Gardening in December means shorter days and cold, frosty conditions.

Read our top tips to maintain your garden throughout this Winter period:

Check Winter protection and that structures are still firmly in place through wet, windy and old conditions due to more risk of damage.

Providing and improving shelter, wrapping plants and mulching will prevent this damage. Check greenhouse heaters are working correctly as winter warmth will allow you to grow a wider variety of plants, and increase chances of survival for plants over frosty winter conditions.

Prune free-standing apple and pear trees to allow control over their size, and also ensure they stay healthy and bear high quality fruit.

Prune acers, birches and vines before Christmas period to avoid bleeding which would cause the shrub or tree to lose vigour or die.

Begin harvest of parsnips, leeks, winter cabbages and sprouts.

Plant trees and shrubs, avoid waterlogged areas.

Start taking hardwood cuttings to provide a reliable method of propagating deciduous climbers, trees and shrubs.

Alpines can be sown from seeds this month, they require a period of cold to allow the seed to break seed dormancy. This can be done by providing a sheet of glass, and positioning over the sown area to protect it from excessive wet.