Charlotte's Garden

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Monthly Garden Tips

December

Birds

Keep those bird feeders filled to keep the birds happy. If you hang a feeder near a window you can enjoy them, too.

Bulbs

Plant your Spring bulbs before the ground freezes. If you can't get to them right away, cover the bed with straw or mulch to keep the soil soft and workable until you can get to it.

Camellia

Camellias are in bloom now, so if you buy them now, you can choose the color and the shape. Plant in moist, well-drained soil, in a place that gets 4 to 6 hours of filtered sun daily. They prefer acid soil that is rich in organic matter. Work compost or sphagnum peat moss in the soil. They are not hardy, outdoors, in the upper South.
Suspect petal blight, if the tips of the flower petals are turning brown. Check the blossoms. If the center is brown and mushy, it probably is petal blight. Remove the infected flowers, and all mulch and debris which harbor the fungus. Spray the opening flowers and the ground with Zineb, according to label directions. After blooming if finished, drench the soil with captan or Terraclor to help prevent recurrence next year. Apply new mulch.

Flowers

When the soil is dry enough and workable, start preparing your beds for Spring planting. Turning the soil will destroy grass and weed seed, and expose insects to be eaten by the birds, or be killed by the cold weather. Work in generous amounts of organic matter.
You can set out violas and pansies during the winter, in the Lower and most of the Middle South. Mulch with pine straw to protect during cold snaps.
Remove spent stalks from perennials, and pull out annuals that have been browned by frost.

Fruits

This is the season for planting small fruits, like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, pomegranates, pineapple guavas, elderberries, muscadines, and grapes.
Clean up leaves and decaying fruit from under fruit trees. They can harbor diseases. To control insects and their eggs that may be over wintering, spray with dormant oil, when temperatures are between 40 and 85 degrees and aren't expected to drop to freezing for at least 24 hours.

Houseplants

Weekly grooming will keep your houseplants healthier and better looking. Dust leaves with a dry cloth, paper towel, or sponge. Trim off dead leaves and branches. Pinch back plants that start getting spindly or leggy.
Lack of humidity is a problem for most houseplants. Mist those that don't have hairy leaves or aren't cacti or succulents. To supply humidity without misting, place plants on a saucer or tray filled with pebbles and water. Make sure the bottom of the pot doesn't cone in contact with the water.
Check the soil by sticking your finger about an inch into the soil, before you water. Over watering kills a lot of houseplants.
Stop fertilizing until early March, then resume normal feeding.
Keep them away from window panes when the temperatures are freezing. If you cannot move them, put several layers of newspapers, between the plant and the glass.

Lawns

Scatter seeds over bare spots, if you over seeded your lawn. In dry spells, you might need to water newly seeded lawns.
If your soil is acid, your lawn may need lime applied every 4 or 5 years. A soil test will tell you if you need to add lime and how much. Your county extension agent can help, or you can get a kit at a home garden store.

Mistletoe

While oak, sycamore elm, tupelo, and river birch trees (the most common hosts for mistletoe) are dormant, mistletoe is easy to see. Remove as much as you can, for the health of the tree and for holiday decorations.

Poinsettia

Keep poinsettias away from drafts of cold air and from heat sources, such as radiators, heating vents, and fire places. Over watering is the most common mistake, so keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Don't let it dry out completely, either. Bright light, but not direct sun, helps keep the colors bright. When the soil warms in the garden in late spring, transplant your poinsettia to a partly sunny spot and cut back by one third.

Roses

From now till February, in warmer areas, after a killing freeze or frost, is a good time to move a rose bush. Take as much root as you can with it.
Prune out dead or broken canes.

Shrubs and Trees

After a frost, apply mulch around your shrubs, trees, roses, and evergreens. If you mulch too early, the heat held in, may keep them from going dormant, resulting in more winter damage.
Try not to keep living Christmas in the house longer than a week. Make sure the root ball doesn't dry out. Choices for the Upper and Middle South include spruce, hemlock, Douglas fir, and white pine. For the Lower and Coastal South, Eastern red cedar, Leyland cypress, spruce pine, or Virginia pine are good choices.
When you gather holiday greenery from the garden, remember you are pruning the trees in the process. Cut back to a leaf or branch and don't leave a stub. Holly and Southern magnolia will grow bushier as a result. If you take greenery from conifers, don't cut back past a branch's innermost needles, or it will die.
This is a good time to plant pine and other coniferous trees. Your nursery or county extension agent can tell you which varieties are best for your area.
Remove dead and unwanted branches from trees and shrubs, now through February. Make the cuts clean and flush with the trunk or at a branch's point or origin.

Vegetables

Even if their tops die back, leave turnips, rutabagas and other root crops in the ground and harvest as needed. The roots live on, after the tops are damaged by the cold.

Vines

For maximum production, prune muscadines grapes every winter. Cut back last year's growth and leave short stubs with 2 or 3 buds. When finished the vine should have a main trunk and 2 to 4 major limbs, with many short spurs along the major limbs.