December, north of the equator

December is the month with least to do and the most damage done by doing it anyway. Outdoors the ground is workable in most weeks and the dormant season is in full swing, so planting is genuinely worthwhile. Indoors nothing is growing, the light is at its lowest point of the year, and almost every problem that appears in January can be traced to a watering can in December.

In the garden

Plant bare root whenever the weather allows. Trees, shrubs, roses, hedging, fruit trees, blackcurrants, raspberries and rhubarb crowns are all available and all establish well, because the plant is asleep and the roots have three or four months to settle before the top asks anything of them. If the ground is frozen when the parcel arrives, heel the roots into a spare corner of the garden and wait for a thaw.

Prune with the shape in front of you. Apples and pears are pruned in the dormant season and the branches are far easier to read with no leaves on them. Cut down the autumn fruiting raspberries to the ground. Check the stakes and ties on everything young, because winter gales loosen them and a rocking stem never roots properly.

Force rhubarb by covering a crown with a bucket in the last week of the month if you want early sticks, and order the seed for next year while there is still time to think about it properly rather than in a hurry in March.

In the house

Water less than you believe is reasonable. A plant that took water weekly in July may want it every three weeks now. The compost should be allowed to dry well down before it is watered again, and there is no schedule that beats a finger.

Keep the leaves off cold glass and away from radiators. Turn the pots regularly, because in this light everything leans towards the window within a fortnight. Do not mist a cool room.

Enjoy the two plants that work in December. An amaryllis potted in autumn opens now, and a Christmas cactus flowers on short days if it has been kept somewhere cool and unlit in the evenings.

What not to do yet

Do not repot, feed or prune a houseplant. Do not buy a large tender plant and stand it in a draughty hall on the way home. And do not panic about a few dropped leaves, which is what a plant does when the light halves.