Planting for winter

■ Clear the ground Once your summer plants have finished cropping, cut them back and rake away any plant debris. Give the bed a thorough weeding, removing all seed heads and plants. Even though weeds generally die with the first frost, their seeds can survive the winter, which makes it increasingly important to pull out everything you can see now.

■ Prepare the soil Working on the soil now will guarantee a more productive winter harvest. Dig it over, but don’t flatten down just yet as this can help with drainage and make preparing for sowing much easier. It can also help bury weeds, preventing regrowth during the colder months.

■ Grow green manure It’s worth planting a ‘cover crop’ or ‘green manure’ on any ground you won’t be using for vegetables to improve soil fertility for next year. The plants, such as mustard and winter field beans, can be dug into the soil when young (four to six inches high), so that they rot down to provide organic matter, or left to grow taller and then added to your compost heap before the roots are dug in.

Good vegetables to grow

■ Peas Choose a hardy variety, such as Douce Provence or Meteor, and they’ll slowly grow over winter and be ready for early harvesting in spring. Sow direct into the ground and plant 2½cm deep and just 2½cm apart. Don’t waste the fresh pea shoots, just pick off the tips as they grow and add to stir-fries and salads.

■ Kale Curly varieties, such as Reflex and Dwarf Green Curled, are hardy and thrive in the cold. Sow thinly this month in rows six inches apart. Keep plants well watered and cover with a fine mesh blanket to protect them from the harshest weather and pests.

■ Spinach Delicious steamed or picked young for salads, winter spinach is best sown thinly in pots and covered with a fleece or kept in the greenhouse until established.

■ Broad beans Plant hardy varieties, such as Bunyards Exhibition, now and you’ll have a large crop at the beginning of June. Planting early helps to prevent blackfly and trap more nutrients in the soil over winter

Growing winter salads

Choose the right variety and you can plant, harvest and enjoy crisp, fresh leaves all year round cover with a fine mesh blanket to protect them from the harshest weather and pests.

■ Winter mix leaf salad seeds, £2.10, from Suttons can be sown outdoors until October or on a windowsill or in a greenhouse all winter long, and can be ready to pick in just three weeks.

■ Find a container at least 16cm deep, punch drainage holes in the base and fill with compost.

■ Sow a small handful of seeds, cover with compost and water. Cover the pot with cling film and leave in a warm, dark position to germinate.

■ Once green shoots appear, move into the light and remove cling film.

■ The salad leaves are ready to start picking when they are 8-10cm tall, and if you cut only what you need the leaves will keep growing.