Winter is not for chilling – it’s time to sharpen your tools and prep the garden

Although the longest night is behind us, the days still feel terribly short and gloomy – a time when motivation to garden can hit a low. But with the emotional support of my thermal leggings and a thick woolly hat pulled over my ears, I drum up just enough energy to get on with all the unglamorous tasks that need doing out there before the first signs of spring appear.

Here are a few of the worthwhile tasks I’ll be ticking off my to-do list over the next month or so.

Though a tedious task to me, giving your tools a good clean and sharpen is satisfying to others, I’m told, and ought to be done more than once a year. I swear by Niwaki’s Crean Mate rust eraser to get the remnants of sap and any rust off my secateur blades and harvest knife before I give them a sharpen. This is worth doing not only to increase the longevity of your tools but also for the health of the plants you’ll be using them on. Different tools require different methods of sharpening, and I’ve found online videos helpful when learning the various techniques.

Next, I tackle tidying and preparing my growing spaces so they’re ready to welcome the first sowing of the new season’s seeds. This involves cleaning the windows of my greenhouse and securing the frames with some extra screws (I’m in a never-ending battle with my greenhouse to keep it from falling apart), and if I was lucky enough to have a polytunnel, I’d be making the effort to clean the plastic and patch up any holes.

While I’ve got the drill out, I’ll be checking the support structures around my fruit bushes as well as inspecting the planters and other wooden structures around the garden (such as those around the compost heap or leaf mould bin) for wobbles that can be steadied using a few screws or a well-placed baton.

Some people swear by washing their plastic pots and trays every year as a way of avoiding lingering pests and diseases but I also know people who don’t bother and grow happy, healthy plants. Either way, I try to find time to at least wash my seed trays, since germinating seeds and seedlings can be vulnerable, so it feels worthwhile.

And last, if you don’t have enough already, survey your garden for potential spots to install a water butt. Regardless of whether it’s going to be a heatwave year, water is a precious resource and your plants will be thankful for not being left to wither if there’s a hosepipe ban.

Getting on with these jobs now will set you up for the return of spring, which is a more appropriate “new year” and a far more encouraging time to make resolutions about the kind of gardener you hope to be in 2024.