Wrap up warm. Winter is officially here." This greeting on the November section of a new website, www.raringtogrow.com, aimed at primary school teachers and their pupils, is the preface to a round-up of garden tasks to be done this month.

It's a good time to plant trees and shrubs. The advice to those thinking of putting in a small shrubbed area close to the school is to do it now as there is still time to plant spring flowering bulbs at the same time. If a tree or shrub is planted in November, there will still be some root growth taking place, which will enable the plants to settle in, so they get off to a good start when spring arrives.

The website was set up in September this year and is incomplete. New projects are being added and feedback is requested. Written from a grower's rather than a teacher's perspective, the site has the backing of Bord Glβs, the horticultural development board.

The language is easy to understand and project directions seem clear and simple. However, the author needs to pay some attention to spelling, and particularly to the rogue apostrophe that seems to have invaded many of his possessive "it's".

If you don't fancy braving the cold November winds, raringtogrow has a section on taking cuttings from common houseplants such as tradescantia (wandering Jew), chlorophytum (spider plant) and hedera (ivy). Looking ahead to December, the first project is to make a bird table.

Simon Linnell, who is behind the site, is involved in the nursery business and has developed several other websites with more commercial applications, such as a database of suppliers to the trade.

A similar, but much more developed website, based in the US, is www.kidsgardening.com. This includes a directory of more than 1,250 horticulturally-minded schools. Many of their pupils are seeking penpals.

At Altun Middle School, Oklahoma, the GROW project (Gardening Recycling with Oklahoma Worms) used vermiculture to recycle waste. In Ames Visual and Performing Arts, St Louis, Missouri, students cultivate plants that attract and sustain Monarch butterflies. An Indiana school is hoping to exchange experimental data in a habitat exchange project, while there are free prairie seeds on offer from students in Illinois.

Back in Ireland, students interested in taking horticulture as a career might log on to the website of Teagasc (www.teagasc.ie/training/horticulture.htm), the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. This includes information on the national diploma in horticulture, which commenced this year, and is offered jointly by institutes of technology and horticultural colleges.

Employment in the sector is "buoyant, with an abundance of well-paid jobs available for people with higher-education qualifications" .There is also a one-year vocational certificate in horticulture, accredited by the Further Education and Training Council, and provided at three horticultural colleges.

For those with an interest in organic gardening, the Organic Centre at Rossinver, Co Leitrim, hosts a F┴S training scheme. Established in 1995 as a non-profit-making company with the aim of providing training, information and demonstrations of organic gardening, growing and farming, the centre hopes to open a new purpose-built training centre soon.

For amateur gardeners who want to keep their patch organic, a useful website is www.adrians.utvinternet.com/greenman.htm. For instance, did you know green manuring is not a modern invention, but dates back some 3,000 years?

Recent interest in green manuring has developed as organic gardening and farming have taken on a more scientific slant, centred on the need to replenish organic mater in soils impoverished by chemical fertilisation, according to this website.

It suggests green manures can used for reclaiming an old garden, preparing vegetable and ornamental beds, preparing ground for a lawn, providing compostable material and providing material for mulch.

An alternative garden calendar, based around the phases of the moon, is outlined on the BBC's website (www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/lunar/). Some days, planting may not be allowed, for instance, as the moon reaches one of its nodes. Other days, the hour of moonrise might be the time to plant flowers.

When EL logged on, there was a dire warning to stay out of the garden that morning as it was perigee, when the moon comes closest to the earth.

If you're wondering about buying tools to work that manure, then you could turn to www.which.com, the website of the British Consumers Association.

Which? Publishes a gardening magazine each month and this is archived on the site. There are also disinterested reports on various products. Parts of the site are free, but you will have to take out a subscription to access all of the reports.

Surfing the internet may prevent you ever getting to the garden as you wade through the myriad websites devoted to things green. Happy reading.

And, if you are planning a day in the garden, don't forget to check the lunar calendar as well as the weather forecast.