Fruit & vegetable garden
Flower garden
Glasshouse, conservatory and houseplants
Trees, shrubs, roses, climbers and hedges
Lawns and meadows
Ponds
Wildlife gardening
Garden structures
Gardening for children
Top 10 jobs
1. Check your winter protection structures are still securely in place
2. Check that greenhouse heaters are working OK
3. Prevent ponds and stand pipes from freezing
4. Prune open-grown apples and pears (but not those trained against walls)
5. Prune acers, birches and vines before Christmas to avoid bleeding
6. Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage, sprouts and remaining root crops
7. Deciduous trees and shrubs can still be planted and transplanted
8. Take hardwood cuttings
9. Keep mice away from stored produce
10. Reduce watering of houseplants
December's weather
Glossary of terms
Bleeding
Humidity
Organic matter
Waterlogged
Fruit and vegetable garden
Fruit
Prune grape vines before Christmas to avoid bleeding.
Prune established open-grown apple and pear trees (not cordons, espaliers or fans).
Formative pruning of young, free-standing, fruit trees and bushes (under three years old) can also be done from now. They should at first be pruned to encourage branching and bushiness from the main stem. Subsequently, they should be encouraged to form an open-centred ‘goblet’ shape of main branches, without any being misplaced or crossing.
Prune currants and gooseberries.
Check tree stakes and ties while doing your winter pruning. They may need loosening, replacing, or removing.
Hardwood cuttings can be taken this month - this is a great way to propagate blackcurrants, red currants, white currants, gooseberries and grape vines. Use only disease-free plants for propagation.
Grape vines can also be propagated using eye cuttings. These are shorter than standard hardwood cuttings (having only one bud, or ‘eye’), and are used commercially to produce a large number of plants. Only attempt these if you are confident, as longer cuttings have more buds to rely on for rooting.
This is a good time to plant new fruit bushes and trees - as long as the soil isn't frozen or very wet.
Divide and plant rhubarb. Clumps can be lifted and prepared for forcing in early spring.
Clean and store bamboo canes in the shed (or other dry place) to ensure they're still in good condition for next year. Broken ones can be shortened, where possible, for re-use.
Pest & disease watch
Place mouse controls near stored fruit.
Regularly check fruit stores and remove rotting and mouldy specimens. These can be left out for birds and wildlife as a welcome winter treat.
Net crops to reduce pigeon damage and to keep bullfinches off fruit buds.
Be sure to remove dead or diseased wood, including spurs with mummified fruit that are the result of brown rot infections earlier in the year.
Look out for signs of canker when pruning fruit trees.
Apply fatty acid-based winter washes to dormant fruit trees, to control overwintering pest problems, such as aphids, apple suckers and scale insects. You will need to access all the nooks and crannies where they hide.
Rabbits and squirrels can be pests, particularly as the weather gets colder, gnawing the bark of fruit trees and bushes, and eating windfalls and harvests left outside to cure.
Poor winter drainage (e.g. on clay soils) can cause fruit trees and bushes to suffer, and may lead to the development of Phytophthora root rots. Mulching, installation of drainage nearby, and digging will help to improve the health of trees and bushes suffering in this way.
Attracting insect wildlife to your garden (see wildlife gardening section) can help to control pest problems for next year.
Vegetables
Plant shallots and garlic in very mild areas with well-drained soil. Garlic cloves can be planted in modules in mild areas where the soil is less free draining.
An old Victorian idea is to make a manure hotbed by piling a mixture of manure and straw (or leaves), to be rotted over the winter, into an empty compost bin. This is then covered with a layer of John Innes No 3 compost. A cold frame placed on top will benefit from the heat generated by the rotting manure, and this will aid the germination of crops to be started in January for planting outside in February.
Lift and store root crops such as carrots, beetroot and turnips.
Parsnips can be left in the ground until needed, or lifted and then buried in a shallow trench for easy access when needed. They taste better when frosted. Make sure to mark the trench, and to cover it with a protective layer of cardboard if hard frosts are forecast.
Lift and store celery - it can be heeled in just outside the back door, for easy use. It can also be thickly mulched in situ, using straw or bracken held in place with fleece and hoops of wire, and then lifted when needed.
Harvest Brussels sprouts. Pick the largest sprouts from the bottom of the stalk first.
Stake or earth up any Brussels sprouts stalks that look leggy and vulnerable to wind rock.
Some of the spring cabbages that were planted out earlier in the autumn can be used as winter greens (if they are large enough), cutting them before they have a chance to form hearts next spring.
It isn’t too late to force chicory and seakale. Dig up chicory roots to be forced. Pot them up and position them in a dark warm place. The tasty chicons will appear in three to six weeks. Seakale is best forced outside. A light-proof upturned pot or cardboard box/tube works well.
If you have not done so already, now is the time to dig over and incorporate soil improvers into vacant areas of the vegetable plot. You can cover these areas with thick polythene to keep the soil dry and make it easier to work in the spring - particularly useful for heavy clay soils. Clear polythene will increase the soil temperature, enabling earlier sowings in spring. Black polythene will suppress weeds.
Clear late-season debris off the vegetable plots, and dispose of it as advised below in pest & disease watch.
Clean and store bamboo canes in the shed or other dry place to ensure they're still in good condition for next year. Broken or rotted ones can be shortened, where possible, for re-use.
Pest & disease watch
Ensure that crops remaining in the ground, and new sowings under cloches, are protected from mice. Cloches should be securely closed, and traps, bait, or ultrasonic devices nearby may be of some help.
Place mice controls near stored vegetables as well.
Slugs can still pose a threat, and slug controls are necessary now, as always.
Pigeons are serious pests of brassicas and other vegetables. Cloches, frames of netting or fleece, and metal cages will help to keep them away from vulnerable crops.
Pick yellowing leaves off Brussels sprouts and other brassicas promptly, to prevent spread of grey mould and brassica downy mildew.
Remove all remaining plant debris from the vegetable plot. Do not compost any diseased material such as blight-infected potatoes, onions suffering from white rot and any crops with rust. Burn or bin the diseased material, or bury it more than 60cm (24in) deep in the ground.
Digging-over in winter exposes soil pests to frost and bird predators. Frost will help improve soil structure.
Attracting wildlife to your garden (see wildlife gardening section) can help to control pest problems for next year.
Regularly check stored vegetables, removing any rotting or mouldy specimens.
Herbs
Place cloches over tender herbs, or those sensitive to excess rain, and protect them from the winter wet and cold.
Mulch the crowns of herbs that have died down for the winter - this will improve drainage and provide some frost protection. Grit or bark are good choices.
In cold areas, bay trees should be brought in for the winter, or placed in a sheltered position. They are borderline hardy.
Mint, chives and other herbs can be kept going, ‘forcing’ them for winter use by bringing them into the warmth and light of the kitchen. They should be planted outside again next spring and left undisturbed and un-cropped for a year, so that they can recover from the exhaustion of having missed a dormant period. Alternatively, they can be composted and replaced with new plants.
Flower garden
Helleborus niger (Christmas rose) blooms can look unsightly when splashed with muddy raindrops. Bark chip mulch will reduce this splashing effect, and cloches can always be used where practical.
Clear up weedy beds ready for spring mulching. Order bulky organic matter (e.g. well-rotted farmyard manure or mushroom compost) for use as a soil improver or mulch.
Check on tender plants outdoors to ensure winter protection is still in place, especially after storms.
In mild areas, and during dry spells, you can still lift and divide herbaceous perennials. This will increase stocks, and revive tired or poorly flowering clumps.
Continue to cut back faded herbaceous perennials and add them to the compost heap. Leave any faded flowers and seed heads that are attractive - they will add to the winter enjoyment of the garden (particularly when covered in frost), as well as providing food and shelter for wildlife.
Finish the autumn tidy-up of leaves from beds and borders if you have not already done so. They can be added to the compost heap, or placed in separate bins to make leafmould. Some leaves, such as plane and sycamore, are slow to break down, and can delay your compost if you mix them into the general heap. Leafmould makes an excellent soil improver, and can also be used as a seed-sowing medium.
It is especially important to clear leaves and debris from alpines, as they will die off if covered in damp for any length of time. Bare patches can be covered with gritty compost to encourage the re-growth of surrounding clumps into that area.
Keep tubs and containers tidy too, cutting back and removing debris regularly. They can be mulched with compost. A further mulch of grit is aesthetically pleasing, and will also reduce the surface puddling that can occur when light composts are beaten into a solid ‘cap’ by raindrops.
When gardening on wet soils, work from a long plank of wood, or an old sheet of exterior plywood, to avoid treading directly on the soil. This will help avoid compaction.
Improve the drainage of heavy clay soils by working in plenty of bulky organic matter, such as composted bark.
Raise patio containers onto feet or bricks to avoid them sitting in the winter wet.
Large tubs that are at risk of cracking in the frost should be covered with bubblewrap, hessian or fleece, to insulate them over the winter.
Tender plants and pots can be brought into the greenhouse or conservatory if not done so already. Even in mild areas, the winter usually gets much harder after December.
Apply an autumn mulch to protect plants that are borderline hardy, such as Agapanthus, Kniphofia and Phygelius. The plants’ own leaves, e.g. with Kniphofia, can be tied up and used as protection for the crowns underneath.
Root cuttings can be taken from now. Papaver (perennial poppies), Verbascum (mullein) and Phlox are suitable examples.
Alpines can be sown from seed this month. They need a period of cold to break the seed dormancy. A sheet of glass can be positioned over the sown area to protect it from excessive wet. Alternatively, the seeds can be stratified in the fridge, for sowing next spring.
Order seed catalogues, if you have not done so already, to select next year’s bedding and perennial choices. You will have more chance of finding all your choices in stock if you order well before the spring.
Pest & disease watch
Look out for Botrytis (grey mould) on spent herbaceous plants, and remove affected growth. Otherwise there is a risk that fungal problems could spread to healthy plants.
Hellebores can be at risk of diseases such as hellebore leaf spot. Improving drainage and ventilation, and reducing overcrowding of plants may help.
Watch out for downy mildew and black spot on winter pansies. Remove any infected leaves and destroy badly affected plants. To avoid the build up of diseases, it is best not to plant pansies in the same place year after year.
Sometimes daffodils can come up very early, even before Christmas. Enjoy them, but be aware that they too can succumb to fungal problems, such as narcissus leaf scorch.
Look out for crown rot and brown rots (sclerotinia) on died down perennials, especially if you are on a clay or poorly drained soil.
Be aware that many diseases will overwinter in the soil, or on plant debris. Antirrhinum rust and delphinium black blotch, as well as sclerotinia, will lay dormant and re-infect plants when they come up the following year. It may be necessary to replant new specimens in another place if the problem is severe.
Trees, shrubs, roses, climbers and hedges
Continue to plant bare-root deciduous hedging plants and trees. Put rabbit guards around newly planted trees and shrubs to protect the bark from damage.
Plant roses, but avoid areas where roses were previously grown as this can lead to problems with replant diseases.
Move established deciduous trees and shrubs, provided the ground is not frozen or soggy.
Protect newly planted trees, hedges and shrubs from cold winds and frosts, which can loosen and lift the roots. Gently re-firm them in if you notice this problem, and erect a temporary netting windbreak if there is no natural shelter. Thick dry mulches will protect the roots from cold, and branches can be covered with fleece, or even packed with dry straw and then covered with fleece, for tender plants. A wooden frame with clear polythene stretched over it does a similar job for evergreens without blocking the light, but don’t let the polythene touch the leaves, as condensation could freeze or cause rots.
Newly planted trees or shrubs can be loosened and lifted by frost or wind. Gently re-firm them in if you notice this problem.
Packing the branches of tender deciduous trees and shrubs with straw or bracken, and securing this with fleece and ties, will protect them from frost.
Remove weeds from around the bases of young trees.
Check tree ties and stakes. Replace, tighten, slacken or remove as necessary.
Tie wall shrubs and climbers onto their supports to protect them from wind damage.
Pruning and renovation of many deciduous trees, shrubs and hedges can be carried out from now throughout the dormant season. It is easier to see what you are doing when the branches have no leaves. Suitable examples are: Fagus (beech), Corylus (hazel), and also roses. Exceptions are evergreens and tender plants (these are best left until spring), and Prunus species (e.g. ornamental cherries, plums and almonds), as these are vulnerable to silver leaf when pruned in autumn or winter.
If your trees are too large for you to manage the pruning alone, then you may need a tree surgeon. Otherwise take care not to damage the tree when sawing off thicker branches.
Ensure any pruning of Acer and Betula is completed before the end of the year to avoid bleeding of sap from cuts.
Take hardwood cuttings of ornamental shrubs such as Berberis, Buddleja, Salix, Forsythia, Ligustrum and Rubus. Many deciduous climbers can also be propagated in this way (e.g. Fallopia and Lonicera).
Check hardwood cuttings taken last year. They may need planting out or potting on.
If there is snow in your area, then you may need to brush it off the branches of conifers, climbers and light-limbed shrubs and trees. Heavy snowfall can splay branches, break limbs and spoil the shape of the tree.
Prevent premature needle drop on your Christmas tree by choosing a pine (Pinus) or fir (Abies) tree instead of the traditional Norway spruce (Picea abies); these hold their needles for longer. Avoid placing your tree near sources of heat such as a fire or radiator. Cut trees will last longer if stood in a bucket of water or a stand with a reservoir. Saw off the bottom 5-7.5cm (2-3in) of trunk to allow the tree to drink freely.
You may wish to protect a few holly berries from the birds, for use in Christmas decorations. Netting should do the job, but do leave some uncovered for winter wildlife.
Take note of the most colourful dogwoods (Cornus), Salix and white-stemmed Rubus shrubs when visiting gardens open to the public, or in garden centres, and consider planting them yourself, for a winter display.
Pest & disease watch
Garden hygiene helps greatly in the prevention of disease carry-over from one year to the next. It is always a good idea to rake up and burn, bury, or throw away infected leaves. Diseases such as black spot on roses can be controlled to some extent in this way. Do not compost such material, though, as these diseases can persist in compost heaps and re-infect mulched plants.
Damage from bay suckers may still be evident, although the pests will have been and gone. However, it is a good idea to remove affected leaves if there are only a few, and to take note to look out for damage next spring (usually around May) - the problem should then be treated promptly.
Phytophthora root rots can cause die-back on mature trees and shrubs. Wet winter weather and poorly drained soils are likely to encourage this problem on susceptible woody plants.
Coral spot is often noticed once the leaves have fallen from deciduous hedges, shrubs and trees. This problem can be connected with poor ventilation and congested, un-pruned twiggy growth (as found inside clipped hedges).
Holly leaf blight is still uncommon, but can be spread in wet weather.
Rabbits and squirrels can be a nuisance as the weather gets colder, gnawing the bark from shrubs and trees. Guards around new woody plants are advisable.
Roses and their surrounding soil can be sprayed with winter washes to help keep black spot under control.
Glasshouse, conservatory and houseplants
Reduce watering and feeding of houseplants as the days shorten. Ensure that there is adequate ventilation in the greenhouse or conservatory, perhaps opening vents for an hour or two on milder days to encourage air circulation.
Remember that cacti need very little water, and no feeding, over the winter. Keep them barely moist until the spring, when they will be coming up to flowering and will therefore appreciate extra water and feed.
Clivia benefit similarly from a dormant period over winter, with less watering, feeding, and lower light levels.
Pot up Hippeastrum (amaryllis), and bring them back into active growth with regular watering and feeding. They should give you beautiful flowers for the new year.
If your Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera truncata and S. x buckleyi) failed to set flower buds, it may be that the temperature is too high (above 18°C/65°F, or that the plant is receiving light from an artificial light source after dark. Try moving the cactus into cooler conditions or away from night lighting.
Cyclamen persicum (often given as a winter pot plant) appreciates a cool room with good light. It is best watered from below (i.e. into the saucer, not the pot), as wetting the leaves can easily result in fungal infections and rotting off.
Cool conditions and regular watering will help keep potted indoor azaleas looking good for longer. Remember to water azaleas with rainwater collected in a rain butt, not with tap water.
Avoid buying poinsettias that have been accidentally chilled, particularly those sold from street stalls on cold days. Once home, place them in a warm, light place, away from drafts, to ensure they last for as long as possible.
Place hyacinths in a cool, bright place in the home. If it's too warm, the leaves will elongate and the flowers will fade quickly.
Put up insulating material such as bubble wrap on the inside of the greenhouse, if not already done.
Check that greenhouse heaters are functioning properly. Invest in a maximum-minimum thermometer to enable accurate monitoring of the temperature in your greenhouse.
Check that light levels are sufficient for houseplants. They will need light to carry on over the winter, and can easily be forgotten in a back or spare room that receives little natural light, or with the curtains left drawn. They are best moved to sunny windowsill until March next year.
Clear leaves and twigs from greenhouse and shed gutters.
Pest & disease watch
Keep an eye out for overwintering pests such as whitefly or red spider mite and treat accordingly. Nooks and crannies, and the bark of woody houseplants and vines, can harbour mealybugs and scale insect nymphs, for example.
Regularly deadhead winter-flowering plants in the home and greenhouse, to prevent problems with grey mould (Botrytis). Cyclamen are particularly prone to this problem.
Occasionally ventilating the greenhouse or conservatory for an hour or two on mild days will help reduce fungal infections.
This is a good time to clean all your old pots and seed trays, so that they are ready for next spring’s flurry of activity. Thorough cleaning will reduce pest and disease problems, and will reduce your propagation and sowing problems.
Regularly pick and sweep up fallen debris to prevent disease appearing and spreading.
Lawns and meadows
Continue to remove fallen leaves from lawns before they block out light and moisture to the grass.
Grass will continue to grow in temperatures above 5°C (41°F), so if the weather remains mild it may be necessary to use the mower to keep the lawn in trim. Ensure the cut is 3-5mm higher than during the summer to prevent turf stress. On average, this means a cutting height of around 2-4cm (1-1.5in) for a utility lawn.
Repair damagedlawn edges or patches with turves cut from other areas of the garden.
Re-cut all lawn edges to crisp up the appearance of the garden, and save work next season.
Troubleshooting
Avoid walking on lawns on frosty mornings. It can damage the grass and often leads to brown footprint-shaped marks.
Watch your lawn for signs of waterlogging, as the weather gets wetter. You may be able to remedy this with some maintenance - either now, next spring, or the following autumn.
If your lawn suffers dieback from treading during the wet, muddy season, then you may wish to lay stepping-stones through it to allow easy access across it without causing damage. Stones can be laid at a low enough level to avoid interference with mowing.
Fusarium patch (snow mould) may be a problem in wet weather, particularly on overfed and lush lawns that have been left a bit too long.
Algae can be a problem on lawns where there is poor drainage, excessive shade, or under the drip-line of trees.
Ponds
Regularly shake off leaves from nets over ponds to prevent them from building up.
Rake out fallen leaves from un-netted ponds before they sink.
Use pond heaters to keep ponds from freezing over, as this can be fatal for fish and other pond life. There are other precautions you can take to prevent your pond freezing over, if you do not have a heater. To make a hole in frozen ponds, hold a saucepan of hot water on the surface until melted through. Do not crack the ice, as this is harmful to fish.
You may wish to make your pond more wildlife-friendly. Our Wildlife Garden section below features seasonal advice in this area.
Troubleshooting
Watch out for herons stealing fish from your pond. The only way to discourage them is to net your pond.
This may be a good time to repair any leaks in your pond.
Wildlife gardening
Jobs for the month
- Hang bird feeders
- Fill the birdbath and keep it clean and free of ice
- Leave some berries on plants such as holly - they are food for wildlife
- Coppice hazels and coppice or pollard other suitable trees
- Leave perennials un-cut for as long as possible - they provide food and shelter
- Incorporate a few native trees and shrubs into new, more exotic plantings
- Build a compost heap
- Feed badgers and hedgehogs with proprietary feeds, or with tinned dog food (not bread and milk)
- Create overwintering sites for a range of insects, reptiles, amphibians and mammals
- Dig a wildlife pond
Birds
Hang bird feeders if you have not had them out already through previous seasons. There are many models available, designed to help keep out rats, cats, pigeons and squirrels, or to fit onto walls, windows, windowsills and balconies.
Hanging the bird feeder over a paved or decked area, which can be swept clear of debris regularly, may help to reduce problems with rats, if they prove a nuisance.
It is fine to leave chunks of food out on a bird table at this time of year, as there is no risk of over-large pieces being fed to the birds’ young, which can cause problems during the breeding season.
Suitable foods include seeds, peanuts, kitchen scraps and crumbs, small pieces of cheese, and wind-fallen apples and pears. Specialist bird food suppliers often sell live mealworms and fat balls at this time of year. A budget option is to hang pieces of bacon from strings tied to tree branches. The greater the variety of food that you supply, the greater variety of birds you are likely to see in your garden.
Urban gardens are often particularly attractive to birds during cold weather because of the warmth stored inside cities.
Shrubs and trees that produce berries (such as Sorbus, Berberis and Pyracantha) will provide a valuable source of food for birds in your garden at this time of year. Red and orange berries are reportedly more popular with birds than are yellow berries.
Some woodpeckers (the greater and the lesser spotted woodpecker) will use a home-made hanging log feeder. A rotten log, with holes in it filled with suet, can be suspended from a tree branch, to mimic the natural feeding habitat of woodpeckers.
A birdbath can be a vital source of drinking water for birds during the winter, especially in cold areas liable to freezing. Ensure that your birdbath is topped up, and kept free of ice. Models are available to attach to windows, walls and sills, if you are limited for space.
Although risk is still deemed to be low outside of the poultry industry, anyone interested in birds in their garden will be concerned about bird flu’ (visit www.rspb.org.uk). Good hygiene is key to reducing risk. Changing the water in bird baths regularly, scrubbing them out with a special detergent (available from bird food suppliers), and making sure that wild bird droppings are not allowed to accumulate on lawns or surfaces, will help to prevent the disease spreading. Obviously, if you keep pet birds or chickens, you are advised to keep them completely separate from potential contact with wild birds, and to mind your own hygiene before and after handling them, wearing suitable protective clothing that is kept solely for the task.
Insects
Remember that insects are gardeners’ friends as well as foes! They are natural pest controllers, and will keep each other’s populations down to manageable levels once your garden has got back into a natural balance.
Mammals, reptiles and amphibians
Hedgehog and badger food is now available for sale. It is not a good idea to feed hedgehogs with bread and milk, as this is not their natural diet. Dog food is an alternative. Many hedgehogs will already be in hibernation by now, but larger individuals may still be active, especially during a mild December.
Put out log and twig piles made from old prunings and felled trees. These provide valuable shelter for wildlife. They can be made into an attractive feature by planting them up with ferns, primroses, or other suitable plants. A site well away from the house should ensure that unwanted creepy crawlies do not stray into domestic rooms.
Piles of slabs or rockery stones will act as a suitable wildlife habitat, as will old bales of straw, hay or prunings.
Corrugated iron or plastic laid on the soil can provide ‘tunnel’ hiding places for small reptiles and mammals looking for shelter and warmth.
You may wish to identify a suitable part of the garden to leave untouched as a wildlife area. A small patch behind a shed is perfectly fine if you’re worried about it looking untidy.
You could plan and dig a wildlife pond over the winter.
Plants for wildlife
This is the traditional month for coppicing native trees and shrubs. This is an ancient technique developed to produce regular supplies of wood for fuel. It is useful today in small gardens because it limits the size of the tree, turning it into a multi-stemmed shrub. Coppicing provides shelter for wildlife near eye level, and lets more light through to the under-storey plants than would a mature tree. Bulbs and ground cover plants are therefore more likely to flourish under coppiced trees than under large specimens. The young leaves on coppiced trees provide valuable breeding grounds for butterflies (e.g. the pearl-bordered fritillary, which breeds in areas of coppiced hazel - visit www.butterfly-conservation.org for more information).
Pollarding is a similar technique, but maintains a single trunk, the cutting back being done to a higher baseline.
Leaving perennials uncut once they have finished flowering can provide food and shelter for wildlife in the winter. Many perennials (such as Agapanthus and Rudbeckia) have visually pleasing seed heads. They will not be depleted of energy by being allowed to set seed if you feed them during, and just after flowering. Deciduous ornamental grasses classically look very attractive with the bleached stems left uncut over the winter.
If you are planting new trees, shrubs and perennials, it is a good idea to mix in some native plants with the more exotic or cultivated specimens. Although many insects will happily feed and breed on a selection of plants (native or otherwise), others are fussier, and prefer natives, particularly when it comes to breeding. A wide diversity of plants will encourage a wide diversity of insects, and this is likely to be the best recipe for a rich mix of mammals, amphibians and birds in your garden.
Now could be a good time to build a compost heap or a leafmould pen, if you do not have these in your garden already.
Garden structures & tools
Ensure all stand pipes and irrigation lines are drained to avoid damage from freezing. Put lagging around outdoor taps to enable use throughout the winter.
Now is a good time to consider installing garden lighting, water pipes and drainage.
Add lights and power points to sheds and outhouses, so that you can garden on wet days and in the evenings.
In dry spells, you can treat timber structures with wood preservative and stain. Make sure you use appropriate products - creosote, for example, is no longer legal.
Garden contractors are often short of work in winter and therefore available to do major tasks such as paving, fence building and pond digging.
Take action to remove algae from paths if they start to become slippery.
Make a cold frame as a winter DIY project - you can save lots of money, as good cold frames are very expensive to buy.
When putting lawnmowers and hedge-trimmers away for the winter, ensure that they are clean and dry before storing. Drain out any fuel first, as unleaded petrol doesn't keep, and may cause problems next year when trying to start up the machines.
You may want to send all machines in for a service while they are in less frequent use.
Clean and sharpen secateurs and loppers ready for pruning of deciduous trees and shrubs over the winter. Special small ceramic tools are available to allow awkwardly shaped and angled blades to be sharpened with ease. Spare springs and replacement blades can also be purchased for more expensive models.
Gardening for children
Children may enjoy gathering holly, fir, and spruce branches for Christmas displays or wreaths. Incidental education easily accompanies this activity. You can draw their attention to the blotches left by holly leaf miners, or to the seeds contained within holly berries and conifer cones (for instructions on sowing tree seeds, see: saving seeds; sowing tree seeds; conifer cones). Make sure that everyone wears gloves and long sleeves when handling conifer foliage, as it can cause an itchy red rash when it touches bare skin.
Get children to brush snow from evergreen hedges, shrubs and trees, to prevent them splaying under the weight of the snow. This is a fun task (which could degenerate into snowball fights) good for children less interested in fiddly or dextrous jobs requiring patience and concentration.
Children can be tasked with laying planks across the lawn to make a path for use in frosty weather, using this to discuss the idea of soil compaction being caused by footprints on frozen grass. The idea of spreading your weight over a larger area (rather than concentrating it into a single point) is a useful educational concept that will help their schooling as well as their consideration for the garden. Making paths that need a bit of a balancing act to walk over is also fun, and a way of expending their energy.
For quieter children preferring a less boisterous indoor task, houseplants can be an excellent vehicle for education. Children can adopt a houseplant, learning how to tell when it needs watering (feeling the compost, understanding the concept of roots and what they do), deadheading and picking off debris to keep it looking tidy, being encouraged to look out for potential insect and disease invaders (a hand lens or magnifying glass, plus a book with some pictures, makes this much more interesting), and developing a sensitivity to the conditions preferred by most houseplants in terms of light levels, draughts, temperature, humidity (see houseplant care and houseplant winter care for more details), before progressing to more specialist plants requiring winter dormancy conditions (Clivia for example).