• In fine weather get on with clearing the borders and spread home made compost.
• Keep an eye out for self-sown seedlings of favourite plants, dig them up carefully and pot them up to grow on to plant elsewhere in the garden or give away as presents.
• When it isn’t frosty, mulch around the base of fruit trees with a good layer of compost or well-rotted manure.
• Cut or buy hazel and birch pea sticks.

• If you haven’t ordered your seed potatoes yet, delay no longer.
• Now is a good time to sharpen up the edges of flower beds and lawns.
• Give the greenhouse a thorough clean in preparation for seed sowing.
• Cover rhubarb crowns with straw or dry leaves and a forcer or old bucket to encourage early shoots.
• Cold weather can lift the soil around newly planted trees and shrubs – once the ground has thawed heel them in firmly.

Birds need water as well as food in freezing weather – pour a kettle of hot water into any birdbaths or over the ice on pond margins.
In this really cold weather it is worth putting a blanket of fleece over greenhouse plants
Avoid putting salt on your paths as it can leach into the borders and kill plants – use ash, horticultural grit or sand instead
If snow does break branches on trees and shrubs, shake the snow off to avoid further damage but don’t prune back until temperatures rise or the frost may penetrate even further in to the plant.

If you go to their website, www.seedsofitaly.com you can enjoy an entertaining read and also download an advance copy of their 2010 catalogue. It is guaranteed to conjure up sunny days even in the middle of winter.

• If we do have heavy snow falls a) enjoy it b) knock accumulations off  your plants before the weight of the snow causes any damage
• Keep an eye on the birdbath and fill it with warm water if it freezes over
• Put your feet up and browse the seed catalogues ready to put in a post-Christmas order
• If the relatives are driving you mad, get outside and turn the compost heap!