With buds starting to swell and the garden coming back to life, now is a good time to take a look at your garden and plan for the coming year.

Pauline Brown, from Buckingham Nurseries and Garden Centre, has come up with some resolutions to make gardening more fun, enjoyable and relaxing.

A good place to start is to include the garden in your day-to-day recycling activities by turning much of the household rubbish into compost.

"Do you throw into the dustbin such things as empty cardboard boxes, used kitchen paper and tissues?" she said. "Well in the future, take the trouble to tear cardboard up into reasonably small pieces and all such rubbish will improve your compost, rotting down well and increasing the variety of products on the heap which is also useful."

She added it was important not to put too much cardboard on at any one time and to intersperse it with vegetable matter, and turn over the compost heap once a month.

Another idea is to regularly provide food, such as seeds, for birds and plant an area to attract wildlife. There are a variety of plants which attract birds, butterflies and other creatures – just seek advice from your local garden centre.

Keeping the garden in good order is a lot easier when your tools are in good condition. After use, knock the dirt off garden tools and give the metal a light coat of oil.

Mrs Brown said: "The golden rule is to always put tools back where they belong. If your shed or tool store is well organised, you will notice the missing secateurs, pruning knife or other small tool and will be able to find it more easily."

Other tips for gardening include sharing plants and produce with friends, reading more gardening literature, visiting open gardens under the National Gardens Scheme for inspiration, and encouraging your children to get involved by planting their own seeds.