Harvest - cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, carrots, leeks and parsnips as required.
While cabbages and Brussels sprouts will keep for some weeks in the garden cauliflowers and broccoli need to be picked as soon as they are ready.  So be vigilant lest they go to seed on you.  After picking the broccoli heads leave the plants in as you will get a secondary crop of small heads that are ideal for Chinese stir fries.  Carrots, parsnips and leeks should hold well in the ground over Winter.

Remove problem weeds
Winter is a good time to remove persistent weeds such as Couch grass from your vegetable beds. Weeds are slower growing at this time of the year and are easier to get to as there are usually fewer vegetables in the beds to weed around.

Prepare empty vegetable beds
Add animal manure and blood and bone to any empty beds so the fertiliser will be well rotted down when it comes time to plant in the Spring. If the pH of your soil tends to be low (more acidic) then add some lime, dolomite or ash from your fireplace to make the soil more alkali. A handful or two per square metre is usually enough.

Garden bed covered with rotted straw to stop weeds growing over Winter. Cow manure, blood and bone, some lime, a small amount of super phosphate and sand was also added. At the rear are some celery plants. They will be left in until Spring as they are quite frost tolerant and will still be productive. On the trellis at the very back is the dried remains of the Summer climbing beans crop. Seeds from the dried pods will be collected and planted next Spring

If you have heavy clay soil then adding some sand will help to make it more friable. Mix in a bucket for every couple of square metres. Builders sand (the type used in children’s sandpits) or Ercildoon sand (slightly courser) is most suitable.

Overlay any beds that are not being used with a layer o mulch. Lucerne or pea straw is ideal (if a bit expensive) but straw will be fine, especially if it is old. This is done to prevent winter weeds from taking hold and to allow the mulch to rot down a bit in preparation for Spring.

Harvest - olives, persimmons pomegranates and crab apples.

Add compost to the garden
Although any time is a good time to add compost from your compost bins to the garden Winter is an ideal time to do it as there are fewer gardening jobs to be done.

Prune deciduous fruit trees
Start to prune deciduous fruit trees such as apples and pears.  There is no great hurry to do this as you have got until early August to complete the task.  The longer prunings make ideal mini stakes to support vegies such as peas or as protection from birds.  See STICKS AS PROTECTION AND SUPPORT for details.

Plant deciduous fruit and nut trees
Deciduous fruit and nut trees can be planted throughout the dormant Winter season but it is probably best to buy and plant them in June.  This is because nurseries order a set number of deciduous trees each Winter and once they are sold there are no more.  So for the widest variety and choice of the healthiest and straightest trees it's best to buy them as soon as they are available.