Thanks! The pots are all plastic because I have to be able to carry them up the hill but there are some nice designs around these days.

I picked up a year-round gardening book when I moved in and the instructions for January were "dig". Sadly, we had snow and the ground was rock hard so I've only really started doing that as I planted. Someone did offer me a truck load of horse manure but I suspect the neigbhours would have complained when it was delivered!