Remove annuals once the first frost has blackened them, but leave seed heads of coneflowers and grasses standing. They hold frost beautifully and feed finches well into January.

Spread a thin layer of compost over empty soil. Worms pull it down over winter, and in March the bed is ready without digging.

Peonies and day lilies can be cut to the ground in autumn. Lavender, sage and other woody herbs keep their stems until April, a hard cut in autumn lets frost into the wood.

Roses get a light trim to stop wind rock, the real pruning follows when the forsythia flowers.

Most hardy plants die of wet roots, not of cold leaves. A hand deep layer of leaves or bark around the base keeps the soil even and dry enough.

Cover tender plants with fleece only when nights stay below minus five degrees, and open it again on mild days so nothing rots.

Roots in a pot freeze from every side. Move pots to the house wall, stand them on wood or clay feet and wrap the pot, not the plant, in jute or bubble wrap.

Olive, oleander and citrus belong in a bright, cool room between five and ten degrees. A dark garage is fine for figs, which drop their leaves anyway.

Box, laurel and rhododendron lose water through their leaves even in January. On a mild, frost free day give pots and young plants a can of water in the morning.

Take covers off in stages from the middle of March and keep the fleece close for late frosts. Cut back herbs and grasses once new shoots show at the base, then feed the beds with a little compost.