• 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.