Gardens go up a gear in December – plants, seeds, weeds, pests – everything starts to zoom along in the heat.
Keep your crops in peak health and epidemics at bay with a daily garden stroll – it’s hardly a chore is it?! Catching problems early makes for simple solutions and a peaceful, easy life.
Those little jobs done there and then keep everything steadily + happily ticking away. Squash a few aphids, clear windblown flowers off new seedlings, pinch small laterals off tomatoes. A little each day, adds up to alot.
What to plant + sow in December
December is all about succession crops. Plant and sow a few more of your favourites to keep the harvests flowing in, in a regular way.
Sow
Direct Sow
- Carrots and parsnip
- Sow coriander and rocket in part shade – beneath taller crops works well.
- Flowers like cosmos, bishops flower, cornflower to keep the bees and beneficials fed.
- Sow summer greencrops in every space: phacelia, buckwheat, mustard, marigold, bishops flower, daikon, flax, crimson clover or lupin are all great options. Make a mixture! The more diverse the ground cover the stronger your soils.
Tray Sow
- Climbing beans, dwarf beans, corn, cucumber, zucchini, tomato, dill, basil, chervil, red onion, spring onion
- Zinnia, anise hyssop, sunflower, cleome, migonette, love lies bleeding and loads of marigolds
Direct or tray sow
Transplant
- Corn, leeks, red onions, spring onions, potatoes, parsley and companion flowers
- Last call to plant out melons, squash, kumara and yams. They need to be in ground early summer at the latest if you want them ripe by autumn
- Plant tomatoes, basil, marigolds, zuchinni, melons, cucumber, dwarf beans, climbing beans and soya beans into the greenhouse, unless you live in warmer climes an can plant them outside
In Praise of Dwarf Beans
Dwarf beans go from seed to harvest in 9 weeks! – super useful for filling an upcoming harvest gap. They grow fast, then crop all in one go and thats it – c’est fini! For continuity of supply, sow a new little row every fortnight or month – whatever suits.
Dwarf beans are the best bean for windy sites, because they are easy to tuck away out of the blast. Hold them up with a stake either end of the row and a bit of twine about the middle – no frames, another bonus!
Regular + odd jobs
- Harvest onions and garlic and get them up and curing. Especially if they are heading off to seed – the bulbs wont fatten anymore from here. Re sow the bed right away with a greencrop or plant a light feeder like beans or saladings.
- Make a compost pile or 3
- Move worm farms out of the afternoon sun.
- Fossick beneath potatoes for the first new spuds of the season
- Manage pests with a new mindset – stay chill!
- Lay bird net over fruits at the first sign the birds have found your crop
- Its hot, its dry and its hard yakka growing all that produce – keep your soil and crops in good nick with proper watering, living mulch, homemade mulch and liquid feed.
Harvest herbs
Mint, thyme, lemon balm, roses, chamomile and oregano are lush and ripe for harvest right now. Catch leaf herbs before they flower, and flower herbs when they are at their height of perfection. Pick them in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sun burns off their oils. I dry them in my dehydrator.
They will dry perfectly well, hanging in small bunches or laying in single layers in baskets or woven trays, somewhere warm, airy and out of direct sunlight.
Jars of homegrown herbs are super useful for winter in cooking, medicine and herb teas. They make lovely christmas pressys too.
