December is quiet in the garden, so it's a good opportunity to attend to some of those "must-get-around-to-doing-sometime" jobs in the garden. A good purge and clear up is often in order, especially for older gardens. So hop to it! You'll be greatful you did when the busy spring planting season comes around.

If you live in the tropics, now is the start of the cool dry season and you can grow a wider variety of crops, so you'll be run off your feet, unlike your fellow gardeners in the colder northern areas.

What to plant
Plant rhubarb crowns and asparagus crowns now. They're a great addition to any garden. Aspargus crowns last for 20 years and will reward you with thick tasty spears after the first 2 or three years. Initial preparation is essential for good crops. They need to be planted deep so try to get them about 30cm below the surface an incorporate loads of compost and manures. A yearly tidy up and top dressing with manure should be all they need afterwards.

You can keep planting your onion crop until late winter. Seeds sown now will be ready for harvesting from around August in some areas. In cold regions wait until after the worst of the winter weather has passed and plant "early" varieties in February or March instead.

Sow peas directly into the garden and add a mixture of varieties, from old fashion shelling varieties to sugar snap and snow peas for garden salads. Most will need a trellis or climbing support. Peas provide a great source of nitrogen for the soil so plant them together with lettuce and spinach. Winter lettuce varieties go well now but you can get an early start to spring plantings if you have a nice sunny windowsill or glasshouse to keep them going until ready to plant out in February. This is for the very keen and not so faint hearted (for fear of disappointment).

Add lime to your soil now if it is slightly acidic. Check the pH with a simple test kit bought at your local nursery. Peas, spinach and onions like a slightly alkaline soil (pH of 7.0 up to 8.0).

Consider sowing a