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Garden Advice For December And January
November 29 2008

 DECEMBER and JANUARY

December sees the Winter Solstice on the 22nd – the shortest day, and after that the days start to get longer again. The weather generally lags a few weeks behind the day length, so that the coldest weather usually comes along in January or February, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.

Winter Chill

We may wish the cold would go away but our plants positively NEED it. It’s the cold that induces our perennial plants to prepare for spring and blossoming, and without it blossoming may be poor or absent. So strawberry plants, potted up for moving into the greenhouse for an early crop, still need to be left outdoors till the end of January to make sure they will flower abundantly. Rhubarb will begin growing in spring only when it has had enough cold. The early varieties – the first to shoot - need less cold than the later types, which have to accumulate enough ‘cold-hours’ before they will start to move.

Our fruit trees behave similarly. Most European plums don’t blossom well in the southern states of the USA where the winters are mild, so they imported the Asian or Japanese Plum. This needs very little winter chill and crops early, and which is why we see these large, round, firm fruits in our supermarkets, grown in California.

Apple trees are sometimes grown in tropical highland areas where there is not enough winter chill, so here low-chill varieties like Vistabella can be used, but the range of varieties is limited.
Alternatively the apple leaves may be cut off the trees by hand in the dry season, giving the tree the shock of a ‘pretend’ winter, after which the trees blossom and fruit again when the rains arrive.
We may grumble about our winter but it makes growing apples a whole lot easier!

Sow
There’s still time to get in a row or two of garlic cloves if the soil is workable.
After the Solstice is the traditional time to sow exhibition onions in trays in the glasshouse, for planting out in the spring. You may prefer the simpler method of using onion sets to make normal sized bulbs, but a post-Xmas sowing is the way to get the biggest onions.

Clean
It’s also a good time for a general clean and tidy-up in the shed and glasshouse, and to give empty pots and trays a good washing. Jeyes Fluid is the best disinfectant for general garden use as it breaks down into harmless compounds.

Plant
The soil will still be workable this month – though it might freeze hard later in the winter – so now is a good time to get on with the planting of trees and shrubs while you can, and they appreciate an early winter planting. It gives the roots more time to develop, which they will do while the soil is unfrozen.

It’s a good idea to dig your planting holes in well in advance – this gives you time to deal with any obstructions you may come across, or dig another hole somewhere else. If your hole holds the water break up the base with a fork to aid drainage. If it still holds water choose another site. Waterlogged roots will rot and the tree will die. If all your land is low-lying you can plant on mounds of soil, made from spoil taken up from making drainage channels. If you mound-plant use a stout stake for trees and taller shrubs, as the mound soil will be loose until it settles.

Don’t add too much fertility to the planting hole – it encourages the roots to stay where they are, and you want them to roam and make good anchorage. A tree and shrub planting compost is ideal – especially if made from composted bark. This holds air and water for the growing roots, and has a firm texture that wont slump as wet peat will.
The traditional handful of bonemeal is ok as this is a slow release fertiliser, breaking down to give phosphorus for root development, some useful calcium, and a tiny amount of nitrogen.

Force
Now is the time to start forcing rhubarb with a large up-turned bucket or pot. Some growers recommend insulating the inside with straw etc., but just a bucket will still get you an advanced crop. 

The earliest common variety is Timperley Early, which naturally starts into growth about now if the weather is mild. Unforced it will make short stems, but forced these will be longer and more useful. Only force plants that have been established for 2 years or more, and after forcing let them recover their strength by not taking any more stems for the rest of the season. So it’s a good idea to have a few rhubarb plants to work with. 

Not all varieties force well, but if they refuse to come on early under the bucket, they wont come to much harm either.

Plan
Midwinter is one of the quieter times in the garden – there’s little sowing to do and the weeds aren’t rocketing away for once – but harvests can continue. This month you could be getting fresh cabbage, kale, Brussels, leeks, carrots, parsnips, swedes, turnips, and spinach. It takes a little forward planning – and now is a good time to sit down with the latest seed and fruit catalogues, put your feet up, and start choosing crops for next year.

Wishing you a Cool Yule and a Great 2009,

Phil Corbett - Cool Temperate Nursery