An old ceramic saucer makes a perfect bird bath
Gardening tools
Get your tool kit in order. Apart form the standard tools, there are now available (usually online) gardening tools developed in other parts of the world, and tools for specialist jobs that you probably didn’t know that you needed. There are border hoes in a variety of shapes, sporks, rockery trowels, even a snowdrop bulb planter! Perhaps treating yourself to one of those might help you to look forward to all that weeding that will start soon enough…? I am not encouraging consumerism, only experimentation and fun!
Winter pruning
Now the leaves are off and you can see every twig, take the opportunity to prune your deciduous shrubs. Remove any branch or twig that is dead, dying or diseased. In order to prolong the lives of the shrubs, it is a good idea to remove some of the oldest stems each winter (new ones will sprout from the base). If the shrub is getting too large, shorten the main branches. Winter pruning is not the same as trimming to shape topiary-style. A well-pruned shrub keeps its natural form, it just looks healthier and perhaps smaller.
Feed the birds
They really do need our help these days. The shops are full of seed mixes for wild birds and there are the kitchen left-overs. Water is very important for birds, too, for both drinking and washing. Any shallow dish will do, regularly cleaned and topped up.
Then take a while to watch them through the window.