Eurgh! its cold, dark and windy. Not exactly inspiring weather to get out in the garden.

Believe it or not I am very much a fair-weather gardener. Gardening for me it is a little bit like exercise. I really enjoy it once I'm doing it but when it's a cold, damp Sunday I would much rather sit on the sofa watching the rugby with a bottle of beer in my hand!

It's not so bad in the spring and summer, for a start the weather is nicer so I would rather be outside and I have lawnmowing. Mowing my lawn is my gateway drug, something easy that leads me into harder activities.

Once I'm out there I find loads to do and then can quite easily spend all day pottering around finding jobs big and small. It's been shown in many studies how important gardening is, and the benefits are huge especially at this time of year when it's all to easy to stay indoors and especially this year when we aren't even able to get out and about.

So, I thought I would come up with a small list of 'gateway activities' that are really simple to do at this time of year and will hopefully lead me on to other things in the garden:

1. Chit your seed potatoes. Do you really need to? I'm not sure, but it surely gives them a bit of a head start. Look closely and you will see one end has more dimples that then other. This is the 'rose'. Place the rose facing up and line up all your spuds in either a seed tray, or an egg box if you only have a few, in a light but frost-free place.

1. Plant onion sets, shallots and garlic now! Garlic especially needs to go in sooner rather than later to get some cold weather onto it.

1. Sow some winter salad seed straight into pots. You can grow these on a windowsill or in a greenhouse.

1. Sow some chilli seeds, especially if you like hot ones. They need a nice long growing season so sowing in January or February is recommended. The hotter, the earlier! We have local experts Sea Spring Seeds in West Bexington, check out their website for seeds and advice.

1. Check your bird feeders are full of fatty treats and are clean.

1. Plant some proper plants. Soft fruit, bare root hedging and roses can all go in now as long as the ground isn't waterlogged or frozen. We have a great selection of all of these. Most importantly get your bare root hedging in before March, you won't be able to buy it after then because it will start growing.

There is actually loads that you could be doing in the garden right now. If you fancy trying something new, the team at Groves are always on hand to give you some advice. Head to our website, give us a call or send us and email and we will happily point you in the right direction.

Find out more at grovesnurseries.co.uk