With the pressure of preparing for all our festivities, the garden provides a peaceful, productive bolthole. Although the soil is soggy and unworkable, there are still many jobs on the “to do” list.

Having been away for several weeks during the autumn, I’ve got much more catching up to do in the garden than normal and I bet I’m not the only one.

Do you remember the glorious hot summer weather when we were scurrying round putting plant saucers under the patio pots to keep them moist? It was a distant memory the other day when I was hoisting the same pots on to a few slates to prevent the compost becoming soggy. Flat stones or almost anything else will do. When money’s tight, buying pot feet has dropped from my shopping list.

I’ve also been going round all the brassicas removing old yellow leaves. It’s a good idea to strip most of the sprout leaves off as they’ve done their bit for the sprouts and will soon yellow anyway. But keep the sprout top for a delicious bonus. Leaving dead leaves on and round the plants makes a perfect breeding ground for fungal infection and harbours grey aphids and slugs.

When it’s raining or your fingers would drop off in the frost, the greenhouse, tool-shed and potting shed need our attention. When I’ve collected every last leaf, I clean up the mower, removing all the gunge round the rotary blade. I’ll also try to remember to take it for sharpening and servicing so the engine’s in good shape in the spring. I’ll book a service now to avoid the queue of gardeners when the days lengthen.

The mower is my only petrol machine now. Everything else – trimmer, leaf blower, weed burner and chainsaw – is electric, so I remove their batteries for storing in the dry shed over winter.

All the hand tools also need an oil and clean up. But, unless you’ve had damping off problems, don’t waste your time washing and cleaning seed trays. In my many years of gardening, all I’ve done is knock out any residual compost.

Thankfully, we don’t need to do this lot in a oner, but the greenhouse does need attention now.

Last week, I was urging everyone to give their houseplants as much natural light as possible and the same applies in the greenhouse.

We don’t want to let the dirt act as shading, so the windows will need a thorough wash. I’ll certainly clean work surfaces but will avoid any corners with spiders’ webs or nests. After all, spiders do a brilliant job helping to control insect pests and I wouldn’t want to leave them homeless.

Plant of the week

Larch, Larix sap, have mostly lost their brightly coloured autumn needles but now their pretty little cones are easy to see. These grow, often in pairs, along the upper sides of the thin branches and are neat and rounded in shape with a dimple in the top. In dry weather, they open to release their seeds, which are eaten by red squirrels and birds such as siskins and redpolls.

If you want to use some for Christmas decorations, collect them now so that they can dry before you try to apply paint or glitter. You can get non-plastic eco glitter and the little dimple on top of the cone holds the sparkle really well.