December Garden Chores

Before the brunt of winter gets here, one of the first December garden chores you should accomplish is to mulch your garden beds, especially if you have root crops or garlic growing in them. Here in Texas, we have things growing pretty much year round. It is good to put a nice layer of mulch or hay on top of the garlic, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, onions, and whatever other winter crops you may be growing underground. Giving them a little extra insulation from freezing temperatures, ice, and snow is a smart thing to do.

This next one is not really considered a task but if you live in a warmer area and you are growing plants during the cooler months, this should be one of your December garden chores. What is it? Buy and have garden row covers ready in case you get a freeze in your area. Here, it is pretty warm throughout the winter months but for the past two years, we have had actual freezes and snow and ice. We protected some things with row covers and at the end of the week when it warmed back up, we removed the covers and most things were just fine. 

Do you have an asparagus patch? If so, one of the December garden chores you need to perform involves asparagus. We have a lot of asparagus growing out in our garden. If you take good care of your asparagus patch, it will last between 15 and 20 years. Did you know that? In the hot summer, when the asparagus that you eat stops coming up, you get these fern like shoots. Do not cut them down until the first frost. After that first frost, you want to cut them off to about one inch above the ground. Then add a layer of mulch or hay. I mention hay a lot because we are out in the country now and hay is used for a lot of things out here.

If you have farm animals, it is time to winterize their pens. You will need to put up plastic sheeting around the open walls to keep the wind out as it turns cold. If you live in a colder climate, you probably did this in October or November, but here in Texas, it is turning cold now and the temperatures will be frigid by the end of the week, in the 20s and even into the teens. The chickens, rabbits, and guineas need to be kept out of the icy wind and they need to stay dry if it rains. Lots of ventilation in our summer months is very important but we have to protect them in winter. 

Another one of the December garden chores if you live in a warm place is to stop fertilizing your plants for now. Why? Because if you get a cold snap, the new growth on your plants will become damaged if you are fertilizing. So give the fertilizer a winter rest. Spring will be here before you know it and then you can start using it again.

Speaking of December garden chores, several of the people who came into the farm store today bought some fall/winter seeds that they can plant right now and overwinter like carrots, onions, garlic, and beets. So in Texas and other warm places, plant root crops now while it is still warm and grow them throughout the winter. They will be fine in mild weather. Even through the last two years of freezing and snow, ours were fine.

If you have been in a drought and you are still not getting sufficient rains, you will need to keep on watering the plants you are growing in your garden. Don't forget that. We are now getting some decent amounts of rain so we are no longer watering as much as we were this past spring and summer.

The final of our December garden chores is simple. Add compost to all of your garden beds or garden areas where you will plant in the spring. Mixing it into the soil, along with fall leaves will be good for the soil, providing it with much needed nutrients for the spring seeds.