December What To Do Now Calendar

Care for houseplants – Clean foliage, water regularly and fertilize. Repot as necessary. For more information on caring for houseplants, go to the Bayer Advanced houseplant page. To feed and protect from insects, use Bayer Advanced™ 2-in-1 Insect Control plus Fertilizer Plant Spikes – no spraying, no mess. Just push the spikes into the soil for up to eight weeks of nutrition and protection. To control existing insects, use Bayer Advanced™ Dual Action Rose & Flower Insect Killer Ready-To-Use.

Care for roses – If you haven’t done so already, cut back plants to 12 to 18 inches. Apply winter protection as ground begins to freeze. For more on how to protect your roses in winter, go here. Be sure that outdoor plants, especially roses, get a good deep thorough watering before they go dormant. Desiccation in the winter, especially for roses, is a big problem and a cause for rose plant death.

Control indoor pests – To control pests like spiders, fleas and ants, use Bayer Advanced™ Home Pest plus Germ* Killer Indoor and Outdoor Insect Killer Ready-To-Spray, the only non-aerosol home pest killer that kills bugs and reduces up to 99.9% of the germs* bugs may carry. For easier-than-ever control of roaches, use Bayer Advanced™ Dual Action Roach Killer Power Pen® Ready-To-Use. For more information, visit the Bayer Advanced home pest control Web page.
*Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacter aerogenes on hard, non-porous, non-food contact surfaces. No residual sanitizer action. Not for primary use as a sanitizer.

Harvest holiday greens – Cut evergreen foliage for holiday wreaths and swags. Use needled evergreens like cedar, fir and spruce and broadleaf plants like holly and pyracantha.

Plan for this spring – If you're planning to plant a new lawn or renovate an old one this spring, do your homework now. Visit state cooperative extension Web sites here or visit your local office, and look for recommended varieties of turfgrass. Consider newer, pest-resistant varieties or unthirsty, native grasses, such as buffalo grass. Find sources and place orders for seed, sod or plugs for spring delivery. Peruse garden catalogs, nurseries and garden centers for seeds, bare-root plants (including roses) and garden supplies.