Jobs for the garden this winter

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Start sowing veggies indoors

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

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 February is usually the best route to success.

Wildlife friendly plants for winter

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.