Gardening in December 2022

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Sometimes this month

I planted one apple tree, grown from a seed, with the raspberries.

It is a strong one and it will provide some shape in the future

The soil is rich there, so, with proper watering this summer, it should survive. It will be important to water it well because it's a young one.

December 11th

I picked up 2 trailers full of some small leaves (???) in Saint-Jean-De-Muzols.

I finished filling up the kitchen compost with borage as all the plants had been cooked by the -5° C that weekend.

Also, I need to build up another compost bin!

The garlic that has come out is resisting the frost. But will it last?

I still need to plant planting some more (where the tomatoes usually go).

The top of the broad bean are out... Is it a problem with frost? I'm going to wait and see. Meanwhile, I will plant more in the bed where we planted the climbing beans 2 years ago.

December 18th

We picked with the twins some nice small leaves that we have found on the usual hiking route. It filled about a trailer full of leaves

We topped it up with the leaves of Saint-Jean-De-Muzols's park.

December 25th

We set out to gather leaves in Saint-Jean-De-Muzols's park, but we had a surprise.

The city-hired gardeners to shred branches and they left a huge pile of fragmented wood! We manage to get 2 trailers full of it.

It is just what I needed to cover the garden alleys.

Hopefully, I can get another trailer before it is gone.

I need about 3 trailers to cover all the alleys with a 5 cm layer of wood chips. In this case, it will break down much fast.

Two years ago, I applied woodchips in the alleys of the garden.

At the end of 2022, they are pretty much gone. And the weeds have taken over once more.

The prerequisite is the layer of cardboard so I can make sure few weeds grow back. I started to apply it early november and almost all the alleys and non-cultivated areas have been covered.

As we went out to pick leaves, we managed to pick 2 trailers full of fragmented wood, which was enough to cover two third of the alleys.

The temperatures are much nicer (around 10 °C or more during the day and not lower than 5 °C during the night). So the broad beans have really come out.

Similarly, the garlic keeps coming out. What was already out 2 weeks ago is still there and has survived the frost.