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frogspawn yet either in my pond. I only have a small container pond and because of the freezing weather I have it covered with bubble plastic and I've wrappen bubble plastic round it as well. I've done this every winter and it works a treat. In past years I

from cold winter winds. Ensure the soil is free-draining, as plants can freeze if left standing in pools of icy water.Plug plants, seedlings or seed of winter salad, including corn salad, land cress, lettuce, wild rocket and mustardTrowel and fork

. Keep bare-root plants in a frost-free shed until daytime temperatures are above freezing.More advice on growing rosesWatch Chris Beardshaw's video on planting a rambling roseMonty Don's video guide to planting a roseAdvice on pruning a rose bush

- organic home-grown plums to eat straight from the tree with enough left over to freeze and cook during winter. My 'Victoria' plums are swelling nicely, so I just hope they have the flavour to match their appearance.Crops have certainly been affected

if I leave it until the suggested time of 'after the first frost'. It's true that a zapping by freezing temperatures will make for better sloe gin, but me, I'm going to simply pop the sloes in the freezer. It has exactly the same effect and because

the fleece from the plants on warm sunny days and hang it up to dry. If the plants are wet when covered it can cause the fleece to become damp. In very cold conditions, the fleece can then freeze on to the leaves, damaging them. This is an absolute 'no

sun, but last week thick fog kept it away to provide a real bonus for anyone tempted outside.The freezing fog provided a ready supply of moisture that crystalised into a jewelled coating over stems, leaves, buds and blooms. Anything bold enough

for work last week, there was one quick mercy mission I needed to make before making my cup of tea. The bird bath! These past freezing nights have completely frozen the water in my bird bath, and I know how important water is to garden birds. Throwing out

There are times when it is, quite frankly, just too freezing to do any work in the garden. In some ways I'm glad of the harsh weather; it should help to finish off garden pests such as slugs, and spores of fungal diseases such as tulip fire

We've swapped the 'big freeze' for 'wet and windy' this week. Suddenly the temperatures seem sub-tropical, even though it's only a few degrees above zero. I'm glad of some rain — it's been dry for a couple of months, which is unusual in these parts