New year, new tree: New Year's resolutions for your garden

January can feel a bit grey, muddy, and a bit “meh”. But gardeners know something everyone else forgets: this is planning season.

While the rest of the world joins gyms and sweats off biscuits, why not make a few resolutions for your garden instead? They’re greener and far more likely to stick.

Here are some simple, sustainable ideas to get your garden off to a fresh start this year.

Spoil your soil

Healthy soil = healthy plants. Instead of throwing fertiliser at every problem, focus on building rich, living soil.

Try:

• Adding homemade compost or leafmould to beds
• Mulching around shrubs and perennials
• Leaving worms and fungi to do their quiet magic

Think of it like giving your garden a slow-release treatment - these step are much better long-term for the health of your soil. 

If you're new to composting and want to give it a go in 2026, check out our range of composting kits.

Make more space for wildlife 

From hedgehogs to hoverflies, wildlife needs places to feed, hide and overwinter. Sharing your garden with wildlife is an extremely worthy thing to focus on for the coming year. 

You could:

• Leave a small “messy corner” of leaves and twigs for bugs and bees to rest in
• Plant pollinator-friendly flowers (wildflowers, herbs, single-flower blooms)
• Add a bird bath or bee hotel
• Add a hedgehog highway to allow hedgehogs safe passage through your garden
• Avoid pesticides where possible and use natural remedies

It doesn’t have to be a full rewilding project, even small patches here and there can make a huge difference.

Save more rainwater

UK summers are getting hotter and drier, and watering cans full of tap water soon add up.

If you can, install a water butt or planter-with-water-storage and capture that free rain. Plants prefer natural rainwater over tap water as it contains less harmful chemicals and more nutrients. A water butt allows you to collect rainwater to use both on your outdoor and indoor plants. 

Plant for every season, not just summer

Many gardens go “ta-da!” in July… and then slightly sulk the rest of the year.

Aim for:

• planting spring bulbs (snowdrops, crocus, daffs)
• summer colour
• autumn leaves and seed heads
• winter interest and colour: berries, bark and evergreen colours.

Your future self will thank you on a gloomy February afternoon.

Grow something you actually use

Growing your own fruit, veg and herbs is a wonderfully fulfilling and rewarding process. However, it’s easy to get carried away and accidentally end up with tonnes of courgettes and nothing else.

Focus your efforts on a few winners that you know you'll get use out of.

• herbs you regularly cook with
• salad leaves you’ll actually eat
• flowers you love cutting for vases
• crops that suit your space (balcony, patios and windowsill can all be utilised for growing things like tomatoes)

Small, successful growing beats big, unusable yields every time.

Be kind to yourself as a gardener

Gardens are slow, take time to build, and Instagram is fast.

Plants die, things flop and slugs take over - it’s all part of the process. Instead of chasing perfection, enjoy the experiment.

Celebrate the first shoots of the year, the first bee, the first time you remember what on earth you planted there.

If something fails, call it “learning” and try again.

Your garden doesn’t care about gym memberships or detox teas. It cares about soil, water, sunlight, time and the person tending to it.

So choose one or two resolutions and build them gently into your routine. By spring, you’ll be quietly smug and your garden will be thriving.

Here’s to a year of growth, muddy boots, buzzing bees and cups of tea in the garden.