Gardeners Tips for Winter

• Say temporary farewell to winter flowering Pansies. When the snow has gone and the temperature gets above 5C they will perform again.
• Knock snow off the tops of conifers and evergreen shrubs or the branches will bend and be set in untidy positions.
• Read more on Gardeners tips about Lawns in Winter & Winter Trees

Make frost your ally

• Remember many plants like a cold spell to help seed germination. Frost helps to develop roots on Daffodils.
• Frost will break down the clods of soil in a vegetable garden that has been dug over and left in lumps.
• Insects and pests may survive mild winters unless the frost kills or reduces their number.

RHS December Advice

1. Prune open-grown apples and pears but not those trained against walls
2. Deciduous trees and shrubs can still be planted and transplanted
3. Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage and sprouts
4. Prevent ponds and stand pipes from freezing
5. Check that greenhouse heaters are working OK
6. If you are not already an RHS member it makes a good Christmas present

Join a Plant or Garden Society

• The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
• Alpine Garden Society (AGS)
• Garden Organic the national charity for organic gardening formerly Henry Double Day Research
• Woodlands Trust
• The Pacific Bulb Society
• Plant Heritage (formerly NCCPG).
• NGS – Gardens open for charity.
• Hebe Society.
• British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society.
• Cottage Garden Society.
• British Clematis Society.