Er is good news!
Look in any old garden book and it will recommend you get your veg garden dug before Christmas. The reason is that constant freezing and thawing of the water in clay soils will break up the clods into a crumbly texture by spring. The problem is this harsh treatment can also damage the beneficial fungi and bacteria in the soil and stimulate decomposition of organic matter in the soil, too, so in the case of light soils it’s often better to sow a green manure in autumn and dig over in spring.
Most of the seeds we sow regularly pop up easily as soon as they’re sown and kept warm and moist. But some hardy plants, such as plums, hawthorn and wild roses, won’t germinate unless they’re subjected to chilling once they’ve absorbed water. We can sow these seeds in autumn and leave them outside or put them in the fridge – there’s no need to freeze them. It’s the way plants ensure that seeds don’t germinate in autumn when they would then be killed by frost, but wait until spring, with a full growing season ahead of them.
We probably all wish we could grow a mango or oranges in our gardens, but if we did we wouldn’t be able to grow apples, or many of the fruits we take for granted and love so much. Like many hardy fruits, apple trees don’t bloom without a cold winter. The amount of cold they need depends on the variety, but basically apple trees are able to count the