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Gardening Ideas December 2009

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I can't help thinking that us gardeners must be a relatively easy band of folk for whom to buy Christmas presents. Quality tools are always welcome and don't worry about doubling up, as spares are useful for helpers, or to cover for losses and breakages.

I can never have enough containers and remember one year being delighted when my children trooped in staggering under the weight of large clay pots. An unusual present, but absolutely want I wanted.

You could go one step further and plant them up (it's not too late for tulips). Buying plants is a bit personal, but a voucher will never be wasted. Books can be a bit of a lottery too, unless you are a fellow gardener and know what your friend likes. Then there are the slightly more frivolous packages.

For girls, pretty bags filled with brightly coloured gloves, soap containing pumice grains to loosen stubbornly ingrained soil, fragrant bath soaks to ease aching muscles and packets of seeds would be most acceptable. Men are more difficult but a garden knife, ball of string, hip flask for cold allotment days, warm socks and gritty Swarfega might be more their bag. What's on my list? A miners style headlamp to light my way as I tidy up after dark!

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What to do in December

. .....in the kitchen garden

• prune overgrown, unproductive fig trees to encourage short fruiting spurs. Prune long stems hard now and when they re-grow next year, wait until the new shoots reach 38cm/15in long and then nip out their growing tips. Stop sideshoots after two leaves.
• check soil pH (acidity or alkalinity) using a soil testing kit and add lime if it is too acidic, following the packet instructions carefully so as not to add too much in one go. This is especially important for plants of the cabbage family.
• Protect winter kales, sprouting broccoli and cauliflowers from hungry pigeons by covering them with taut netting. Alternatively, dangle old compact discs or foil from sticks.

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.. .... in the flower garden

• plant a holly for midwinter cheer and also to deliver sprigs of berries for your Christmas pudding. Generally, only female cultivars produce berries and they need a nearby male for pollination, so you might need a pair!
• move young shrubs that don't suit their position. It's hard to get things right first time and some might fail to thrive, while others swamp their neighbours. Choose a mild day when soil is neither waterlogged or frozen.
• add a new rose to the garden, putting Rootgrow into the planting hole. This adds vital mycorrhizal fungi that form a beneficial association with roots to help plants settle in. Use it with other plantings too.

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...... and in general

• put out seed and other food for birds, which now become more reliant for feed and water. They will repay this attention later by visiting regularly to help clear up infestations of bugs like caterpillars and greenfly.
• have a go at making your own festive door wreath from the garden. Use flexible stems or a circle of wire as a base and fix berries, cones, seed-heads or evergreen foliage to this using florist's wire.
• Keep a small can filled with rain water at the ready near your Christmas azalea. Their roots dry out quickly and the plant will shrivel if they aren't kept moist. They thrive on soft rainwater and dislike hard (alkaline) tap water.

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Q and A

Q: I don't want an artificial Christmas tree, but don't like the idea of the usual sawn off fresh trees. What else can I have?

A: Potted trees are usually smaller and more expensive. Bring them in just before Christmas, site away from radiators (we turn off the one nearest ours) and keep roots moistened. After Christmas, stand the tree outdoors and sprinkle slow release fertilizer on its compost in March. If necessary, pot on to a slightly larger container. Keep watered and bring in next Christmas. Sow seed (Picea abies or Abies procera available from Chiltern 01229 581137 www.chilternseeds.co.uk) as replacements.

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Q: I live in a cold region and my patio pots tend to crack and crumble. How can I protect them or will I have to switch to plastic?

A: First, always check that the pots are frost proof or resistant when you buy them, even if that means paying a little more. They are particularly vulnerable when saturated, so they must have good drainage holes kept clear by clay shards and a layer of shingle over the base and will keep better if filled with a quality, well-drained compost (50:50 John Innes no 2 and a multipurpose is my choice). The key is then to insulate by wrapping them in a double layer of the bubble polythene sold to insulate greenhouses. Obviously some rain must be allowed in for the plants inside.

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