IN YOUR GARDEN THIS MONTH

General

• Prune dormant plants quite severely for good growth next season. Service and store your favourite garden tools and mowers so they are in tip top condition for the next time you use them. Keep clearing up any leaves so that slugs and snails can't shelter beneath them.It's also a good time to treat timber with preservative or wood colouring as perennial and annual climbers have either died away or lost their leaves.
• During the winter months plants should be watered sparingly to prevent water-logging and rotting. Check plants weekly and only water if the compost has almost dried out.

Vegetables

• Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia can be sown outdoors and the variety The Sutton can be sown under cloches. For large Onions, seed can be sown during December and early January transplanting the young plants outdoors in spring.

Greenhouses

• Keep greenhouses warmer and reduce heating costs by insulating with easy to fit bubble film.
• Pests may overwinter on plants so keep an eye out for them, small infestations of Red Spider Mite, Greenfly and Whitefly can soon spread.

Flowers

• Taller growing Bush Roses can be pruned down by about half to prevent the wind catching them and in turn damaging the roots. The branches of Standard Roses should also be shortened. Bare-rooted Rose Bushes can be planted this month.

Fruit

• Soft fruit such as Currants, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Blackberries and Tayberries can be planted at this time as they are dormant, however if soil conditions are unsuitable when you receive your plants, plant them in a spare piece of ground or pot until there is an improvement.