Summer is officially here, and your garden is ready to soak up the sunshine! It’s the perfect time to plant all your summer favourites— tomatoes, cucumbers, and capsicums.
Add a splash of personality with cheerful flowers like petunias and marigolds, and don’t forget to show your garden some love with a bit of mulching and weeding.
Check that your irrigation system is ready for those hot days ahead. Whether you’re sprucing up your yard for holiday BBQs or just enjoying the buzz of summer growth, there’s plenty to enjoy in your garden this December.
Key Garden & Landscape Products for December: Bark & Mulch | Pavers | Garden & Lawn Soils | Fertiliser | Compost | Pea Straw
Fruit and Vegetable Garden Tips
Watering is at an important phase now, to keep plants growing and producing. Use pea straw or mulch around vegetables, fruiting plants, and trees to retain soil moisture.
Autumn fruit producers such as feijoa, passionfruit and tamarillo all need a good layer of mulch around them.
Mulch around melons and pumpkins protects developing skins from rotting when watered.
Stake and train tomatoes, cucumbers, and climbing beans to provide support them and maximise sun exposure to encourage growth of produce
Plant leek seedlings by trimming half their green tops. Drop them into holes about 5cm deep and let soil naturally surround them over time.
New lettuce crops prefer morning sun or light shade to avoid wilting in summer heat.
Get into controlling pests organically, by making your own deterrent sprays – there are plenty of recipes available online – just remember to spray at the end of the day out of direct sunlight.
Check for early potatoes by gently digging into the mound; they're usually ready as foliage yellows.
Top up raised garden beds with some fresh garden mix to add nutrient and maximise your summer crops.
Leeks can be planted now. Separate them out, trim half the green part off and drop one into holes about 5cm deep. Don’t fill in with soil – let them grow on and gradually soil will surround them.
Maintain strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries with bird netting to protect your harvest.
Lettuces and herbs that have ‘bolted’ and gone to seed may be doing a service in the vegetable patch – their flowers will attract bees and other beneficial insects, so if you’re not averse to the ‘wild’ look leave them in situ.
Ornamental Garden Tips
Weeding and Pruning
Weed regularly to maintain garden tidiness and allow growing plants more room, but avoid cutting hedges to prevent sunburn on exposed foliage.
Summer prune wisteria, rambling roses, and jasmine to avoid returning home to a jungle after the holiday.
Christmas-Themed Planting
Pot up red flowering petunias, impatiens and geraniums for a Christmas theme. Adding plants such as ‘Dusty Miller’ or helichrysum in the pots really sets off the look because they have soft silver foliage.
NZ Pohutukawa is a favourite alternative Christmas tree and grows well in pots.
Ground Covers and Drought-Resistant Plants
Plant hardy ground covers like Carpet Thymes, Prostrate Muehlenbeckias, and Coprosmas to suppress weeds.
Drought-proof plants with silver foliage, such as olive trees, Convolvulus Cneorum, Helichrysums, and Astelias, are great for dry areas.
Xerophytic gardens contain plants that simply do not require watering. Interesting looking succulents and cacti, even some NZ plants (think Poor Knight’s Lily, Astelias) will work for this style of gardening. Spread pebbles around the base to complete the look.
Decorative Pots And How To Care For Them
All summer planted pots need regular water and are helped along by being fertilised with a weekly liquid feed, which is gentler than stronger fertilisers that may burn foliage or exposed roots when it's hot. Keep pots looking fresh by removing spent flowers and brown leaves.
Brighten outdoor spaces with potted displays of geraniums, impatiens, and petunias paired with fragrant plants like nicotianas and heliotrope.
Check out our range of Potting Mixes here.
Last chance to plant sunflower seeds— short flowering varieties look great in pots and the taller ones make a fantastic garden spectacle.
General Garden Care
Mulching is a key garden activity before Christmas – weed, water and layer mulch around all your plants now. It will save $$$ on watering and your garden will look wonderful.
Install a birdbath and keep it topped up with fresh water to support local birds during summer.
Going away for a while? Deep-water plants before leaving and apply mulch to pots. Move pots to shaded spots for better moisture retention.
Lawn Care Tips
Follow the one-third rule for summer mowing: never cut more than one-third of the grass length to prevent stress and maintain healthy growth.
Check out our massive range of quality grass seed here.
Landscaping Tips for December
Add structure to the garden with sleepers
Timber sleepers are ideal for adding structure and form to an outdoor space. Whether it’s edging for a garden path, chunky steps or a feature raised garden bed, building something from our range of sleepers could be the perfect project for December!
Paving and Outdoor Spaces
Create a courtyard or a new walkway with our range of Feinwerk Pavers. They’re light but strong, making installation much easier.
Talk to the team at your local Central Landscape Supplies yard for advice on how to prepare your site for paving, including recommended base materials such as GAP 20 and GAP 7.