What to Do in the Garden in December (Canada)

Grow indoors

• Keep microgreens and lettuce growing under lights for fresh winter greens.
• Care for holiday plants and any herbs or peppers you brought indoors in fall.
• Check stored bulbs and storage vegetables monthly; discard anything soft or sprouting badly.

Plan and reflect

• Collect seed catalogues and start a wish list for next season.
• Sketch next year's beds and rotation while this year is fresh in memory.
• Share garden preserves as holiday gifts.
• Give or ask for gardening gear (lights, heat mats, good pruners) for the holidays — February sowing comes fast.

Maintain and protect

• After windstorms, check that burlap wraps and mulch protection are still in place.
• Keep piling snow onto beds; avoid dumping salty sidewalk snow on plantings.
• Keep feeding winter birds.

Regional notes

Prairie, Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime gardens are fully dormant — the work is indoors. Coastal BC gardeners can still cut from the winter garden (kale, leeks, hardy greens planted in summer), which West Coast Seeds says can be harvested through the winter until about February, though nothing regrows meaningfully in the low light.

Sources

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

• Gardening at USask — Gardening Timeline (December) — December: share preserves as gifts, collect seed catalogues, continue growing microgreens, begin planning next year's garden
• West Coast Seeds — Winter Gardening (coastal BC) — Coastal BC winter crops planted in summer can be harvested through winter until about February; no meaningful regrowth in low light

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