Every October I carry half the pots inside in one frantic evening, and every year I lose something I could have saved back in September. The routine is not complicated, and there is a clear version of it on Garden Plants Sale if you like your advice in order. Mine is messier, but most of them make it to spring.

Pests first, always. I bring one plant in early and leave it in the porch for two weeks, then look again. Mealybugs sit in the leaf joints, whitefly flies up when you touch the leaves, spider mites leave a fine webbing where the stem meets the pot. A lukewarm shower in the sink deals with most of it before anything crosses the doorstep.

Then the window. Mine face south, which is lucky, and I shuffle the pots as close to the glass as the sill allows. Glass gets grimy over summer and blocks more light than you would think, so I clean it in autumn. Keep them off radiators if you can, because warm dry air does more damage than a cool room.

Watering is the part I get wrong. Growth slows right down in low light, the compost stays wet for weeks and the roots rot quietly under the surface. I check with a finger before I pick up the can. Less often than summer, and no feeding until the days stretch.

Turn the pots a quarter each week. Sounds fussy. Skip it and everything leans into the light, and by February you have a plant growing sideways with one bare side.

In spring I wait for the nights to settle, then harden them off over a week, shade first and sun later. Straight from a warm room to a cold garden is what finishes them off.