The weather has undeniably turned a corner now, but there are still some ‘secret’ tricks that you can use to get started on next year’s kitchen garden – even if you don’t have a garden

The increasingly soggy winters we’re having in the UK these days are making gardeners’ work increasingly tricky, with overwintering vegetables rotting in waterlogged beds. But Alan Titchmarsh has a clever solution that is especially good news for people with small gardens – or no garden at all.

Alan’s “secret” is to cultivate produce such as onions and garlic in a planter rather than in a vegetable patch. In a tall planter, he explains, water will drain away much better than it might in a compacted border so you reduce the risk of the ground waterlogging and your crops being ruined.

Demonstrating the technique on his Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel, Alan explains: “As summer turns to autumn, it’s a great time to plant veg, which will mature time to plant veg which will mature next spring.”

While you can grow onions from seed, Alan says he prefers using onion sets – small, immature bulbs that were grown from seed the previous year. He places them in a planter, with just enough compost over them to prevent the vulnerable young onions from being spotted by hungry birds and harvested early.

Using a planter is key, with Alan explaining: “The fact it’s raised up means it drains rapidly and give them that much more chance of getting through the winter.”

Alan’s planter technique means that even those of us with the tiniest of patio gardens can get the satisfaction of growing our own produce. After all, Alan says: “I’ve been a gardener for over 60 years and I can safely say that gardening is one of life’s greatest joys.”

Alan’s “secret” planter technique works just as well for garlic – simply plant immature garlic bulbs pointy-side up in your container and cover with a thin layer of peat-free compost.

You need only plant a few. “You don’t need many unless you use a garlic bulb for every single meal in your household,” Alan explains.

The most recent long-range forecast from the Met Office suggests the winter months will be in line with recent years – comparatively mild, with a good deal of rain. But Alan says, there’s no harm in having a little insurance policy.

He says: “If the winter is really cold and really wet… get a seed tray and put a few [onions] in there. You can leave these outside in a sheltered spot.

“But when it gets really rough, really cold, really wet, you can just bring them into a shed or garage, and that’ll give them that little bit of protection.”

Another thing you can do to make sure your precious crops survive the frostiest nights is to buy a roll of gardeners’ fleece.

Alan says: “It’s a good idea just to have some fleece handy on those nights where you think ‘Oh, they could do with a little bit of protection’.

“You need to weight it down just to stop it from blowing off.” Anything will do to keep your fleece in place – a few large pebbles, those mysterious half-bricks that every gardener seems to have knocking about, or – as in Alan’s case – some unused flower pots.

You only need to deploy your fleece on the chilliest nights, with Alan adding: “When the weather turns milder again, you can whip it off and let the rain get in more and then have a really good circulation of air.”

By late spring, or at the latest very early summer, you should have some fresh home-grown onions for your kitchen.