Essential winter gardening tips that every gardener should know.

Digging over your soil if it's heavily compacted. Try to avoid digging over if the soil is wet, or digging over too much which may end up disturbing the structure of your soil. It should be fine to plant trees and shrubs at this time of year, another great way to fill out your garden if it's looking bare in places.

Don't forget to reward those birds that come in to eat the cabbageworms, grubs and whiteflies etc during the warmer months. Fat based bars and balls are recommended for most birds during the winter, if you like there are plenty of recipes online where you can make your own. Most birds like to be fed in the morning or early afternoon and this will hopefully keep up their fat reserves to cope with the cold frosty mornings throughout the winter. Don't forget to put some water out, as well as a bird table for the birds to shelter under whilst feeding in bad weather.

If the weather is suitable then planting bare root roses can be done late January through to March. Using bare root roses rather than those in a container enables you to plant earlier letting the roots get well established before the growing season starts. This should then allow you to get a better first year growth and hopefully a better quality rose.

Shredding your old Christmas tree and using it for mulch is a great way to avoid that queue at the local tip.

January is the perfect time to plan ahead for your garden, whether it's topping up on your stock of pots, canes and string or carrying out work in the garden, just a short time spent every week during the cold months can pay big ividends when it comes around to the summer.