Heating a greenhouse against frosts can get expensive. If you’re lucky enough you might have electricity and could use an electric heater on a thermostat.

Also there’s paraffin heaters but these have a nasty habit of smogging up if the wick isn’t set right. I was asked about a easy and cheap way to heat a small greenhouse recently so, have you tried candle power?

Here’s what you need: a large terracotta pot, a medium sized one, a loaf tin, tin foil, four tea lights and some stable bricks to put the tin on top of as the tin is going to get hot.

I like this, mainly because it’s cheap also it’s easy to do. The aim of heating a small growing space such as a small greenhouse is to keep the frost away, it’s not to create a sauna.

Basically you pop your four tea lights in the middle of the metal loaf tin which will be on top of the bricks (it has to be a tin one).

Take the medium sized pot and cover the drainage hole at the bottom with the tin foil. Then the larger pot goes over the top also sitting on the loaf tin. And that’s it!

The only thing you have to be very careful with is that it’s not very stable and can easily get knocked over.

Make sure nothing can fall onto it or is too close in case it sets on fire!

Also if you need to lift the pots up make sure you use oven gloves!

My allotment to do list:

n Bring in all the bamboo canes and store them in your shed, if they look a bit rotten just snip that bit off or compost them.

n You can still force chicory if you have the time, pot them up in a warm but dark place they should start to appear in a month.

n Keep checking in your greenhouses and poly tunnels for slugs and snails hiding out over winter.

n There’s still plenty of time to plant bare-root trees or bushes, as long as the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged.

If you have an allotment query you can email: vixlot@outlook.com