Gardening – Dec 23

Tom Strowlger

@garden_with_tom

December is the most magical month of the year. It’s about decking the halls with boughs of holly and hanging up mistletoe whilst listening to our favourite Christmas carols. This time of year makes us feel warm and cosy enough to settle in a comfortable room and hibernate our way through the month. However, for us gardeners we can be outside in the fresh air and do some important garden jobs in preparation for the new year.

The garden will be in a state of winter dormancy with evergreen trees, shrubs and hedges giving us the finest of seasonal backdrops. We can use this month to design and create new garden features, borders and beds, and plant in the last of the spring bulbs before it’s too late. The garden becomes a blank canvas to make any changes and highlight any gaps to be filled with new plants in the coming months.

We need to keep the lawn grass clear of fallen leaves by raking or leaf vacuuming them up. This prevents a patchy lawn that will need reseeding in early spring. It’s important to keep the lawn grass exposed to as much winter daylight as possible to prevent it from being suffocated underneath a layer of rotting leaves. Once this has been done there is nothing more seasonal than the sight of sparkling frost on a neat and tidy lawn.

The most festive of sights is the wreath hanging on the front door, perhaps one we have created ourselves. It takes our love of gardening to a new level, using foliage and berries from the garden to be creative. We can create a homemade wreath by collecting in small amounts of holly, ivy and evergreen shrub foliage and placing the cuttings into a circular frame.

To give the garden a festive and seasonal feel why not hang some outdoor twinkly lights amongst the trees, shrubs and hedges, it will make the garden a magical place for the Christmas season and wintertime. The sight of twinkling lights amongst the wintry backdrop will create your very own Christmas card scene in the garden.

I love the magic of Christmastime and the feeling of goodwill it spreads amongst us all. The simplest of pleasures is to stand in the garden on Christmas Day and be grateful of everything good at this reflective time of year. I am very excited about my future gardening plans and will share those with you over the coming months. So on that thought I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Gardening Year.

Please do follow me on Instagram @garden_with_tom for more seasonal gardening advice and tips.