Garden and greenhouse fans can stay busy over winter

British gardeners should not forget about their passion, despite the snowy weather, it has been suggested.

According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), now is a great time to plan ahead for 2010 by ordering what you need from the various seed catalogues that have been released recently.

Once the snow has melted and the ground has dried up, one of the first priorities should be to dig over the soil, adding green manure and organic matter to help boost nutrition content.

This should improve garden and greenhouse enthusiasts chances of harvesting a bumper crop over the course of the year.

The early preparation work should also include removing old plants, especially those which are decayed or diseased.

Specimens which are no longer needed but are disease-free can be added to the compost heap, while others should be burned or disposed of properly.

In other news, the RHS and National Savings and Investments are offering gardeners the chance to have their design showcased at the BBC Gardeners World Live event in Birmingham later this year.