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to having such a wreath - home-made of course - but for now I took the easy option of making a single frame using gardening wire. My wreath doesn’t need to last very long and I can live with it being a little on the thin side. I wanted a natural

At this time of year it’s all too easy to stay indoors and become a couch potato. When I do venture into the garden, my fingers ache with the cold and the ground is so slippery I can barely stay upright. I can’t even warm up by working the soil

made it impossible to sow seeds directly outside in the garden. The ground was just too wet, making it difficult to prepare the surface soil to sow into. Any small seeds I did endeavour to sow got washed away, wasting time, effort and money

problem with spider mite last winter, but it’s best to err on the side of caution.This virtuous activity is always very satisfying, and makes me feel prepared for the year ahead. Roll on 2013, and a productive growing season!

-in-law’s greenhouse for the winter.Third - and this is very positive news - the frosty snap will have done wonders for your parsnip crop. Parsnips need a bit of cold to give them the wonderful sweetness that makes them the perfect accompaniment to Sunday lunches

in the kettle after making my first brew of the day to melt them. The bracing cold also helps to wake me up! (Note to self: add thermal pyjamas to my Christmas list).6. Complete seed order before ChristmasMy neat pile of 2013 seed catalogues is sitting next

holidays abroad. We’ve angels made from shells and a reindeer recycled from drink cans, each reminding us of an enjoyable holiday from the past.Out in the garden, I always use netting to try and keep blackbirds from a branch of my female holly bush, so

by flooding. It’s hard to imagine anything worse happening to your home.Putting up with a wet garden could appear rather trivial in the context of major weather events, but the past few years have highlighted how variable and extreme our weather has become