Gardeners' notes - what to do in December
Prune climbing roses
December can be a good time to deal with any climbing roses you have on the cottage or garden walls. We always try to keep everything tight, trying not to let anything become too bushy which can start to put stress on any supporting wires especially when wet.
Even in December, many plants will often have the odd flower. Don’t let this stop you getting on with the task in hand. Pick the flowers and have them in the house. For pruning go through the routine of removing any dead, diseased, or dying stems before taking back any of the long growth, (this may have flowers or their remnants), to two or three buds. If it’s a newly planted rose retain some of the best shoots and start to tie in and create a framework on horizontal wires. If an existing framework of stems has been previously created, retain it or replace anything you’ve had to remove with new growth. Climbing roses flower on the new wood that will be produced next year so you can be more aggressive with your pruning than you may think.
Keep pinching out sweet peas
If you are one of those organised gardeners who sows your sweet peas in October or November, the young plants will probably now have several sets of leaves. Start to pinch out the top set of leaves to keep the plants bushy. In mild weather they’ll keep on growing at a surprising rate. Keep pinching. It’s tempting to let them get as big as possible but you will end up with a forest of foliage with all neighbouring plants entwined and impossible to unravel.
Also, keep your plants cool. Cold frames or an unheated greenhouse are ideal. No advantage will be found by keeping them in a warm environment like a kitchen windowsill where the excess warmth and low light conditions to be found at this time of year will create plants that become etiolated and weak.
Plant tulips. Bargain prices too!
If you have nerves of steel it’s often worth waiting until December to purchase your tulip bulbs. Of course, numbers and choice of variety may be limited but they will often be found at half price or less and there’s still plenty of time to plant them. In mild years like the one we’ve just had, a later planting is always beneficial too. We’ve planted tulips as late as January before now. Bulbs planted earlier in mild conditions with the soil still relatively warm are particularly susceptible to tulip fire caused by Botrytis tulipae, a fungal infection that distorts the flowers and leaves. Once present in your soil it can be at least 3 years before the fungi is no longer active, something that prevents tulips from being planted during that time.
