Column: Make sure you start the new gardening year with a smile

Watching bumblebees in early spring, digging up potatoes (one of life’s great adventures!) or catching the scent of sweet peas on a summer’s afternoon can make your garden or outside space into a place of natural

contemplation and joy.

Research carried out at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022 identified the top three plants in the UK that are most likely to put a smile on your face – Lily of the Valley, Sweet Pea and Jasmine – so they might make good additions to your garden or containers this year.

Lily of the Valley is a great choice for shady area ground cover, but can be toxic to pets so be careful where you plant it. A good alternative at this time of year could be the tenderly fragrant snowdrop.

Galanthus ‘Atkinsii’ is one of the earliest flowering snowdrops. Honey scented and loved by pollinators, this snowdrop flowers in January and February and is a vigorous grower with distinctive long and slender outer petals.

Each inner petal has a green, heart-shaped mark at its tip. Planting snowdrops in the green is the most successful planting method. Simply lift snowdrop plants just after flowering and before the foliage has turned yellow, and replant elsewhere.

You can buy snowdrops in the green from garden centres or online. They like well-drained soil in light shade – but if you have heavy soil then add a little grit to the planting hole.

Once snowdrops are established there’s no maintenance required – just let foliage die back naturally to ensure the nutrients from the leaves are returned to the bulbs and divide established clumps every few years.

Another fragrant plant that also provides great ground cover and is robust enough for UK winters is thyme. A compact evergreen shrub with small aromatic leaves thyme (Thymus) is easy to grow in a warm, sunny spot, in free-draining soil or in containers.

It’s also drought tolerant and needs little maintenance once established. Known widely as a culinary herb, thyme has been used in complementary and alternative medicine for centuries. A thyme herbal tea infusion can help soothe sore throats and relieve coughs thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

A lot of the jobs for January are preparing the garden and plants for the growing season to come. Here are top tips for the month from the RHS:

Prune apple and pear trees; Clean pots, greenhouses and cold frames ready for spring; Keep an eye on watering house plants; Plant now to boost the winter fragrances in your garden; Keep an eye on figs and olives - guard against frost by fleecing in frost; Plan you vegetable crop rotations for the coming growing season; Keep putting out food and water for birds; Summer bulbs, seed potatoes and onion sets are available to buy mid month; Prune soft fruit bushes, eg currants and gooseberries, plus autumn raspberries.