Happy New Gardening Year! Brighten winter days by planting containers near your front door or patio to enjoy from indoors.

Containers don’t have to be filled with flowering plants. A pot or group of pots planted with a mixture of different coloured foliage can be just as attractive and don’t need much maintenance to stay looking good. Euphorbia, Heuchera and Euonymus are just a few with fantastic foliage. Have a browse round the garden centre for inspiration.

It’s fine to plant your new additions this month so long as the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Alternatively, you can store them in a sheltered spot close to the house.

When planting a shrub, give it a long soak and add some slow-acting fertiliser to the planting hole. If your soil is heavy, add horticultural grit to help with drainage. Once planted, firm in your new plant with the heel of your boot to stop it moving around in high winds. Keep your new plants watered during dry spells, but avoid watering in frosty weather as you might freeze the roots.

While you’re out getting fresh air in the garden, roughly dig over bare areas, forking in plenty of compost or rotted manure. If you’ve planted bulbs in your garden borders, clear any fallen leaves and branches to help them spring into life.

If you have an overgrown apple tree, now is a good time to prune unwanted growth. Remove dead or diseased branches and aim for a good shape and to allow each branch to get plenty of light. Take out all the upright whippy new growth as these rarely produce a good crop of fruit. Instead, concentrate the energy of the plant to the more horizontal branches.

Leave out a water source for birds and check that it doesn’t freeze over. Remember to restock feeders and bird tables with nuts, seeds and suet balls.

Here’s to the start of a very happy gardening year ahead.