Jobs for the garden this winter

Winter is a great time for gardeners to take stock, tidy up, protect plants and plan ahead. Find out exactly when and how to complete your winter garden jobs with BBC Countryfile Magazine's month-by-month winter gardening guide.

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Winter can feel like a gloomy time in the garden. The flowers of high summer are a distant memory, the rain is here to stay and the change of the clocks has put paid to any hope of working in the evenings.

However, there is still much to be done.

From looking after your garden tools, to splitting plants and planting bulbs for the seasons ahead, getting outside in your garden in the winter months can be rewarding and give you a chance to breathe fresh air and stay connected to the outdoors. Just remember to wrap up warm and reward yourself with a hot chocolate afterwards!

Our month-by-month winter gardening guide offers some ideas to keep you busy and lay the foundation for a great spring and summer next year.

Looking for more garden inspiration? Check out our guides to easy garden projects, winter gardening for wildlife and how to make a bird feeder.

Two men working in a garden in winter/Credit: Getty Images
Tidy up your garden in the winter months to reap the benefits in spring and summer/Credit: Getty

Garden jobs to do in November

Clear up and shore up plants

Dead-head autumn-flowering plants and prune summer-flowering shrubs before the first frosts. Check structures are stable and if they aren’t then mend them now before high winds and snow do more serious damage.

Keep off the grass

Although grass is evergreen it is dormant in winter, so avoid walking on it or you will damage it fairly easily. If you must walk on it, pop a plank down temporarily so that your weight is spread more evenly.

Best plants for winter colour

Are you looking for something to brighten up the dark winter days? Bring pinks, yellows, purples and greens into your garden with our guide to the best plants for winter colour.

Protect plants from the cold

Add cloches to winter salads to protect them from the weather and pests and wrap pots of half-hardy plants in bubble wrap or fleece. Bring tender plants indoors or put them in a greenhouse.

Dig garden beds

If you have clay soil now is the time to dig the beds but hold fire if the ground is sodden or after a frost. Digging now allows the frost to break up the soil over the winter, improving the structure. As long as your beds aren’t seriously compacted there is no need to double dig. If you have a sandy soil it’s best to wait until spring to dig as your beds will be more prone to moisture loss thanks to their free-draining nature.

Wild, native hedgehog on green moss with red berries and snow
Hedgehogs are in decline, so help them out with fresh water and leave corners untidy to give them somewhere to hibernate/ Credit: Getty

Put out feeders for garden birds

Birds will appreciate nuts, seeds and fat balls left out for them this winter. Remember to freshen up water regularly and ensure it doesn’t freeze over. Keeping an area of your garden untidy, with a pile of logs and fallen leaves, makes a perfect hedgehog house.

Garden bird guide

Help your garden birds stay healthy throughout the seasons with our expert guide on how to care for wild birds, including the best foods to feed the different species and tips on how to attract birds to your garden.

Create a compost heap

Add compost or well-rotted manure to your beds now for healthier plants next year. Either fork it in or, if you have ‘no dig’ raised beds, spread it on top. It’s also a good time to make leaf mold. Make a wire cage for the leaves so they don’t blow away, or keep in black plastic bags with a little soil added to help them break down, and a few punctures in the bag.

Help hedgehogs in your garden

The UK's hedgehog population is in decline, but there are plenty of ways you can help these charismatic mammals.Read our essential guide to helping hedgehogs in your garden.

Cover the ground

If you have an allotment, and you’re not planting a crop to over-winter, cover your empty veg beds with landscaping fabric or cardboard and weigh it down with planks and bricks. This will keep the weeds down over winter, and the soil will warm up quicker in spring. Covering beds also prevents loss of nutrients from the soil due to rain and wind.

Plant bulbs

There’s still time to get bulbs in the ground in November to guarantee winter colour from January onwards. Choose a mixture of varieties and plant in clumps, so that you get a good effect. You can lift and divide them every few years too.

Planting Flower Bulbs, Getty
Flower bulbs being planted in good soil/Credit: Getty

Garden jobs to do in December

Tidy and clean your tools

Get secateurs sharpened, fix loose spade handles and wash your gardening gloves. Sharp tools are safer and better for your plants, as a clean cut when pruning is less likely to let in disease. If you have a greenhouse or potting shed (lucky you) now’s the time to give it a good clear out.

How to sharpen a pocket knife

Learn how to sharpen your pocket knife using a stone with this simple technique.

Bring your Christmas tree indoors

If you keep a live tree outside in a pot, bring it in a few days before Christmas and leave it for 24 hours before you decorate it. Conifers are very happy in the freezing cold, and miserable in a centrally-heated house, so give it plenty of water and keep it away from the radiators.

Christmas tree guide

Real Christmas tree or fake? Nordman fir or Norway spruce? Rent a Christmas tree or buy? Our Christmas tree guide looks at tree varieties, how to choose the perfect Christmas tree, plus advice on how to care for your tree and environmentally friendly options

Plan ahead

Take stock of your gardening year. Do not be disheartened by your gardening imperfections or failures, but devote some time to pondering what you will do differently in the coming year.

Plant garlic and fruit bushes

Garlic can go into the ground now as long as the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Rhubarb can be divided and bare-root fruit trees and bushes can be planted now, as can raspberries and blackberries.

Vegetables in soil
Carrots can be harvested in winter and stored/Credit: Getty

Store up root veg

Crops harvested in winter that can be stored include carrots and parsnips, cabbage, maincrop potatoes, late season apples and pears, pumpkins, squashes, beans, onions, shallots, garlic and root vegetables. Whether you’re wrapping apples in paper or digging a clamp for your carrots, inspect your harvest thoroughly and discard anything that’s not in perfect condition - not only will it rot, it’ll contaminate the rest of your crop.

Gardening in the snow
Even in the harshest weather there are still jobs to be done in the garden/Credit: Getty

Garden jobs to do in January

Use your old Christmas tree in the garden

On the Twelfth Night – the last day of Christmas – many of us will be taking down our Christmas trees and leaving them out on the street ready for collection. But did you know these prickly spruces, firs and pines can be used in your garden to help wildlife and save money? Create a shelter for mammals, construct climbing frames for plants or build a dead hedge.

How to use your old Christmas tree in the garden

Once the festive season is over, you may be wondering what to do with your Christmas tree. Here are five great ways to reuse your old tree in the garden, helping wildlife, reducing consumption and saving you money

Order your seeds for spring

It’s still too early to dig, but it’s not too early to dream. Get your seeds ordered now for any veg and fruit you’re planning to grow. Ordering from seed catalogues guarantees more interesting varieties than can be bought at large commercial garden centres.

Someone cutting down the branches of a tree
Winter is the perfect time to prune fruit trees/Credit: Getty

Winter prune apple trees

Fruit trees are dormant now, so it’s safe to prune them. Remove dead, diseased and damaged wood, and eliminate any instances of branches crossing and rubbing against each other - remove the weaker one. Wear gloves, use sharp, clean tools, and cut at an angle, so that the face of the cut angles downwards, allowing rain to run off it and preventing it rotting.

How to prune an apple tree in winter

A few simple snips and cuts in the winter months means strong, healthy fruit later in the year for your apple trees. Learn how to prune your tree.

Start sowing your veggies indoors

Sow Cavelo Nero, broad beans, winter salad and radish seeds, plant onions, leeks and garlic. Sow peas indoors to plant out in March or April and chit seed potatoes.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) 'Duke of York', 'Rocket', 'Pink Fir Apple', 'Premier' and 'Nicola' seed tubers, in chitting tray by lounge french windows, Norfolk, England, February
Chit potatoes now for success come spring/Credit: Getty

Divide snowdrops

Snowdrops spread by seed and will expand about 3cm in all directions per year. To help them spread more quickly, dig and divide them immediately after they’ve flowered and replant about 30cm apart. If you’re planting them from fresh, planting in the green in February is usually the best route to success.

What are the best plants to plant in winter to help wildlife?

Peacock butterfly
Plant in winter for next year's wildlife/Credit: Getty

Winter is the best time to plant shrubs, small trees, climbers and hedging that will attract and help wildlife in the months ahead. For example, plant a Cotoneaster sternianus shrub to provide bees with summer nectar and birds with autumn berries; edge a border with a low hedge of lavender to feed bees and butterflies in high summer; and plant a range of dense, evergreen climbers (such as ivy) and shrubs (such as Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ’n’ Gold’) to create shelter and nesting sites for birds.

Winter wildlife gardening

Amid winter’s cold bite, garden wildlife needs a helping hand. And this barren season is also the optimum time to plant shrubs that will lure bees, butterflies and birds in the warmer months ahead.

Make your garden a winter haven for wildlife and you could save the lives of birds and bees, who may struggle to survive in prolonged harsh weather.

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