A little work in winter will pay off for your garden next year

Peter Dowdall says putting in the groundwork in winter can pay big dividends the following year   

I WAS listening to a gardener recently and he was saying how it was difficult to explain to students at the start of the year, during the cold and miserable months of January and February, that a small bit of work done then would result in such great results later in the year.

We were walking around a beautiful garden at the time, which was looking stunning thanks to the time of year, but also thanks to the Trojan and consistent work done by a team of committed gardeners. I suggested that he should perhaps take a different approach.