DecemberWinter harvests and the festive table
December is the month of the shortest days, and the Belgian vegetable garden takes it slowly. Harvests are limited to the vegetables that stand up to frost: leeks, Brussels sprouts, kale, parsnips, and the chicory growing in the dark of the cellar. Leave the soil alone, watch the rain fall, check the stores in the cellar, and lay the festive table with what the garden is still giving. Fruit trees can still be planted whenever there is no frost.
Tips of the month
- Harvest leeks, Brussels sprouts, kale, parsnips and chicory.
- Check the stores in the cellar: apples, pears, squashes, potatoes, onions.
- Plant bare-root fruit trees and soft fruit in mild weather.
- Protect artichokes, winter salads and tender herbs.
- Start pruning apple and pear trees in dry weather.
- Order seeds for next season.
- Give seeds, jars or plants as presents: a vegetable garden is for sharing.
In the vegetable garden and orchard
What to do in december
Sow under cover
Nothing to sow under cover.
Sowing in the ground
The ground is too cold, or it’s too late in the year.
Plant
On the plate
Eating in december
December invites the garden’s vegetables to the festive table: Brussels sprouts roasted with hazelnuts, braised chicory, parsnip purée, kale crisps, stewed quince, pears poached in wine. The summer jars add their touch of colour.
Living well
Going out in dry cold to pick a few chicory heads or a cabbage, then coming back into a warm kitchen: that is winter at its best. The vegetable garden remains a reason to go outside, even when there is almost nothing to do.