Archive for November, 2011

December Gardening Tips and Snips

Colourful Christmas Houseplants
During December there is an assorted array of colourful houseplants available such as Poinsettias, Cyclamen and Azaleas. Poinsettias offer a traditional Christmas feel to your room but require a little extra care to keep them looking good. Nowadays you can pick up Poinsettias in different colours rather than just the traditional red such as red, salmon and cream and even bi-colours. Poinsettias require a warm room away from cold draughts and do not like being to dry or wet. Many people make the mistake of putting houseplants on a windowsill and closing the curtains during the evening leaving the plant trapped in a cold zone. Cyclamen are much easier to keep and will thrive in a cooler room ideal for hallways and windows sills along with Azalea plants that will do just as well in the colder rooms of the house. Just remember to keep a check on the watering as the extra heat from radiators and fires will soon dry out the plants.

Don’t forget! Houseplants make great presents at Christmas.

December Tips and Snips

Outdoor Lighting
Solar lighting has become very popular for marking paths and border edges and you can even use easy to install low voltage sets. Lights are available in assortment of styles to match you garden from traditional carriage style designs to modern looking stainless steel sets. Why not add a set to you Christmas list?

Garden Tools
Clear crisp days in December are ideal for cleaning out the junk in the shed and cleaning and repairing any broken or damaged tools. If you are lucky enough to own some old fashioned gardening tools new handles are easy to replace if the old one are snapped. Unfortunately many of the newer styles have none replaceable parts so will need to be thrown away. Why not ask for some new tools for Christmas such as a good pair of Secateurs or stainless steel spade.

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How to Protect Your Plants From Frost this Winter

How does Frost Damage Plants?
Frost Causes the water in the plant cells to freeze which damages the cell wall and as a result the inside structure of the plant is damaged. When the ground is frozen, roots cannot take up any water to feed the plant and as a result dies.

Don’t be caught out!
Be aware, early frosts may occur From September onwards or late in spring. When an early frost occurs, not only have you not prepared your garden for cold weather and frost, the plants themselves may not have prepared themselves either and an unexpected frost can occur when they are not ready. Plants prepare themselves for the winter months by:

• Materials and chemicals – some plants store extra chemicals and materials that act as an anti-freeze lowering the freezing point of cell contents. This process usually starts when the days become shorter in autumn.
• Antifreeze – this is where the plant is able to prevent water in the cells from freezing even below freezing point. In order for this to happen, plants have to be in a cold environment for about a week or so before freezing conditions occur.
• Bark – this insulates the plant to prevent water freezing inside the plant cells

During spring there will be new growth and buds appearing, which is vulnerable and has no resistance against sudden freezing conditions.

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