December Diamond Doctor Hints & Tips

Dear Gardeners,

The next few weeks are often particularly cold and dark so I would suggest most gardening activity is spent indoors, planning for next year and selecting and caring for some indoor plants for Christmas and beyond.

• There are a few outdoor jobs you can be doing on any bright, dry days and one of these is pruning your fruit trees. There is a great deal of unnecessary mystery regarding the pruning of fruit trees and most importantly, if you are uncertain about what you are doing, the tree is best left untouched. There are three main reasons for pruning that you can apply here. When approaching the task of pruning a tree, firstly remove dead, diseased or damaged twigs and branches; then prune for shape and thirdly, regulate flowering and fruiting yield. If you need some help, please ask, we are happy to help!

• The most 'Christmassy' of all plants is the Poinsettia. This has a reputation for being difficult to keep but with some simple rules they can live for years and in some parts of the world they grow into small trees. Firstly, they do not like to be cold at any time. Only buy from a warm houseplant section and do not leave it in a cold car before getting home. Once in the house, keep in a nice warm spot where they will drink quite a lot of water as our houses are so warm at this time of the year but don't overwater. My suggestion is to give them a saucer full of tepid water every 3 days, leave them to stand in the saucer for no more than five minutes, then remove them, pouring away any water they have not soaked up. If they drink it all, don't add more but maybe repeat this process after 2 days, and if there is a lot of water left, extend to 4 or 5 days between drinks. At this stage they are not fussy about being in a well-lit spot or a shadier part of the room, but if you want to keep for another year they will need good light after Christmas.

• If your house tends to be cool or you want a tougher plant for a cold porch, for example, choose a Cyclamen. They are tolerant of cold conditions but also do not want to be overwatered. Follow the same instructions above to keep them happy in warm conditions but in cool ones watering once a week should be ample. Again these can be very long-lived houseplants if given good growing conditions so a sunny windowsill is ideal.

• If you like scent in the house, then how about some Hyacinths? If you want them to be in flower for Christmas day, buy when they are still tight in bud, keep in a cool room or even outdoors, then bring into the warm 7-10 days before you want them to be in full flower. You can extend the flowering time if you keep them cool. After flowering they can be planted in the garden.

• If you're looking for a plant to give as a present how about a Christmas Box, Sarcococca. This is a small evergreen, very hardy shrub that produces lots of small white, very fragrant flowers from Christmas through to March. They are ideal shrubs to grow in a pot that you can position close to the front door, or where you park the car when it is in flower so you can fully enjoy the fragrance.

And finally, from everyone and myself here at Blue Diamond, we would like to wish a very merry Christmas to all of our loyal Diamond Club members! 

Remember, if you have any gardening questions, click here to ask me!

Until next month, happy gardening!

The Diamond Doctor