December
December has an average maximum temperature of 26.1°C, and an average minimum temperature of 11.4°C. December has an average rainfall of 53.2mm.
What to do this month
- Remove wispy growth from Wisteria and continue until main pruning in winter.
- Azaleas and once-flowering spring roses need to be pruned after they have finished blooming.
- Dead head Rhododendrons, Camellias and Azaleas. Apply mulch, fertilise lightly and keep damp. Check for insects such as lace bug (leaves will have a silvery look on top and rusty brown appearance underneath) or spotted mite infestation under leaves. Spray with Confidor or place tablets in soil.
Vegetables
- Top up mulch and keep water up to plants
- Plant some blue (borage), purple (sage) and yellow (sunflower) plants in your vegie garden for pollinating insects.
Sow
- Beans
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Carrot
- Celery
- Cauliflower
- Cucumber
- Lettuce
- Parsnip
- Pumpkin
- Radish
- Spinach
- Spring onion
- Sweet corn
- Zucchini
Plant
- Beans dwarf
- Beetroot
- Cabbage
- Capsicum
- Chilli
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Leek
- Lettuce
- Pumpkin
- Silver beet
- Sweet corn
- Tomato
- Zucchini
Harvest
- Asian greens
- Beans
- Beetroot
- Carrot
- Lettuce
- Onion
- Potato
- Radish
- Shallots
- Silver beet
- Turnip
- Zucchini
Flowers and bulbs
- Plant summer and autumn annuals.
- Top up mulch and water beds.
- Continue to deadhead roses. Deadhead annuals and perennials to prolong flowering and tidy Hellebores (may be showing signs of heat stress).
- Continue with sowings of autumn-maturing vegetables.