Winter Jobs & Growing Guide

Fruit:

- Plant new trees and bushes. Don’t plant if the ground is waterlogged or frozen.

Veg:

- Plant shallots and garlic in mild areas with well-drained soil.

- Protect new sowings and crops still in the ground from mice.

- Place mice controls near stored fruit and vegetables as well.

- Slugs can still pose a threat, and slug controls are necessary now, as always.

- Protect brassicas from pigeons using cloches, netting or fleece.

- Remove any yellowed leaves on Brussels sprouts and other brassicas. This will prevent the development of grey mould and brassica downy mildew.

- Remove all remaining plant debris from the vegetable plot. Do not compost any diseased material.

- Remove any rotten stored fruit.

- Deal with apple and pear canker.

- Deal with bitter pit in stored apples.

Fruit:

- Tie in new tiers of espaliers.

- Thin out congested spurs of restricted fruit trees.

- Prune apples, pears, quinces and medlars, as well as autumn raspberries, red and white currants and gooseberries.

Veg:

- If hard frosts are forecast, cover trenches of stored root crops with a protective layer of cardboard so you can still access your crops to eat and enjoy during cold snaps.

- Stake any Brussels sprouts stalks that look leggy and vulnerable to wind rock.

- There’s still time to force chicory. Pot them up and position them in a dark warm place. The tasty chicons will appear in three to six weeks.

- Clear late-season debris off the vegetable plots, and compost it. Bin or burn any diseased material.

- Clean and store bamboo canes in the shed or other dry place to ensure they’re still in good condition for next year. Broken or rotted ones can be shortened, where possible, for re-use.