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A winter message from Lucy:

Ah, the confused hurly-burly of late autumn draws to a close and the ironclad fist of winter closes in around us.

Here’s a garden workout for the winter months to keep you fit and in touch with the outdoors so you can keep a watchful eye on the goings-on in your garden.

It’s also guaranteed to make you feel virtuous once you return to the warmth of your kitchen for a well-earned mug of steaming hot tea. A weekly workout is ideal for getting all those tedious but necessary jobs done, keeping your cheeks rosy, and is a great way of forgetting your troubles.

To read more tips from Lucy visit her BLOG.

December

Week 1
Paint fences and outdoor walls before the frosts come. Protect vulnerable plants with horticultural fleece.

Week 2
Dig over beds and borders while the soil is still workable. Pop into the garden shed, tune in to your favourite radio station or plug in the iPod and clean the mower (or put it in for a service should it need one). Clean and sharpen garden tools.

Week 3
Feed the birds. Whether it’s breadcrumbs or a fat ball hung from a branch in an old apple tree, remember that being nice to our feathered friends in the winter will see them return to eat all those pesky bugs next spring. If you have a pond, bash a hole in the icy surface to allow oxygen into the water to sustain your pond life. For small ponds you can buy a small, efficient, low-cost pond heater, or just float an old football on the top to prevent it freezing over completely.

Week 4
It’s nearly Christmas, so take it easy and spoil yourself by planting some spring-flowering tulips. I say this only because the week before Christmas always seems to be when I actually remember to put mine in! But you can leave them till January if you are still running round like a headless chicken doing the Christmas shopping.

Plant tulip bulbs about 10cm/4in deep and 10cm/4in apart and PLEASE - NO STRAIGHT LINES. Scatter them from the hip and plant them where they fall.

Here are some of my favourites:

‘Flaming Purissima’ A lovely creamy white, tinted soft rose towards the edges. Flowers from March to April; Height 45cm/18in

‘Purissima’ (AGM) For all those who love the purity of a single, ivory-coloured, elegant tulip. Flowers from March to April; Height 45cm/18in

And if peonies are in your personal hit parade, you will love these peony-like tulips:

‘Uncle Tom’ If you can find this deep, rich, burgundy red, you are in for a treat. Search around the bulb suppliers and don’t take no for an answer. Flowers from April to May; Height 45cm/18in

‘Mount Tacoma’ Creamy white, multi-petalled tulip flushed pale green at the base. Simply beautiful. Flowers from April to May; Height 45cm/18in

‘Angelique’ (AGM) Apple blossom pink petals. Flowers from April to May; Height 45cm/18in

That’s it, then, for this gardening year. Look out for my new book, Border Flowers, available in all the usual bookshops and online in spring, so you can transform your flowerbeds into something quite wonderful.

Thanks to all my loyal gardening readers. Have a wonderful Christmas with your fond friends and family, and don’t get caught up in squabbles. Laugh a lot instead and remember that the simple pleasures are the most lasting.

See you next year at Greenfingersguides when we shall have all sorts of interesting new additions to our website to help make your gardening year 2010 a truly remarkable one.

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