Prepare your garden for the holidays
It's the time of the year when if you're not going away, its party season, or it's time to spend time with family and friends.
Get your garden entertainment ready, or simply save when buying your garden-inspired gift.
Over the next few weeks, if you are home for the holidays, you will want the garden and patio to look its best.
Add some instant colour around your entertainment areas and plant up a bowl to use as a centrepiece on your patio table.
A walk around the garden with a secateur to deadhead flowers and shape unruly bits will tidy the garden, while getting the topiary and hedges clipped this week will also freshen up the garden before the holidays.
When you are going out, take your hostess a growing gift this year – they last longer than a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates and always seems to create a talking point.
Herbs for Christmas
Fill up the herb garden. Plant some chillies. Protect your roses and Clivias, just in case.
A quick-release feed such as 7:1:3 now will boost the lawn colour and get everything looking fresh for Christmas week.
It is the time of the year when you don’t want to spend too much time on chores.
It is time to enjoy the garden and take it all a little less seriously.
Besides the wonderful flavour herbs add to your Christmas meal, have you ever wondered why some herbs are used almost as a tradition in Christmas meals? There are many legends about herbs and the roles they played in the Nativity story, so using them has become part of many traditional Christmas lunches with this in mind.
Sage is popular in stuffing recipes. Sage was kind and charitable, and when the Virgin Mary approached with a request to hide her and the baby, it readily blossomed and created a canopy for the Mother and the Child. The soldiers passed by them, without suspecting a thing.
Rosemary and Christmas roasts go hand-in-hand for lunch. Rosemary is for remembrance and has long been associated with the Nativity story. Tradition has it that the shrub became fragrant after Mary laid the garments of the Christ Child on its branches and that the flowers are the colour of her blue cloak.
Thyme is most commonly used in chicken and turkey recipes over Christmas. As a manger herb, Thyme signifies the courage and strength of Christ.
Many family favourites are prepared for Christmas and when some families are spread all over the globe, it is a wonderful way to remember them.
Holiday Garden Project for Children
December can be an exciting time for children. With Christmas approaching, but with no school to keep them busy, finding things to keep them occupied can be somewhat tiring at times. A fun activity will bring Christmas, the outdoors and bored children together.
Make your own tree decorations. Tree decorations that can serve as indoor tree or outdoor tree decorations are easy to make and also make great gifts for granny and grandpa.
