Your garden

Although the weather may be cold, every opportunity should be taken over the next few weeks to dig and manure the vegetable garden, leaving the ground exposed to the ongoing winter weather, a practice which will help ensure it is in good order for next season’s crops.

Sweetening the soil with lime added immediately after turning over the ground helps most crops, although potatoes are an exception. Old cow-pad base and stable manure improve heavy, clay soils by adding humus to the garden.

Dig soft-wooded hedge clippings directly into the soil to decompose over the winter, or add them to the compost bin.

Gather the last of the autumn leaves and stack separately to form a seed sowing/potting mix or add them to the compost heap. Left alone, most leaves take about a year to decompose into leaf mould. In the compost heap, they should be ready within half that time to use as a mulch or dig into the soil.