Claire’s Gardening with the Moon in December 2024

Prune
As it’s often mild, December is usually a good month to prune any deciduous trees while they’re in their dormant phase. This is best done during the descending moon fortnight (16th – 29th Dec). Specifically:
Prune roses and other flowering trees on ‘flower days’: 16th, 17th, 26th or 27th
Prune fruit trees like apples, pears, and plums on ‘fruit days’: 20th or 21st
Prune any other deciduous trees on ‘leaf days’: 28th or 29th
Plant
Other jobs that will also benefit from being done in the descending moon phase are:
Planting bare-rooted roses on the afternoons of the 16th, 17th, 26th or 27th
Planting bare rooted hedging on the afternoons of 18th, 19th, 23rd, 24th or 25th
Planting blackberries or lifting and dividing rhubarb on the afternoons of the 20th or 21st

Seeding planning
December is the month to start planning your garden for next year. Get out the seed catalogues, put the kettle on, and start dreaming!
Do think about where you source your seeds from. Certified organic seeds won’t have been routinely treated with fungicides and pesticides and the parent plants will have been grown organically so their seeds should give you robust and resilient plants.
And don’t forget if you’ve saved seeds from your own garden this year, you might find there’s a local seed swap near you so you can share your surplus and do some swapsies!

If you have questions for me that relate to my blog - Moon and growing related - please send them to me using the Earth Pathways contact page. I would also like to direct curious readers to the UK Biodynamic Association website.

Thank you for joining me on this growing journey.

Claire Hattersley