A December Day in the Garden

We had a short reprieve from the cold winter temperatures we’ve been having.  It reached nearly 70 degrees  and we actually saw the sun for the first time in days. It felt good to be outside this afternoon tending to some minor garden chores.

My first task was to pot up some more Purple leaf plums (Prunus cerasifera) that had rooted.  I put all six  cuttings into a medium sized pot and left them in the garage near the window and the garage greenhouse.  Last year I made nearly 20 cuttings from some leftover branches after a pruning of another plum tree.  It was an experiment then, I didn’t need nearly that many!

I also went outside and did a walk around.  I examined the garden beds around the house and took note of the current state of each area.  Cool season weeds were encroaching in most of the beds.  Wild strawberries were invading the corner shade garden while henbit and chickweed were invading every other area.   A little maintenance now should save a lot of work later. 

I ended up in the Japanese maple garden where I began removing the henbit and chickweed while they were small sprouts.  It was easy work since the recent rains have left the ground very pliable.  The best time to weed is after a good rain!

After removing most of the alien invaders I brought a bucket of kitchen scraps to the compost bin and perused the wilder areas of our yard.  The deer have been still been visiting as evidenced by their prints in the mud. 

I finished up with my time outside today by taking a few cuttings of a Dragon’s Blood Sedum.  I put the cuttings in a small pot to bring indoors for the winter.  My goal is to produce a few new plants for next spring’s planting season.  I also dressed up a pot of succulents I threw together for my wife to take to work.  I’ll show you that in a future post. 

It was nice to see the sun!