Southern Plains December Garden To-Do List

imbed cool - season herbs . You might not cogitate of December as a expert calendar month to add new plantings to your veggie garden , but cool - time of year herbaceous plant are perfectly happy to be embed now . moth-eaten - stalwart herb include parsley , cilantro , dill , chives , oregano , thyme , lemon balm , sage , and mint . Some herbs may go inactive in very cold wintertime but will come back from the roots in bounce . Get inspired withmore picks for your herbaceous plant garden here .

establish hardscaping such as raised bed and spindle . wintertime is the utter time to add these elements to your garden . see at your landscape painting and appraise your want for paths , low wall , arbors , garden borders , or bring up garden beds . Do n’t expect until saltation to set out on these projects . If you are doing the employment yourself , you ’ll appreciate the excess prison term in winter to get them complete . Remember that you desire hardscaping elements to be ready to go when insect start teem in the spring . Get some backsheesh for how to start a few of these projects here :

Maintain your garden tools . Many gardener find themselves too busy during the outpouring and fall to give much thought to tool around maintenance . December is a corking time tosharpen , blank , and anoint your garden tools . natural gas - power tools such as lawn mowers , train trimmers , and the like should be properly winterized if they are not being used . ensure they are not stored for long periods of time with gasolene in them , which can gum up and damage internal components . For paw tools ( and baron tools with blades ) , it ’s fourth dimension to cleanse and sharpen them ! My most - used hand tool is my pair of Felco pruning shear , which I disassemble and clean thoroughly . I then sharpen the blades with a stone , oil the moving part , and reassemble everything . Simple care of tools really extends their lives and also prevents stress hurt by allowing you to reduce cleaner with less force .

Consider buying a endure Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . There are a figure of precious choice for alternate Christmas trees or trees for winter décor . Consider a living tree diagram if you have room to plant it after the vacation season . A great option if you want a small , tabletop Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree is a pot rosemary ( Salvia rosmarinussyn . Rosmarinus officinalis , Zones 8–10 ) rationalise into a Christmas - tree material body . Not only do they smack capital , but you may plant them in a diminished garden distance after the vacation — and they thrive in our climate . If you are face for a large tree and have space in your yard to finally imbed it , consider aboriginal Arizona cypress ( Hesperocyparis arizonica , Zones 7–9 ) . This gorgeous , greyish - green evergreen plant grow in the classic shape of a Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , has beautiful leafage , and seduce a keen privacy screen .

Protect frost - attendant plants during unvoiced freezes . Because we may have some freezing temperature in December , keep some row cover on manus to protect frost - sensitive works . If your garden is made of mostly aboriginal or adapted plant life , then you in all probability wo n’t have to spread over anything . If you care to garden with more - tender species , you may need to cover them for the dark or even fetch them in for the wintertime . Row cover can also be used to protect rime - raw plants in the veg garden , which you may want to use if you are try toextend your harvest period a small longer .

— Karen Beaty is a horticulturalist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin , Texas .

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