Planting to do

Vegetables and fruit
Exhibitors should be sowing Onion Kelsae during December traditionally on the 25th.

Now is the time to prepare Runner Bean trenches and an opportunity to fill them with compost or any other organic matter which will retain moisture. N.B. Not carpet or under felt which we have seen done before!

Other jobs

Flowers
Any Rose Bushes still arriving, ‘heel in’ if the weather doesn’t permit you to plant properly.

Any Rhododendrons or other container grown shrubs may now need an overcoat of fleece to help them through the worst of the frost. If there is an early flowering Viburnum pick a few stems for the kitchen where the scent will be appreciated.

Remember to keep indoor Cyclamen in the cool. More plants are lost by overheating than anything else.

Vegetables and Fruit
Frost should have sweetened the Parsnips and Leeks in the ground for Christmas. Sprouts will also benefit from a good frost.

Stored Carrots and Beetroot should be checked and more to the point used.

If you can scrounge some Mistletoe do it quickly because the shop bought branches have been cut for some time and are already drooping.