N. bowdenii is the hardiest but the larger 'Zeal Giant' has been a revelation. It's usually grown in a greenhouse but I thought I'd take a chance with it outdoors, in the gravelly sun-soaked border next to my greenhouse. Since September, it's been in flower with larger, taller trumpets than the species, up to 60cm high. I love the colour - a stronger cerise-pink which really glows even amongst the serious competition of tangerine coloured zinnia and the raspberry cactus dahlia 'Matilda Huston'.

The key to keeping them through the winter is to keep the bulbs on the dry side, so my plan is to cover the died-down clump with a heavy glass cloche to shed the rain and ensure these floral fireworks make a return next autumn.

I've always liked sweeping - the rhythm and swish of the bristles as they bring stone and cold concrete back to their best. In a previous job gardening in a Bavarian hotel, I used to give the 100m drive a weekly sweep. Herr Diegal my German boss was a stickler for tidiness and insisted the drive was brushed the 'Bavarian way'. This meant starting at one end and picking up the leaves etc. as I went along, the idea being that there are no dusty circles left behind; tell-tales of second-rate 'British brushing' when leaves and soil are pushed into piles and then collected. As much as it annoyed me at the time, I've been 'Bavarian brusher' ever since.

After the brushing I swept through the borders raking up leaves stripping the dead foliage from all the hardy plants - a most satisfying job. Winter tidying is like un-wrapping the garden revealing its real shape and getting it spruced up for spring. Although tempting I resisted taking all the dead foliage from tender types - such as the summer flowering echiums, as even dishevelled leaves offer frost protection for the buds. And looking at the weather forecast, boy they'll need it!

1. Measure and cut the uprights and cross members to length, lay on a flat surface to mark where the timbers cross.
2. To make simple joints use a saw to make a series of cuts halfway through each timber where they cross.
3. Then use a mallet and chisel to remove the wood between the saw cuts. 
4. Place the wood in position then drill holes through the timbers where they cross, take apart then paint on some wood glue and then put back together, fixing in place with a washered bolt.
5. Once the frame is made, bolt on two horizontal legs either side for stability.
6. Saw two rectangles of timber to sit inside the frame for the apples to sit between - anything above a couple of inches thick is ideal but if you can't get any, use marine ply stacked up to an inch thick.
7. Paint the lot with a clear varnish.

To use: put a tray between the legs of the press and place a chunky timber on the inside of the frame. Wrap up a few frozen apples in a tea towel and place on the chunky timber and put the other timber on top. Brace the car jack between the top of the frame and the chunky timber (you might need a few pieces of timber to pack out between the jack and frame) and wind up to squash the juice from the apples.

Here's to a happy and fruitful New Year!

This picture of yours-truly pressing apples shows how it's made. There's a rectangle of timber (a tenner's worth of strong North American yellow pine) 60cm tall by 50cm wide, glued and bolted together at the corners, then screwed to two further pieces of timber laid horizontally as the base. The timber wasn't expensive as it came from my local timber merchant's collection of off-cuts, nor was it time-consuming to make - sawing to length, chiselling, sanding, bolting and finally varnishing took just a few hours. The car jack was borrowed from the back of my car and the chunky timber blocks used to brace the jack were offcuts too, while the tray which catches the juice was harvested from a pile at the back of a second-hand shop.

Before apples will yield their juice you have to pulp the flesh. In the past I've put them through the garden shredder - an enjoyable if noisy job which does leave rather a lot of sticky juice residue on the patio. So this year I've converted to the new method of freezing the fruit. Freezing ruptures the cell walls inside the fruit and make pressing so much easier. It also has the advantage of taking the pressure off if you're busy when the apples fall as they store for months in the freezer.

Frozen apples are as hard as billiard balls but place them in a bucket of water and they thaw within minutes and are ready to be wrapped in a tea-towel and juiced. Five or six apples will give over a half litre of juice and - as well as drinking some there and then - I always keep a few litres in the freezer (plastic milk cartons are perfect for this) for special occasions. So if you've an apple tree that produces more fruit than you can eat or you simply never get round to eating all the apples in your fruit bowl a homemade press is a must and a perfect project for working off the Christmas pudding during the hols.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

The most common cause of pelargoniums dying off is 'unclean' cuts when trimming them to length. Any tears or extra pieces of pith below the compost are a foot-hold for rots that multiply killing the cutting and spreading to others. But as Charitysid has had success in the past I'd say it's more likely that his troubles sprang from the cutting material. The wet summer caused very soft quick-to-rot growth when ordinarily late-summer tip cuttings are sun-ripened and firm. It could also come down to the compost - never use up old bags that have been sitting damp beneath the greenhouse bench for propagation as sterility is key. Also, down there on the floor malicious, grudge-bearing worms could get in the bags and then run amok inside your pots. Maybe that's what the lady was trying to tell me! Charitysid, tell me... have you been handling worms without wearing gloves.

I haven't only bought coconut bird feeders for presents - hopping between branches is too much for some of my aunts and uncles so I've also splashed out on wire mesh tubes that are filled with peanuts. Hooked on a hanging basket bracket or stuck onto a bamboo cane in a border they'll become the lunch-spot of choice for a wealth of feathered visitors and let's face it, they're far more engaging than scented soap or socks.