Now the clocks have gone back, it will be all quiet on the lottie front for the next few months. Days are too short and, despite this temporary warm spurt, guaranteed to get cold. Slavish though I am to my veggies, I think I deserve a little moderate hibernation.

The mighty brassica harvest will continue, and I’ve still got chard, rocket, winter lettuces, and oriental greens gushing. And I’m excited about the celeriac and parsnips which are yet to come. So though I won’t be abandoning the plot completely, my list of tasks has shrunk considerably. However, a few key jobs need tackling.

First up: clearing dead growth. However, instead of hauling all the spent plants to the skip or compost heap, why not consider building a “bee hotel” or “habitat wall” which serves as a winter refuge for friendly insects?

Hollow stalks, dead seed heads, twigs, straw, pine cones, stones, and all manner of dried-up garden waste can be put to use for welcoming insects to enrich your urban wilderness. While many bees and insects will have already established their winter abode, some are still looking for shelter. Others will arrive in spring to lay their eggs and you’ll be ready for them with your harvest hostel, which you can continue adding to over the next few months.

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See some magnificent examples of these on Damian Ground's aka “Help Save Bees” blog, and many thanks to Damian for suggesting this to me.

Once cleared, digging should commence before the hard frosts of winter, which will help break down my clay soil. Then I can think about a few more things to plant and sow.

Winter is optimum time for planting some fruit trees and bushes, which could in the long term lighten the load for this busy urbanite, limiting the growing space which has to be fussed over, weeded and rotated year on year. Then again, that wouldn’t lighten the cornucopia of harvest at peak time - just give it a higher fruit ratio! I admit I was a little overwhelmed with the sheer volume of produce this year, but I have no regrets. Each year I get a little more savvy about what to grow, how much, and how to process it - or whom to give it away to.

Next month it will be time to plant over-wintering broad beans and onion sets for an early crop. This early broad bean crop will usually be ready in May and supposedly has a better chance than the spring sowings to be blackfly-free, though in my experience, this isn’t the case. However, that first crop is the drum-roll that signifies the onset of the summer harvest and is always a delight. The last remaining sowing will be a continuing supply of baby salad leaves, which I’ll keep going at home in the indoor windowsill, re-sowing every three weeks or so.

I’ll continue collecting leaves in black plastic bags for leafmould. There’s a load falling over the plot, but it’s worth asking at a school, or anywhere dogs have not been messing around, if you can have their leaf collections, which will probably already be bagged up and ready to rot. Just seal them up leave them where the sun can expedite the rotting process, and next year you’ll have some free extra soil nutrition.

Finally, it’s Halloween! Time to carve your prize pumpkin into a Jack-o-Lantern. Need some ideas? Check out these extreme pumpkins. If you are actually using a tasty homegrown variety rather than a tasteless orange one from the supermarket which is grown especially for carving, then you should only carve it and let it glow on Halloween night (Saturday) and cook it the next day (see recipe below).

Also, don’t forget to save the pumpkin seed - either for planting next year, or for some good eatin’ (see TIP OF THE WEEK, below) - a treat that’s not at all tricky.

Celia returns in March 2010, with her latest book, New Urban Farmer, published by Quadrille.

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