Tips for frost-proofing your garden

It might seem strange, but December has to be one of my favourite months for gardening. Yes, it's cold, but it's also a good chance to catch up on things you haven't time to do throughout the year. For example, this week I've patched up the walls of my raised vegetable beds. Now that they're taking a bit of a rest for the winter, I've been able to get stuck in without damaging anything too seriously.

Of course, there's a few things that need taking care of to make sure all the hard work isn't completely undermined by this cold snap. I thought I'd share my frost-proofing routine in case anybody finds it useful - and it would be great to hear your suggestions too.

So, here's what I've been up to this week to keep the frost at bay:

• Tidied the borders, trimming dead foliage and cutting back overgrown plants
• Mulched evergreen plants to keep the soil frost-free, and stop them from becoming dehydrated
• Lightly dug over any bare areas of ground to keep the soil moving
• Plants in pots or containers are more susceptible to frost damage than those in the borders, so I insulated them wherever possible, and moved my more sensitive plants inside
• Anything that looked like it could do with it got a wrapping of horticultural fleece
• Emptied water butts so the water doesn't expand when it freezes, damaging the water butt
  

It's not frost related, but most of my Christmas decorations are from the garden this year. Seed heads, holly, ivy, sprigs of bay, I've really gone to town. It looks great though, as well as being very economical!

Have a great Christmas,

Edwin