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[pdblake]

Don't compost all those runner beans plants, dig them in and add the last of the comfrey leaves too. Then cover with a layer of mulch from the compost heap to make next season's onion bed, ready to plant out all those Boxing Day sowings.

[SueA]

I bag up all the fallen leaves in the garden now in perforated black bin bags & leave them at the end of the garden behind shrubs & by next year they make a nice leafmould mulch to put around any overwintering crops. I also put a perforated polythene cloche over my autmun sown onions, garlic & shallots as Sarzwix does to protect from the worst of the wet & frost.

[SueA]

If you're growing olive trees & they're still quite small & in pots you might want to give them some protection for the worst of the winter. I've got a couple in pots & I put them in a plastic zip up growbag greenhouse, I used to bring the first one I got indoors over winter until I found out that they need a cold spell with the temperature dropping below 5 C in order to flower & produce fruits.

[HeyWayne]

If you, or someone you know is getting rid of an old divan bed, don't throw it away. Strip all the material and card from it and you'll be left with a ready made cold frame "frame". Paint it with wood preservative and it should last a bit longer. You can then simply use the plastic that the new bed comes wrapped in to cover the frame of the old one. For added insulation staple sheets of bubble wrap to the inner sides and off you go.

[kitchengardner]

winter warmers

If you are using a cold frame to protect your plants try placing polystyrene blocks or bales of straw around the outside of the frame. This is great insulation, has a minimal impact on light (unless you cover the lid!) being outside means they don't take up room or harbour pests

Hot beds (raised beds filled with fresh dung covered with a few inches of soil) are also great in greenhouses or combined with a cloche, especially for hardy salad leaves, spring onions and as an early seed bed. You can even stand pots on them if you need to vary the soil type to suit a particular plant.

In unheated greenhouses raise any potted plants up as high as possible on staging etc and insulate well. If you have a problem with condensation try insulating with fleece rather than bubblewrap, it is almost as good an insulator and much more "breathable". Remember to leave a flap over any louvre vents or windows to allow ventilation on mild days

For winter cauliflowers tie the outer leaves over the curds, leaving room for these to grow, and cover in fleece if a heavy frost is forecast.

[Two_Sheds]

Warm up the ground ready for spring planting by laying some black plastic down for a few weeks (clear plastic will just make the weeds grow).

[Two_Sheds]

Spring frosts can damage early fruit flowers, eg strawberry and plum. Have some fleece handy for snap frosts.

for extra early strawbs, pop a cloche over a few, or pot some up and bring them into a greenhouse.

[poozie]

I'll be searching for twiggy sticks for my peas, much better than the smooth green pea sticks sold at garden centres.

[Sara]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for posting. The winners have been contacted and their tips will be appearing in the January Subs Club newsletter.

Sara

[smc999]

If you don't want the expense of buying and running a greenhouse heater over winter (there are also the fumes to consider if its a paraffin model), try 3 tealights placed on a brick on the greenhouse floor, light them and place a large upturned clay plant pot over them. Should give you enough heat overnight to keep the frost off anything as the tealights burn for at least 4 hours and the heat radiates through the clay plant pot for a good few hours after they have gone out. Costs about £1.50 for 100 tealights from the supermarket.OOOpss, looks like I'm a little late.