Look outside for some natural materials to use for decorations

In the garden
In the last few weeks before Christmas the garden can be less than a priority, only going out there to find a delivery thrown there by a pressured delivery driver.
While you’re out there you might cut some holly or cut the dried heads from hydrangeas or agapanthus. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can bring in and make a festive display of including most ornamental grasses.
That kind of decoration would be quite costly at the garden centre so its just another way for the garden to repay your efforts and earn its keep.
Talking of garden centres, it's a great time to be looking for reduced bedding plants and spring bulbs that are left over. My garden is in part made up of plants I’ve obsessively brought back to life or found in the bargain basement out of season. It’s the January sales come early for gardeners.
If you’re kicking your heels in the shed, sharpen the secateurs and prune any climbing roses. It’s not complicated so don’t fret about damaging the plant. First job is to cut away the three D’s, dead, damaged or diseased. Secondly cut last year's side shoots back by two thirds. Do this on an angle to help water drain away and reduce risk of disease. Tie in any new lead shoots from last year to anything solid nearby or add a stake.
Have a quick check around any clematis or jasmine that the winds haven't or won’t knock them around and disturb the roots or worse, drag the roots out of the ground. It’s easy to take them for granted thinking they flower prolifically for years to come but they will benefit from solid root support and a good mulching at this time of year. If they are badly affected the roots get disturbed and can’t access essential nutrients in the soil as they re stuck in an air pocket.
On the plot
Things are much more dynamic in the veg patch as preparations for Christmas mean a very different thing.
It’s harvest time for leeks, carrots, parsnips, swede, winter cabbages, Jerusalem artichokes and lettuce. If you haven't planted these, make a note as it will provide you with a winter larder that you can just pick and leave in the ground until you’re ready for them. Carrots need to come out now and be stored in sand or soil. If you leave them they will be susceptible to all sorts of pest damage as well as rotting. I tend to pull them out and make soup if I have a glut which can then be frozen until Auntie Melinda does one of her unannounced visits.
Other winter veg is available for harvest now and worth adding to your list for next winter if the plot looks a bit thin of produce right now. This time next year you could be picking delights such as perpetual spinach, kohlrabi, perpetual spinach, spring onions, kale, radish and turnips.
The skill of managing a plot so that you always have something decent to eat is thinking ahead and making a note of what you want on the plot this time next year. Adding it to your seed order and planting plenty of it at the right time is a great start. You can then jettison anything weak or straggly looking and be left with only the strongest seedlings and you’re away.
Literally in a few weeks it will be 2024 and from then on it won’t be long until the exciting gardening of planting indoors starts.
Some chilli seeds will benefit from a late January sowing to benefit from the longer sunlit days which aren't far off now. You can then have a freezer full of chillies to add to next year's carrot soup to warm you up next winter.