Early winter jobs

If you're the old-fashioned sort you'll have already finished your winter digging in the mild weather. If not, well, there's plenty of time.

Many younger gardeners suspect that winter digging is a bad thing. Others of all ages put their faith in rotovating in spring.

The famous 'no-dig' systems rely on two things: really good drainage and the soil being in good nick to start with. Soil is one area you really can't cut corners. And on heavy soils, winter digging is really still a vital necessity. By all means rotovate in spring to produce a tilth, but the soil needs those winter frosts to break up the structure. It kills pests too!

Other jobs you should be snatching the time to do in the short midwinter days include checking taller brassicas for wind-rock. After the recent blustery weather many wil have worked oose in the soil. This can lead to plants dying later, before you get a decent crop. Firm them back in with a boot and, if your site is open to the wind, consider staking with a stout cane and string.

If you have an asparagus bed you will have cut all the 'fern' down by now (won't you). Take the time to remove all the weeds, even the tiny ones, while they are young. They won't be easier to get out in the spring and you'll have less free time to do it.

If your asparagus bed had already got infested with perennial weeds, you have a good chance right now to clear it completely by spraying with glyphosate weedkiller. This will kill anything green it touches, so while the asparagus is dormant you can clobber the weeds. The same technique can be used to clear fruit bushes which have become infested with couch grass - but you MUST wait until ALL the leaves are off the bushes. Weedkiller that falls on brown bark will just wash harmlessly off.