{"id":20099,"date":"2012-12-09T17:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phoenixfm.com\/?p=20099"},"modified":"2012-12-09T17:24:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-09T17:24:00","slug":"what-to-do-in-the-garden-9th-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/?p=20099","title":{"rendered":"What To Do in The Garden &#8211;  9th December"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In The Flower Garden<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spread compost <a title=\"Mulching\" href=\"https:\/\/andrewbabicz.wordpress.com\/mulching\/\">(Mulching<\/a>) on to flower beds for worms to work in over winter<\/li>\n<li>Collect fallen leaves showing signs of blackspot from around roses<\/li>\n<li>Fork compost into borders, but take care not to spike emerging bulbs<\/li>\n<li>Deadhead pansies regularly<\/li>\n<li>Plant lily-of-the-valley<\/li>\n<li>Tie string or wire around conifers and yew to prevent heavy snow damaging branches<\/li>\n<li>Fill empty containers with winter heathers and trailing ivy<\/li>\n<li>Firm soil around roses loosened by storms<\/li>\n<li>Replace wobbly tree stakes and worn plant ties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In The Fruit and Vegetable Garden<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Net crops to protect them from pigeons<\/li>\n<li>Protect sprouts for the Christmas table from windy weather<\/li>\n<li>Take hardwood cuttings from fruit bushes<\/li>\n<li>Get ready for planting asparagus in spring, removing weeds and digging over the soil, and adding compost<\/li>\n<li>Order onion sets and seed potatoes<\/li>\n<li>Plant new fruit trees, bushes and cane fruits<\/li>\n<li>Start to plan next year&#8217;s crop rotation<\/li>\n<li>Prune large fruit trees to control their shape and size, and to increase productivity<\/li>\n<li>Cut out about a quarter of the oldest stems from currant bushes<\/li>\n<li>Lift and divide congested clumps of rhubarb, replanting into soil enriched with well-rotted manure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In The Greenhouse<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Water azaleas with rainwater<\/li>\n<li>Take the last chance to bring on forced indoor bulbs for festive decorations<\/li>\n<li>Water potted fuchsias sparingly to prevent the compost drying out completely<\/li>\n<li>Tidy the greenhouse and pick faded leaves from pelargoniums and other plants<\/li>\n<li>Bring potted strawberries under cover to encourage earlier fruiting<\/li>\n<li>Order seeds and make a sowing plan for greenhouse crops and bedding plants<\/li>\n<li>Check heaters are working efficiently and top up paraffin if necessary<\/li>\n<li>Pinch out the tips of autumn-sown sweet peas to promote bushier growth<\/li>\n<li>Bring pots or glasses of prepared hyacinths indoors to flower<\/li>\n<li>Protect potted peach trees from winter rain and peach leaf curl by bringing under cover<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Generally Around The Garden<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Place cloches over tender plants to give them extra protection from frost<\/li>\n<li>Sharpen blades on hoes, secateurs and other garden tools, and wipe with an oily rag before storing away<\/li>\n<li>Do a final collection of any autumn leaves still lying around<\/li>\n<li>Search through seed and bulb catalogues for new things to grow this coming season<\/li>\n<li>Repair wobbly or damaged fences and treat wooden structures with preservative<\/li>\n<li>Put out fresh water for birds every day in frosty weather<\/li>\n<li>Wrap pots with sacking or insulating material to protect the roots of plants<\/li>\n<li>Pick evergreen foliage for indoor decorations, storing in water in a porch or shed before bringing into the house on Christmas Eve<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ramblings!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To see more &#8220;ramblngs&#8221; <a title=\"Rambling thoughts about gardening!\" href=\"https:\/\/andrewbabicz.wordpress.com\/rambling-thoughts-about-gardening\/\">go to&#8230;&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Matt asked about collecting leave from outside his house. See my answer <a title=\"Q&amp;A\" href=\"https:\/\/andrewbabicz.wordpress.com\/qa\/\">here&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In The Flower Garden Spread compost (Mulching) on to flower beds for worms to work in over winter Collect fallen <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/?p=20099\"><b>read more<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-best"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20100,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20099\/revisions\/20100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.phoenixfm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}