It is the first day of December and the garden will soon take a backseat as thoughts turn to Christmas and all that entails.

However, if it all gets too much, solace can be taken in those routine jobs to be done when time and weather permit.

Tulips were discussed in this column last week and there is still time to put them in the garden as long as the soil stays workable - that is not being stiff with frost or glutinous with rain. While out digging, put in a few patches of winter pansies or a clump of ornamental cabbages to give a little brightness as other plants finally die back or lose their leaves.

In the fruit garden, blackcurrants that weren't pruned in the summer can be cut back by a third. As they fruit on one-year-old wood, the old and weak stems need to be removed at ground level leaving the new, light brown stems with plenty of room and light to bear next year's crop. Red and whitecurrants fruit on old wood so pruning can be less drastic.

Shorten the stems by a third to a half to keep the bushes compact and take back one of the oldest, main branches to a bud just above ground level to encourage production of new shoots.

Gooseberry bushes can be similarly pruned but take out some of the old shoots from the centre of the shrub to keep it open and to make it easier to pick the fruit from these very prickly customers.

Another prickly plant is the blackberry, a large specimen of which resides in our garden. Cutting it back is a necessary but bothersome task which I dread each year. It grows at a tremendous rate and although pruning is simple in theory it requires gladiatorial armour to avoid being caught by the long tentacle branches.

The method is to remove all branches that have fruited this year as near to the ground as possible. By now there will several new branches of some length that will need to be untangled and gathered together while the pruning is done. They can then be tied to their support and fanned out.

Winter is a good time for repairing and erecting new trellis, fencing and arches. Access to the areas is easier and less damage is likely to be done to plants while they are dormant and beds and borders are emptier. Chose a clear day to mend a broken fence covered in a climber, as it will be a time-consuming job to untie and untangle the plant.

Take the opportunity to cut out any dead or weak stems and secure the remaining stems to the new support as soon as possible.

Keep on planting hardy deciduous climbers, hedges and shrubs while the conditions are good. The same applies to moving deciduous plants that are wrongly placed or have outgrown their space.

Leave planting or moving evergreen specimens until spring and delay all planting until then if the weather turns frosty or if the soil becomes cold and waterlogged.

Updated: 15:52 Monday, January 21, 2002