Gardeners Checklist: Here Is What to Do on the Week of Dec. 9

By Ron Kujawski

* Give a bag of bird seed, such as black oil sunflower seed, to bird-loving gardeners on your Christmas shopping list. Be sure to let them know that the seed is for feeding birds and not for planting. I planted bird seed once and all I got was sunflowers. Not one bird!

* Speed up the development of the flower stem on amaryllis by placing the potted bulb in a warm room. However, once the flower bud begins to open, move the plant to a brightly lit room with a temperature of no more than 65 degrees F. The flower will remain in bloom longer at a cool temperature.

* Give potted herbs plenty of space. If the plants are crowded, the lower leaves will not receive adequate light and the leaves will probably fall off. Should herbs growing indoors in winter be given fertilizer? Only if they are actively growing. About every two weeks, give them a dilute solution of water-soluble fertilizer at half strength. That is, if the product label recommends one tablespoon of fertilizer per gallon of water, mix one-half tablespoon in a gallon of water.

* Mist the foliage of potted herbs and houseplants daily. Air in a typical home in winter tends to be very dry. With the exception of succulents such as cacti, houseplants prefer a humid environment since their native habitat is the humid tropics or subtropics. Herbs may not be of tropical origin, but they, too, benefit from misting. Misted herbs tend to have fewer pest problems. Hmm, if I get misted every day maybe I’ll have fewer problems.

* Be sure to unplug decorative lights, such as Christmas tree lights, whenever you leave the house. Please! At this time of year, there seem to be far too many news stories of house fires caused by faulty decorative lights. Play it safe.

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Mother Nature has a way of teasing us, as she did with the prolonged mild weather in November, and then suddenly slapping us back to reality. Reality in this case is the snow and frigid air that arrived last week. Though I don’t like to be slapped, I shouldn’t complain since cold, snowy weather is what we normally expect in December. We also normally expect to be dealing with icy walks and driveways now. For many people that means spreading de-icing salts on these surfaces. As such, one needs to be aware of the effects of de-icing salts on adjacent plants and soil. The most commonly used de-icing salt is sodium chloride. The good news is that it’s cheap, compared to other materials. The bad news is that sodium chloride can injure or kill plants and also alter soil structure, making it compact. Therefore, avoid any de-icing product containing sodium or chloride if the health of landscape plants if of concern. Sand is a good option. Wood ash and kitty litter are other options but they’re very messy.

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.