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Each month, receive tips on the top jobs needed in your garden as well as a wealth of information on a range of gardening topics. From sowing seeds to picking fruit, each month get access to information on the care and maintenance of your flowerbeds, vegetable plot and lawn. As with your own gardening diary, the journal is split into separate sections, each covering a different area of garden care.

Friday 2 December 2016

This Month in your Garden - December

"The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination. "

Terri Guillemets

The fire is lit. A warming glass of mulled wine depends from one hand, while the other turns the pages of the garden catalogue and major plans are afoot for next year’s garden. Traditionally, December is a good time for the obvious reasons to put your gardening feet up and consider what you have achieved, and how your garden will look come spring.

Lawn Care Guide - December

Just a trim please 

Well, at the end of November we were still seeing temperatures above 5ºC (41ºF) which means in some parts the grass has continued to grow and may still need a light cut. It’s nicer to see a manicured lawn through the winter months rather than have it long and tufty.

Lawn Care: Questions and Answers

Q. We have a lot of mole hills appearing on the lawn and some areas of grass have died off. What’s the best way to deal with them?

The Vegetable Plot - December

How keen have you been?

There’s a whole crop of vegetables in season this month and if you have the space and are really keen, you will have Brussels sprouts, celery, parsnips, celeriac, leeks, kale and cauliflower all lined up as Christmas fare.

If you’re growing under glass you may have lettuce, endive and chicory, radish and rhubarb to add to the spread. Then again, you might simply not have had the time but now you have, and you’re staring at an empty patch thinking there’s not a lot you can plant out.

The Big Glut Recipe - December

Sag aloo with roasted gobi curry

At this time of year, with the concentration of getting the Christmas dinner on the table, it’s handy to have a quick vegetable curry recipe to hand, to eat on its own or with all that leftover turkey. This one is from The Hairy Bikers.

Ingredients

For the roasted cauliflower
  • ½ head white cauliflower
  • ½ head romanesco cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper