A brighter tomorrow

You have to brave the winter and work in the garden now to ensure that the summer is fruitful, says Peter Dowdall.

FORGET about the winter. Think of next season. Ignore this dreary November and picture your hostas showing off in terracotta pots and borders in early summer. Add regal delphiniums and masses of blooms from your lupins, and imagine the long hot days of summer, 2014, when you will be enjoying these beauties.

Why am I urging you, in November, to think of these summer greats? The answer is simple — it is all too easy to hole up for the winter and forget about the great outdoors, leaving your garden to fend for itself until the spring.