December Gardening Tips

Birds and Wildlife

After they freeze back, you can cut lantana, mallow hibiscus, esperanza and other cold sensitive plants to the ground. However, you can leave cold-killed plants in the perennial border to serve as cover and food sources for wintering birds.
Suet is available in easy-to-use blocks that attract the woodpeckers, chickadees and titmice. Use metal bird feeders to keep the squirrels from chewing through.
Use weight-sensitive metal feeders to keep squirrels and white wing doves from eating your sunflower seeds.

Get those spring-flowering bulbs in the ground this month. Be careful not to over water color plants during the winter. Check the soil with your finger. If it is dry down to about one inch, water carefully by hand.
Plastic cups sunk in the ground and 1/2 filled with beer attract and drown slugs and snails. It appears they like Budweiser best.
Most container plants react to the season by reducing growth rates. Cut back on the water and fertilizer until next spring.
Keep your cool weather bedding plants well fertilized with a soluble material such as Peters 20-20-20 or Miracle Gro.
It is not too late to plant pansies, the premier color plant for the winter here.

This is a good month to plant bare root fruit and pecan trees. “June Gold” and “La Feliciana” are good peach selections. “Methley” plums do well. “Warren” and “Orient” pears resist fire blight. “Pawnee seems to be the best pecan for San Antonio. “Anna” and “Dorsett Golden” are the two best apples for this area (two are needed.)
Wait until December or January to do any major fruit tree pruning. Prune back leggy perennial plants. Fall-blooming perennials such as lantana and salvia can be cut back as soon as freezing temperatures have obviously frozen their top growth. Cut them back severely – to the ground. Over-plant the cut-back perennial area with winter annuals such as pansies, Johnny-jump-ups and dianthus (pinks), larkspur or bluebonnets rather than looking at the barren bed all winter. The lantana will come back next spring in May to provide beauty during the hottest part of the summer.
Collect pecans as they fall to the ground. Dry them for one to two weeks in shallow boxes before you store them. Pecans in the shell maintain their quality for four months at room temperature, for 12 months in the fridge, and 24 months if frozen. Shelled pecans only store well for two months at room temperature, 12 months refrigerated and two years frozen.

Mulch the fallen leaves with your lawn mower and let them lie on the lawn or use them for mulch.
Eliminate the mistletoe (a parasite) from your trees after the leaves fall. Use a blade of some type strapped to a cane pole and cut of the limb just below the mistletoe.
It’s 0K to plant trees in December.. .even bare-root trees. They will have time to get their roots out before summer. Don’t forget to water them, however… once per week if it doesn‘t rain.
Consider a living Christmas tree. Arizona cypress or Italian Stone pines do well in our alkaline soils and can be moved into the landscape after use as a Christmas tree for a couple of weeks. Plant the same as any other tree.
December is a good month to prune oak trees. Even in winter, however, the wound should be painted immediately after pruning. The trees are most susceptible to infection for 2-3 days after pruning. Apply horticultural tree wound dressing or plain ol’ latex paint on all oak cuts. Prune out dead, damaged or diseased wood from trees and shrubs. Avoid topping or dehoming.
Plant fruit trees on 8’ x 8’ raised beds with drip irrigation to reduce stress and the resultant bacterial canker.
Scale and other hard-to-kill insect pests may be overwintering on your trees or shrubs. Pecan and fruit trees, euonymus, camellias and holly are favorite hosts. Spray with dormant oil, following label directions on the container to avoid plant damage. Protect any winter annuals from the oil spray.

Cut way back on the water. Water the lawn only every 2-3 weeks with h inch of water if we don’t get rain. If it rains, don’t water for 3 weeks.
St. Augustine that is dry is very susceptible to freeze damage.

Side-dress your cole crops and onions with a cup of slow-release lawn fertilizer or ammonium sulphate per 10 feet of row.
December is a good month to plant spinach transplants. This area is the premier fresh spinach production area in North America. The tasty green is one of the most nutritious vegetables available.
If tomatoes are full sized, but not showing any color, pick them and bring them into the house. They’ll ripen on the counter.