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Tips and jobs
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Tips and jobs

Force strawberries
Imagine tucking into platefuls of luscious strawberries in March, when everyone else is struggling to think of interesting ways to cook rhubarb. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Forcing strawberries is easy and brings cropping forward by at least a month. Dig up as many plants as you can fit onto a sunny windowsill and pot up in multi-purpose compost. Keep watered and they'll soon burst into life. Pollinate flowers by brushing gently with an artists' paintbrush for ripe, juicy strawbs by late spring.

Chit new potatoes
As soon as your seed potatoes arrive, lay them out in eggboxes with the 'rose' end upwards (the end with the most spots, or eyes). This process, known as chitting, keeps them from rotting in storage and conditions them for planting out in a couple of months' time. Put them somewhere bright and frost-free but as cool as possible to encourage short, squat shoots - any growing too long will break off at planting time.

Look after the birds
With ice hard on the ground and food supplies dwindling, birds have a tough time of it in winter. Help them out by keeping a saucer of ice-free water topped up and hanging up a fat ball. If they're visiting your garden now, they'll keep coming right through the growing season to eat your aphids and blackfly, too.

Top tips

Go to a Potato Day to help you decide which varieties to grow. The biggest is Garden Organic's National Potato Day showcasing rare and heritage varieties at Ryton, near Coventry (www.gardenorganic.org.uk).

Warm up your compost by bringing it inside into the greenhouse the day before you want to sow. Because they're sown into compost that's the same temperature as the air, your seeds germinate better.

Use old lengths of guttering to start off early peas and baby salad leaves in ready-made rows. Drill holes for drainage, fill with compost and just slip them into a trench outside as soon as the weather warms up.

Tools for the jobs

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