having cut off all the woody stems on asparagus or autumn-fruiting raspberries, pull up any weeds and spread 2-3cm of compost, or 5cm on light soils. If weeds are thick, lay cardboard on top of them, then add the compost. For larger fruit bushes, cut cardboard to shape and snuggle it up around the woody stems. Thick cardboard smothers annual weeds until they die from light deprivation, then decompose in situ and leaves a clean surface, as the card decomposes and is eaten by worms. New asparagus spears can push through the decomposing mulch in spring.

Plant a Best Buy asparagus variety

Prune apple and pear trees

Remove dead/weak growth and crossing branches. Shorten this year’s growth on main branches by a third to a bud facing the direction you want it to grow in. Cut back side-shoots to five or six buds.

Read more about how to prune apples

Plants-and-flowers jobs for December