Statistically it’s more likely to snow in Easter than it is at Christmas, so here are some ideas for protecting any tender plants in your garden.

Moving containers in and out of greenhouses, and wrapping everything else in ghostly white fleece for the winter is a time-consuming job, which is why the ordinary gardener might wish to avoid having anything too tender in the border.

Having said this, most of us have one or two things that need attention in order to see them through the winter; obviously anything that advertises itself as frost tender, but also, particularly if you live in cold areas, anything in a container, where the roots are surrounded by cold pot, and then chilly air rather than the warmth of proper ‘underground’, and anything in an exposed area or ‘frost pocket’, where cold air whooshes past, or sits, motionless and unforgiving for long periods.

The preventative measures are well worth the effort. For pots, a layer of old bubble wrap around the sides, secured with duct tape and string will provide extra insulation, and a bit of a pot shuffle, so that all of your containers are grouped together, is a good idea. I am rather Martha Stewarty about it and have a sort of ‘kit bag’ of fleece and bubble wrap with string, ready to go when the forecast warns. Here are details of my cold weather kit.

The other thing is to get the pot bases off the ground with pot feet to avoid waterlogging. I enjoy being pretty over the top with my pot feet - I love them; the cuter the better. Anything frost tender can be wrapped in horticultural fleece (not pretty, but neither are dead plants) until the danger of death has passed. Finally, mulching thickly with a 2-3 inch layer of compost will provide an extra duvet for the roots of all plants, and the chance of a cosy winter.

x Laetitia