November and December are great times for planting and pruning in the garden. Until the rains start it’s important to continue to water, especially when we are having dry Santa Ana winds. Here are some November and December gardening tips to get your yard ready for the new year.
Rejuvenate House Plants
If your house plants have been in the same pot for at least a year, replace the existing soil with new soil. Wash the salt buildup from inside the pot, and clean the dust off of the plant’s leaves. Your indoor plants will thank you.
Cut Back Perennials
Some perennials that looked beautiful earlier in the year are now looking rather sad. They’ll benefit from a strong cutting back.
After they finish blooming, take chrysanthemums back to about six inches. Shasta daisies, some sages, rudbeckia, yarrow, verbena and asters can be cut to the ground. Take Matilija poppies and California fuchsia all the way back too. Cut penstemon, lion’s tail and Mexican sage back to about one foot. Pull out dead stems on alstroemeria and remove woody or dead stems from coreopsis, lamb’s ear and veronica.
Plant Native Trees
This is a good time for planting native trees and shrubs. Some smaller trees you might want to consider are desert willow, Chilopsis linearis; Catalina cherry, Prunus ilicifolia ssp lyoniis; western redbud, Cercis occidentalis; toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia or wild lilacs, Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’. The manageable size of these beautiful native trees will allow them to fit in most yards.
This is also a great time to plant cool-season annuals. See November 2019 Gardening Tips for more information.
Grow a Garden
It may seem odd to grow vegetables this time of year, but that’s one of the great things about living in San Diego County and many parts of Southern California. You can grow a garden year-round. This is a good time to grow lettuce, beets, carrots, chard, kale, peas, radishes, spinach, scallions, cabbage and more. The Master Gardener Association has a wonderful Vegetable Planting Guide.
November & December Gardening Tips 2020 Source
A lot of information for November & December Gardening Tips 2020 comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.