What to Do in the Garden in December (UK)

Prune and tidy

• Prune free-standing apple and pear trees, and winter prune currants and gooseberries.
• Prune grape vines before mid-December to avoid sap bleeding.
• Carry out pruning and renovation of deciduous trees, shrubs and hedges — including beech, hazel and hornbeam — through the dormant season.
• Do not prune deciduous magnolias now (wait until summer), and leave flowering cherries and almonds until late spring to avoid silver leaf disease.
• Clean and sharpen secateurs and loppers ready for the winter pruning season.

Protection

• Erect a wire enclosure packed with straw around tender border plants such as Musa basjoo to protect stems and roots from frost.
• Rake up infected fallen leaves and send them to the council compost collection — this reduces carry-over of rose black spot, apple and pear scab, and quince leaf blight.

Planning and general care

• Continue bare-root planting of trees, hedging and roses whenever soil is workable and not frozen.
• Winter is a good time to book contractors for major jobs such as paving, fencing or pond digging — they are often more available now.
• Order seed catalogues and plan next year's crops and rotation.

Regional adjustment

Dormant-season jobs run on soil and weather, not dates: colder northern gardens face more frozen spells, so take planting and pruning opportunities when conditions allow, while the milder south and west usually have more workable days through December.

Sources

Reviewed 2026-07-18. We cite university Extension, government, and established horticultural sources — and never invent pesticide rates or dangerous treatments.

• RHS — Gardening in December: jobs to do this month — December jobs include pruning apples, pears, currants and gooseberries, pruning grape vines before mid-December, straw-packed frost protection for tender plants such as Musa basjoo, and clearing diseased leaves to council compost.
• RHS — Monthly gardening tips: December trees and shrubs — Dormant-season pruning and renovation of deciduous trees, shrubs and hedges including beech, hazel and hornbeam; avoid magnolias until summer and flowering cherries and almonds until late spring (silver leaf risk).
• RHS — Monthly gardening tips: December garden structures — Winter availability of contractors for major hard-landscaping jobs; tool cleaning and sharpening ahead of winter pruning.

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