Hellebores in Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, one of the first flowers to appear in the early spring

The frozen ground is as hard as iron, the only brave visitors are the wild birds, and the most sensible vantage point is beside the radiator at the kitchen window. But already, there are people who can't even wait till the big freeze ends until getting out to their garden.


Tig Mays, who along with his wife Anthea Howbert, runs new online garden centre Delivering Your Garden (DYG), says orders still came in last week – because if people can't venture out, they are indulging in a spot of virtual gardening during the chill instead. What do people buy at this time of year, and what can be planted – if you are able to get a spade through that frost?


"We have orders in for sturdy Japanese garden gloves, and also fruit bushes," says Mays. "The cold weather and hard ground makes it difficult to do many jobs in the garden, but some people are looking ahead. Winter is the best season for planting fruit trees and bushes. Blueberries, raspberries, currants and tayberries are all easy to grow, come back year after year and can make a genuine saving in your household shopping bill when it comes time to pick them."


Although the concepts of 'the good life' and 'growing your own' are increasingly enjoying a revival – if only in intention – during these recessionary times, Mays, who trained in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, says enthusiasts are in danger of being led up the garden path (so to speak) in terms of expectations.


"The 'grow your own' boom can lead to endless disappointment. Anthea and I have trained in professional gardening for years and yet are still nowhere self sufficient. The vegetables that come back year after year are much easier to grow than those that have to be planted annually. We find that fruit bushes are more satisfying and more rewarding than the high-labour and high-skill world of vegetable growing – and fabulous if you have children as they can eat them straight off the bush.


"Some of the more unusual fruit trees that we sell – such as medlar and quince, ugni and huckleberry – are not available all year round, and they will get off to a good start if planted in the dormant season."


For enthusiasts keen to brave the garden just now (providing the snow has gone from the branches) the one job that is best done in the winter is pruning of trees and shrubs, says Mays. "Without leaves you can properly appreciate the branch structure of trees such as magnolias and Japanese maples. All too often these plants are 'trimmed' with a shears or a hedge-cutter, whereas any pruning should be considered and take account of enhancing the natural shape of the plant. For anyone who takes pruning seriously you need three bits of kit: a good secateurs for twigs and small branches; a good loppers for larger branches, which will cut cleanly; and a small folding saw – absolutely essential if you want to carry out 'formative' pruning on young trees." With correct and minimal pruning in early life, he stresses, most plants will not need intervention when they are mature – "which is costly, invasive and often detrimental for a mature plant's health".


A diverse collection of our feathered friends is a cheerful sight to spot through the kitchen window at this time of year, and we can all do our bit for Mother Nature by leaving out some shop-bought bird seed or kitchen scraps (check out the Bird Watch Ireland website for suitable foods). With the ground being so hard, birds may be in need of some extra help, says Mays. "Berries from hawthorn, holly and rowan will be running low, and the ground is inaccessible where frozen. Remember too that birds need fresh, clean, unfrozen water."


For many, however, it's the great indoors as opposed to the outdoors which appeal just now, and the current big seller from the DYG site is its kiln-dried, hardwood logs, grown and processed in Ireland from sustainably managed forests. And for those who've been reluctant to take down the poor old Christmas tree this weekend, houseplants are making a fashion comeback and could soften the loss. Mays suggests the Norfolk Island pine (araucaria heterophylla), a close relation of the monkey puzzle tree "which looks remarkably like a Christmas tree. Or the very floriferous climber dipladenia, which flowers for months at a time through the summer."


www.dyg.ie


www.birdwatchireland.ie