If snow has fallen on your winter vegetable garden, do not despair. Snow is akin to an insulating blanket and the cool-season vegetables beneath can still be harvested. A killing frost or freeze will do the most damage to your vegetable garden in winter–not snow. Protect crops from freezing temperatures with mulch, plastic tunnels, or…
December
December Vegetable Garden
As winter weather sets in early this year–just about everywhere, now is a good time to update your garden records from last season and review your garden design. What worked and what can be improved this coming growing season? Now is the time to plan layout changes for the garden and begin mapping our crop…
December Kitchen Garden Almanac
Winter arrives on December 21. The shortest day of the year. There is never a shortage of things to do in the garden, even in winter. Here is this month’s roundup of kitchen garden tasks. But first: How many meterological descriptions of snow are there? Consider these: Fluffy–lage light feathery flakes. Powder–dry cold powdery snow….
December Garden in the Northern Hemisphere
December is the “frosty month” in the northern hemisphere. Frosty, but not the coldest, true winter is yet to come. Winter arrives this year on December 22, the winter solstice. On the first day of winter, the sun reaches the solstice when it will go no further south. This will be the shortest day of…
December Garden in the Southern Hemisphere
If you are preparing for your summer Christmas holiday, make sure that the vegetable garden is well mulched before you go. Mulch will keep the weeds down and conserve the moisture in the soil while you are away. December is not too early to consider breaking out the shade cloth to protect the tender plants…