"I learnt the hard way. A good few years ago I spent the day digging out and mixing four tonnes of concrete for footings for a number of garden walls, only to come back the next day to find it had frozen and blown out. So I had to do it all over again… an expensive mistake!"

Beds and borders
"The beds and borders become compacted over the year with the rain and big feet battering them, so whilst they are bare it is good practice to fluff up or tickle the top 4 or 5 inches of soil with a fork and to dig in some well-rotted manure. Try not to do this when the soil is wet. If it is, cover it with a cloche and wait till it is dryer before doing it. This allows the frost to penetrate and break down the soil improving its structure, and nutrient levels are boosted by the decaying organic matter when the soil warms up. Do watch out for new growth from bulbs and perennials as you tinker in the soil, you don’t want to disturb them!

Plants for winter colour
"I inherited a new garden when we moved four months ago and I have to say that it is severely lacking in winter colour so I thought I would share with you two star winter performers that I will be planting this weekend! The first is Chimonanthus praecox commonly known a wintersweet. This is a plant that is deemed a little old fashioned but is currently having a bit of a revival. It bears pale yellow flowers with a brownish purple centre on bare stems around Christmas and is a welcome splash of colour at this time of year. They smell amazing and are great for cutting and bringing indoors to include as part of a floral display. Young plants need to settle in for a good few years and become well established before they start to flower but they are well worth it. Once the flowers have died back in early spring the pale green new leaves unfurl draping graceful arching stems. Wintersweet can work really well as a specimen or amongst the borders, so give it a try.

"Daphne odora is the second plant that will fill a gap in my winter garden and sits really well next to Wintersweet. D. odora ‘Aureomarginata’ is the exact variety I have bought and is more hardy that straight Daphne odora as it is variegated with a light green/yellow margin around the leaves. It likes dappled shade and grows best sheltered from cold winds. The best feature of this plant is the neat tubular rosettes of purple tinged pink, highly fragrant flowers that appear from December onwards. It is best planted where the roots have shelter from direct drying sunlight, where soil is good and moist.

"Until next time... wrap up warm!"

Sven Wombwell