You see I think we are all gardeners really – it’s in our DNA. I mean who doesn’t love beautiful flowers, tasty fresh fruit and veg or the cheery birdsong of a spring morning. The fresh green growth and bulbs thrusting out of the earth at this time of year literally puts a spring in our step.

Perhaps the caveat of not being ‘a gardener’ comes from being overwhelmed by the amount of plants there are to learn or the alphabet of botanical Latin dripping from the lips of the more experienced.

However like anything in life it’s all about starting small. Plant and tend a few containers, a raised bed or a small section of your garden and there will be no stopping you. Everything about that act will be positive. It will enhance your garden, balcony or yard, your neighbourhood, the environment and it will do wonders for your mental health. It can be a great activity with children and can be a social thing for those who are older or isolated.

Rome wasn’t built in a day so don’t be overwhelmed. So how to start this spring.

Start simple

Container gardening is a good way to begin but if I had to give one piece of advice it would be this – go big! It is much easier to look after a bigger container than a small one. The small ones run out of steam when it comes to food and they dry out too quickly in hot conditions.

Big can mean pricey so look out for containers that could be upcycled or disguised. At the end of the day all you need is something that is sturdy, can hold soil and has good drainage holes. An old water tank would be ideal or I recently met someone using an old cooker that once made beef dripping.

Fill this container with peat free compost, top soil and manure for longer term planting. Then the world is your oyster, with sizzling Salvias, reliable hardy Geraniums or exotic Plectranthus. You could use the container for veg like Beetroot, ‘Salad Bowl’ lettuce and the colourful ‘Bright lights’ Chard or you could mix ornamentals (flowering plants) with edibles – I find that Chives and Purple Sage are two good filler plants.

Pursue perennials

I know that annuals give a big burst of colour and they are relatively good value, but it is possible to make planting more long lasting by buying perennials that will come back year after year.

Hostas make great pot plants if you can keep the slugs off them, as do agapanthus sometimes known as the African lily. Ian Scroggy holds a national collection of both these plants on the east Antrim coast.

Gaura ‘The Bride’ is another great choice for pots. It is airy, elegant, and easy. Lavender is also great plant for pots – it has scent, flowers and is a big hit with the bees. It’s only downside is that despite following the guidance to trim back each year (but not into woody growth) it tends to need replaced every four or five years.

‘Bee’ biodiverse

A house without people feels like an empty shell. I reckon you get the same feeling in a garden that isn’t attracting wildlife. A green desert with no birds, bees or butterflies feels sterile and dead.

All of those creatures animate the outside space and it’s easy to attract them. Leave some messy bits like a pile of logs and leaves.

Grow trees, even small ones like Crab Apples and Rowans to attract birds. And add plants that act as magnets for other flying insects like Buddleja, Sedum and Eupatorium (joe-pye-weed).

All life needs water and by adding a small pond or a pond in a pot you create the service station of dreams for a lot of wildlife. My pond has been bubbling with life for the last six weeks as the frogs return to spawn. The splashing and mating calls bring life to what was a forgotten corner. Tadpoles will follow and then froglets which are beyond cute!

Birds drink and bathe in the pond. Bees drink on the pebble beach and the water is full of larvae, water boatmen and skaters. For relatively little outlay (this is very much a rough and ready wildlife pond) and little maintenance , nothing else in the garden will give back more.

TOP EASY CONTAINER PERENNIALS

Hardy Geraniums (Kashmir White & Dreamland)

Agapanthus (White Heaven and Navy Blue)

Hosta (Halcyon and Blue Mouse Ears)

Gaura (The Bride)

Chocolate Cosmos (may need a little winter protection)

TOP CONTAINER VEG

Chard (Bright lights)

Chives

Salad Bowl lettuce

Radish (French breakfast 3)

Beetroot (Chioggia)

TOP PLANTS FOR POLLINATORS

Buddleja (Dwarf versions are available for pots)

Eupatorium (tall perennial and absolute magnet for butterflies)

Sedum (Autumn Joy)

Verbena bonariensis (less tall version called ‘Lollipop)

Blueberries (‘Bluecrop’ – bees love the blossom and you get the fruit)

David Maxwell presents Gardeners’ Corner, available on BBC Sounds, and on Saturdays on BBC Radio Ulster at 9am