A mild winter has brought things into flower earlier than ever this year, it’s lovely to see glimpses of colour already teasing me that spring is only just around the corner.

Well I’m also hoping for early flowers on my strawberries by bringing them inside my unheated greenhouse now.

This should mean an early crop of tasty fruits for my strawberry-mad family.

To fruit well, strawberry plants need a period of cold or flowering/fruiting will be weak. So they have been outside in containers and I will now bring them in, removing any dead leaves and giving them a top dressing of new compost.

Pollination can be a problem when forcing so I will keep the greenhouse doors open when the weather is mild and sunny to lure in some insects or when they start to flower I take a soft paintbrush and run it over each flower once a day to ensure good pollination.

Get your bare roots in!

Buying bare root roses, hedges and fruit bushes is the most cost effective and they are available during the winter months when the plants are dormant.

They arrive with no soil around the roots to protect them, so need to be planted as soon as possible. If the ground is waterlogged or frozen you can plant them in a pot temporarily.

Prepare the ground by adding organic matter before planting and add a mulch after to hold moisture but make sure it doesn’t touch the stems. Water well and they will soon burst into life in spring.

Consider pyracantha as an excellent evergreen hedge, common name firethorn, it ticks many boxes, not only is it extremely spikey so an ideal intruder deterrent but it also has fragrant flowers and magnificent red, yellow or orange berries, a real eye catcher at this time of year.

Reaching an ultimate height and spread of 4m x 4m they do well in any soil type, in sun or partial shade including free-draining and heavy clay soils so you really can’t go wrong.

Try pyracantha conccinea ‘red column’ for firey red, pyracantha orange glow for orange or pyracantha soleil d’or for yellow berries.