December is here, and while the temperatures may still feel mild in Austin, winter gardening season is officially underway! From planting trees and preparing for freezing temperatures to caring for fruit trees and getting your vegetable garden ready for spring, there's plenty to do in your Central Texas garden during the first half of December.
In this episode of the ATXGardens Podcast, Colleen Dieter shares practical December gardening tips for Austin and Central Texas. Learn when to prune trees, how to protect citrus from freezing weather, why compost is so important for healthy soil, what vegetables you can still plant, and how to get a head start on your spring garden.
Whether you're an experienced gardener or just getting started, this early December gardening guide will help you make the most of your landscape this winter.
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🌿 Give Your Garden a Boost With Compost
Early December is a great time to top-dress your planting beds with compost.
Adding a thin layer of compost, about ¼ inch or less, helps improve soil health by introducing beneficial microorganisms. These tiny organisms break down leaves, mulch, and other organic materials, turning them into nutrients your plants can use.
They also help aerate the soil, improve its structure, and increase moisture retention.
Why compost matters:
Encourages healthy soil microorganisms
Improves soil structure and aeration
Helps retain moisture
Makes nutrients more available to plants
Supports long-term plant health
Colleen explains why adding compost can be even more beneficial than fertilizing when it comes to keeping your garden healthy.
💧 Adjust Your Winter Watering Schedule
As temperatures cool and the days get shorter, your plants generally need less frequent watering.
Colleen shares an example from her own cocktail garden, where potted plants that receive water twice a week during warmer months only need watering once a week during winter and early spring.
Now is also a great time to inspect your irrigation equipment.
Winter watering checklist:
Adjust irrigation timers for cooler weather
Check automatic irrigation systems
Inspect soaker hoses and drip irrigation lines
Test faucet timers
Replace damaged hoses or equipment
Continue monitoring soil moisture rather than relying only on a schedule
Remember, plants can still dry out during winter, especially when conditions are warm and windy.
🌳 December Tree & Shrub Care in Central Texas
Keep Planting Trees, Shrubs & Woody Vines
December is still an excellent time to plant and transplant many trees, shrubs, and woody vines in Austin.
Cold-hardy woody plants can tolerate winter temperatures while they're dormant, making this a great season to establish new additions to your landscape.
Some examples include:
Bigtooth maples
Peach trees
Abelias
Magnolias
Climbing roses
If your garden has already experienced its first freeze, take a look around your yard. Are there areas that seem bare or lacking winter interest?
This is a great opportunity to consider adding evergreen shrubs or other woody plants that provide year-round visual interest.
Helpful tool: Colleen recommends a border spade for transplanting shrubs and other woody plants.
When Should You Prune Trees in Austin?
December is often the beginning of winter pruning season, but timing depends on the weather.
If temperatures have been consistently cool and deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, it may be time to begin pruning.
However, if the weather has remained warm and trees are still holding their leaves, Colleen recommends waiting until later in December.
Special Considerations for Pruning Oak Trees
December can be a good time to prune oak trees in Central Texas because the beetles that spread oak wilt disease tend to be less active during colder weather.
Colleen recommends:
Waiting until oak trees have dropped their leaves
Painting fresh oak pruning wounds to help protect against oak wilt
Avoiding tar as a wound treatment
Not applying wound paint to other types of trees
She'll share more information about pruning oaks and other trees in upcoming episodes.
🍂 Leave the Leaves—But Protect Your Lawn
Fallen leaves are a valuable resource for your garden, but where you leave them matters.
Colleen recommends removing heavy layers of leaves from turf grass to prevent shading and patchy lawns.
Instead of throwing those leaves away, put them to work!
Ways to use fallen leaves:
Shred them for mulch in your vegetable garden
Add them to your compost pile
Leave unshredded leaves in planting beds
Use them to protect soil and provide habitat for beneficial insects
A layer of approximately three inches of leaves in planting beds provides useful mulch and habitat for insects such as fireflies.
Just be careful not to bury smaller plants like columbines, cedar sage, or lyreleaf sage beneath large leaves.
Helpful tool: An adjustable rake makes it easier to remove leaves from around small plants and tight spaces.
🍊 Winter Fruit Tree Care in Austin
Protect Citrus Trees From Freezing Temperatures
Citrus trees are especially vulnerable when temperatures reach freezing.
Before temperatures drop to 32°F or below, Colleen recommends preparing to protect your citrus trees.
Depending on your setup, this may include:
Watering before a freeze
Moving potted citrus trees indoors
Using protective covers
Using incandescent holiday lights to provide additional warmth
December Is a Great Time to Plant Fruit Trees
Winter is an excellent season for planting many fruit trees in Central Texas.
Colleen recommends planting bare-root or container-grown fruit trees, including:
Peaches
Pears
Apples
Plums
Nectarines
Japanese persimmons
Keep Track of Your Fruit Trees
When planting fruit trees, don't forget to label them!
Colleen recommends using permanent metal plant tags to record the tree species, variety, and planting date.
She also suggests keeping an orchard journal or map, even if you only have a few fruit trees.
Knowing a tree's variety and age can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting fruit production or identifying problems later.
✂️ Can You Cut Back an Overgrown Fig Tree?
A listener asks whether a large fig tree can be aggressively pruned to control its size.
Colleen explains that fruit trees, particularly figs, can often tolerate significant pruning to reduce their size.
However, there's an important difference between pruning fruit trees and large shade trees.
Severely cutting back large shade trees like oaks, pecans, and walnuts can create structural problems and make them unsafe as they mature.
For fruit trees, Colleen generally recommends removing no more than 25–30% of the leaf surface area annually.
But if an overgrown fruit tree is otherwise going to be removed, more aggressive pruning may be worth considering.
She also discusses when to prune fruit trees and why winter or midsummer may be appropriate times for this work.
🌸 Winter Care for Perennials, Grasses & Bulbs
Early December is not a good time to plant new perennials in Central Texas.
Instead, focus on caring for the perennials, ornamental grasses, and bulbs you planted earlier in the fall.
One of the biggest challenges with winter gardening is determining whether the soil is actually moist or simply cold.
Colleen recommends using a soil moisture meter to check conditions, particularly if you've gone approximately two weeks without rain.
Newly planted perennials may need additional water during stretches of warm, windy winter weather.
Stay tuned for an upcoming episode covering freeze damage and when to cut back perennials after the first freeze.
🧅 What to Plant in Your Vegetable Garden in Early December
Even though winter is here, there are still some crops you can plant in your Central Texas vegetable garden.
Plant Onions, Asparagus, Artichokes & Blackberries
Early December is a good time to plant:
Onion sets: Small onion plants that establish during winter and begin growing more actively as the days get longer.
Asparagus crowns: The section of the plant where roots connect to stems.
Artichoke crowns: Another crop that can be planted during this season.
Cardoon crowns: Similar to artichokes, these can be established now.
Bare-root blackberry canes: A great option for winter planting.
Colleen notes that onions may not show much visible growth until January, and that's completely normal.
Give Your Winter Vegetables a Nutrient Boost
Cool-season vegetables are heavy feeders, and soil microorganisms become less active as temperatures drop.
To help established vegetable plants continue growing, Colleen recommends side-dressing with compost or slow-release dry fertilizer.
You can also use liquid soil amendments such as:
Liquid seaweed
Liquid humate
Compost tea
How to side-dress vegetables:
Apply compost or slow-release fertilizer beside the plant.
Gently work it into the top inch or two of soil.
Water thoroughly.
A hand cultivator or Japanese weeder can make this process easier.
🍅 Start Preparing for Spring Seed Starting
It might seem early to think about spring gardening, but December is the perfect time to gather supplies for starting warm-season vegetables indoors.
If you want to grow tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants from seed, Colleen recommends planning to start them in late December or early January.
That gives the seedlings time to grow into transplants that can go into the garden in March.
Seed-starting supplies to gather:
Propagation trays and small pots
Seed-starting or propagation soil mix
Grow lights or a bright window
Heating pads
Seeds for your favorite vegetable varieties
This is also a great time to browse seed catalogs, shop for interesting varieties, and check your local library's seed collection.
🌻 Help Central Texas Seed Savers Share More Seeds
Colleen is the founder of Central Texas Seed Savers, an organization that helps make locally adapted seeds available to the community.
In this episode, she's asking Central Texas gardeners to donate extra vegetable seeds to local seed libraries.
If you have leftover seeds from your fall garden or seeds you've collected yourself, consider sharing them!
Seed libraries often experience increased demand in March when gardeners begin planting their spring vegetable gardens.
📅 Save the Date: Central Texas Seed Swap
January 30, 2027 — Central Library, Downtown Austin
Central Texas Seed Savers will host its annual seed swap on National Seed Swap Day.
Gardeners can bring seeds to share and discover varieties that other local gardeners have successfully grown.
More event details will be shared in upcoming episodes.
🌱 Need Help With Your Central Texas Landscape?
Whether you're trying to recover from a gardening setback, choose plants that require less maintenance, or make a plan for your yard, Colleen offers personalized landscape consultations through ATXGardens.
She specializes in helping DIY gardeners feel more confident about their landscapes and make practical decisions that work for their homes.
Visit ATXGardens.com to schedule a consultation.
You can also explore Colleen's three-volume guide, Let's Care for Texas Plants, available electronically or in hard copy, for help caring for Central Texas landscapes throughout the year.
🔗 Resources, Products, Websites & Programs Mentioned
Book a consultation with Colleen: http://atxgardens.com/
Garden Bug — IG @garden__bug
Border spade — For transplanting shrubs
Adjustable rake — For removing leaves around small plants
Soil moisture meter — For monitoring winter soil moisture
Permanent metal plant tags — For labeling fruit trees
Hand cultivator — For side-dressing vegetables
Japanese weeder — For working soil amendments into garden beds
🌼 Stay Connected
For more Central Texas gardening advice, seasonal planting tips, and sustainable landscaping guidance, visit ATXGardens.com and follow Colleen on Instagram @ATXGardens_.
