- Bring container-grown shrubs into the greenhouse for forcing.
- Suitable candidates include roses, deutzia, lilac and viburnum.
- Continue to lift rhubarb roots and leave them exposed to frost before bringing in and forcing.
- Top up bird feeders and baths.
- Firm in any autumn-planted shrubs and border plants lifted by frost.
- Cut back clinging climbers from windows and doors.
- Clean tools and oil and sharpen metal blades.
- On dry days, treat your wooden garden furniture with preservative.
- Have a clear-out of the shed and reorganise your storage space, putting up tool racks and disposing of clutter.
- Keep a bag of gritty sand at hand to sprinkle over frosty paths when temperatures plummet.
- Heel in newly-delivered bare-root fruit trees and bushes by digging a pile of soil into a wedge shape sloping down into a trench, laying the roots on the wedge and then piling more soil over the top, so they can't dry out.
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