-
0 item(s) in your barrow at £0.00 Wheelbarrow
You have no items in your shopping cart.
- Pre-Order Basket (0)
JOHN'S GARDEN, 'ONE OF THE FINEST GARDENS IN THE UK', IS OPEN EVERY SATURDAY more
- Home
- Gardeners’ Corner
- Calendar
- December
- The Fruit and Vegetable Garden
The Fruit and Vegetable Garden
Plan next year’s crop rotation and continuity of cropping plans, this will enable you to purchase seed as early as possible to avoid disappointment through shortages and sold out lines. Carry out single and double digging when conditions permit, working from boards to protect the soil if necessary. Use boards to barrow manure about the garden to preserve soil structure. Top dress roughly dug heavy clay soils with gritty sand.
Dig out the runner bean trench 60-90cm wide (2 3ft) wide and 45cm (18”) deep and leave open for the beneficial effects of the winter weather. Prepare the onion bed by digging deeply and adding manure, spread bonfire ash or Sulphate of Potash on as a top-dressing together with 140 grams per sq. metre (4ozs. per sq. yard) of Bonemeal. These will be worked in when breaking down the seedbed. If the ground is dryish, pull up a little soil around the stems of Brussels sprouts and spring cabbage to give better anchorage and protect from pigeons if necessary with netting.
Pick sprouts when buttons are young and tight but don’t remove the tops. Remove faded leaves from brassicas and dig any brassicas that have finished cropping to reduce the chance of cabbage whitefly overwintering. Cover celery with fleece during very frosty weather, also draw up a little extra soil to protect the stems, apply a few slug pellets to the area. Lift celery and parsnips before the ground becomes deeply frozen. Although swedes are very hardy it may be preferable to lift them, leaving the soil free to be dug over. Lift rhubarb crowns for forcing. Seakale, chicory and endives can be forced to provide a varied winter salad bowl. Protect winter lettuce from slugs by using slug pellets or traps.
Carry out any fruit planting as and when possible and continue to prune, apples, pears, black, red and white currants and gooseberries. Tie in any growths on fan-trained trees; check ties and wires on all trees and cane fruits. Fruit trees growing in grass will benefit from an application of a nitrogenous fertilizer. Grub out old unproductive trees and bushes. Spray dormant trees in still conditions with Vitax Winter Tree Wash. Inspect trees for canker and treat as necessary. Prune out any blackcurrant shoots affected with big bug mite, these show as enlarged rounded buds usually on upper sections of branches. Prune outdoor vines, (unless it is freezing). Cut back all last year’s branches to two eyes and remove all weak stems. In cold areas cover the stems and young fruitlets of figs with straw. Protect outdoor peaches with a waterproof construction to prevent rain-splashes re-infecting plants with peach leaf curl. Spray peaches against peach leaf curl with an approved Bayer Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control.
In Our Shop
Don't miss out - Sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest news and offers straight to your email
- © Copyright 2024 Ashwood Nurseries
- Kaweb Design