The Decorative Gardener's Diary - December
December is the time to take a step back from your garden, and to replan any parts that you are not happy with. New beds can be dug if the weather permits, of course. Paths can be laid and wooden constructions can be mended and treated.
December is the time to:
Prepare:
- Give the lawn a final rake and spike it to give aeration
- Reconstruct your rock garden if you wish
- Do NOT lay concrete in the frost, or if frost is forecast
- Prepare window boxes with fresh soil and plant with wallflowers or winter flowering pansies
- Improve soil by digging in humus-forming materials (manure)
Take cuttings of:
- Perpetual flowering carnations
- Chrysanthemums
Things to do:
- Protect any tender plants from hard frosts
- Cover delicate wall shrubs or climbers with hessian sacks
- Buds of Jasminum nudiflorum can be brought indoors as soon as they appear, pop them into water to help them to open before Christmas
- Cover tender rock garden plants with glass to protect them from frost damage and to stop them from getting excessively wet
- Bring in any roses planted in pots during October
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December in the Decorative Garden... 
