Your December Garden

We may still be looking for chilly weather this December, but it’s on its way! Colder temps mean less yard work and gardening may be far from your mind. But there are certainly things you can be doing to prepare for spring. In fact, this is prime time for sowing some seeds!

While the weather is still comfortable and beautiful, this is a great time to work on expanding your garden.

Planting

• This time of year, you can plant spring flowering bulbs. This is your last chance for bulbs before spring!
• Plant ground covers and borders.
• Plant hardy perennials and annuals.
• Plant strawberries.
• Plant herbs.

Pruning

NaturalGardenerAustin.com recommends hiring an arborist or at least consulting a good pruning book before doing any necessary pruning. Pruning may not always be beneficial to your trees and shrubs and, if done poorly, will be detrimental to your garden.

Soil Testing

If any part of your garden hasn’t met your expectations in the past year, the soil could be to blame. The Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory Texas A&M University will test your soil for $10 per sample. The report will tell you the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium available to your plants before or after they have been planted, as well as indicating the pH of the soil.