• Protect cordylines from freezing temperatures by bringing them under cover or tying up the leaves and wrapping them in fleece until the cold snap is over.
  • Shorten tall stems of rose bushes to reduce wind-rock in winter.
  • Dig over cleared areas in the kitchen garden, forking in compost as you go.
  • Lift and divide old rhubarb plants.
  • Move shrubs which have outgrown their current position, if the ground is not frozen or waterlogged.
  • Sow crops of hardy peas and broad beans.
  • Winter prune climbers and shrubs like passiflora and bougainvillea.
  • Wrap sacking or bubble wrap around terracotta and ceramic containers to stop them freezing and cracking.
  • Complete winter pruning of fruit trees.
  • Check greenhouse heaters are working and make sure the levels are high enough to last the night.
  • Sow seeds of slowmaturing half-hardy summer bedding plants in heated propagators in the greenhouse.
  • Bring potted bulbs into the home to flower.
  • Take winter hanging baskets under cover, before the hard frosts arrive.
  • Lag and protect outdoor pipes.
  • Keep an area of your pond ice-free if you have fish.
  • In good weather, continue to plant hardy deciduous trees and shrubs, especially barerooted ones.