Get pruning and planting

■ Prune early flowering clematis once the blooms have finished.

■ Dead-head winter pansies to keep them producing flowers.

■ Many veg can be sown in a frost-free glass house – peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, celery and artichokes.

■ Shrubs grown for their large foliage can be pruned back hard. Catalpa (Indian bean tree) and Paulownia (foxglove) left alone will grow into large trees, but you can keep them manageable by hacking back every spring and enjoying their exotic-looking foliage.

■ Hardy annuals can be sown now indoors for transplanting outdoors later.

■ If you don’t already have one, dedicate a small area of the garden to making your own compost – it’s a great way of managing garden waste.

Waste not, want not. create a compost area

Start sowing vegetables in the greenhouse now