With a little forward planning you can get home-grown winter crops like rhubarb and chicory as early as late winter. Give the plants a period of cold so that they will grow vigorously when they are placed in a warmer environment. If you grow them in total darkness you will get fast and tender growth. It will take about 6 weeks for rhubarb and about 3 weeks for chicory before you can pull your first drop. You can force rhubarb and chicory outdoors too, but this method will take a little longer before you can pick the first crops.

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Some plants are almost hardy and can be overwintered outside in the garden in most areas if you will offer them enough protection. After their foliage has died back, cover the ground with a deep mulch of dry leaves or chipped bark to provide insulation for the underground roots. If you have an exposed garden then net the pile or surround it with pieces of wood to keep it in place. On lighter soils you can even bury plants in shallow trenches to provide the insulation cover. Dig a trench about 30 cm deep, line it with straw then lay the plants on this. Cover the plants with more straw and put back the soil. Dig them up in spring, pot them up and keep them in warmth and good light to help them start into growth again. If the winters are not too harsh, many of the plants should survive.

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Many shrubs and evergreen climbers that are being grown in a colder climate than their place of origin can be treated like herbaceous plants, meaning that their top-growth is killed off by frost at the end of each growing season but their roots will remain alive underground and will produce new shoots in the following spring. The best way to protect their roots is to cover them with a 15 cm deep mulch of bark chippings, compost, collected leaves or even hedge trimmings. Keep this insulation layer in place by covering it with netting and pegging it down at the edges.

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The tools and materials you need to make this bird table are: crosscut saw, claw hammer, exterior grade wood glue, 4x5 cm angle brackets, 24x30 mm roundhead galvanized nails, 9x20 mm roundhead galvanized nails, 5x40 mm galvanized wood screws, 4x15 mm galvanized wood screws, one 1.5 m post, 1400 mm of 25 mm square batten, 400 mm beading, 1 sq m exterior plywood - minimum 5-ply, cut from this 4 “feet”, each 300 mm long and cut on one side to taper from 100 mm wide at one end to 75 mm at the other.

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Humulus lupulus  'Aureus' - golden hop, is a gorgeous climber with large, deep-lobed, yellow-green leaves that turn bright golden yellow in autumn, when it is festooned with greenish-yellow, cone-like flowers that hang like grapes.

Sow seeds spring in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out in the summer or following spring. You can also propagate hops by division or basal cuttings in spring or by layering.

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