December sunset (c) Nataliapavlova369 | Dreamstime.com

"dark falls soon in December"

What seeds shall I Sow in December?

Amid the festive bustle, I know it can be challenging to find time and space to sow seeds. With shorter daylight hours and limited natural light, I find that using a LED grow lamp really helps extend light exposure. I use a small, heated propagator to start chillies (and aubergines) which can be slow germinating. If you are following seasonal traditions then sowing onion seeds on Boxing Day in trays or modules is one to add. I’ve also discovered that sowing hardy annual flowers in December can lead to blooms that arrive weeks earlier than those planted in spring.

It all depends on the prevailing weather and your soil conditions -

Outdoors: It’s not too late to sow broad beans and garlic.

Outside under cover: I like to sow winter lettuce, corn salad, mustard greens, and wild rocket for fresh salad greens. For flower spring planting, I might sow hardy cyclamen individually in pots, sweet peas in modules, and antirrhinums (snapdragons) in trays and keep outdoors in a sheltered space.

Indoors: I use my windowsill to grow fresh herbs and microgreens.

Indoors in a propagator: For early flowers surface sow Geraniums and Laurentia. I shall be starting off a selection of chillies for early growth rather than flowering plants.

 

He had been walking for a long time, ever since dark in fact, and dark falls soon in December. ~Charlotte Riddell (1832–1906), "The Old House in Vauxhall Walk," 1882  [Her stories, at the time, were published under the name of Mrs. J.H. Riddell. —tg]

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