Sow sweet peas indoors individually in root trainers or 9cm pots. Autumn-sown seedlings can be potted on now if necessary.
Spray fruit trees with a plant oil winter wash. Cover nearby grass and plants before spraying to avoid scorch.
Apple and pear trees can be pruned even in frosty weather.
For an earlier harvest, force rhubarb by covering crowns with a layer of straw and a forcing jar, upturned plant pot or bucket.
You can winter prune Wisteria this month or next, shortening shoots that were pruned last summer to two or three buds from older wood.
Seed potatoes can be chitted from now onwards. Place in trays or egg boxes. Store in a light, cool, frost free spot.
Inspect stored tubers, such as Canna and Dahlia for signs of rot. Throw out out soft or unhealthy ones.
Continue to cover trained forms of peaches and nectarines with polythene, to protect new shoots from the rain borne fungal disease peach leaf curl.
Shorten flowered side shoots of climbing roses by two thirds of their length. Remove old branches at the base to encourage regrowth, and tie in young flexible shoots horizontally.
Trees (apart from Prunus species), hedges and hardy shrubs that flower in late summer can all be pruned now.
Happy New Year.