With a hosepipe ban hitting Hampshire to protect the precious habitats of our Rivers Test and Itchen and further bans planned across the South of England, there are steps we can all take to ensure we still have beautiful gardens and safeguard our environment.

Adding paint colour in your garden can smarten and brighten your space, create unity, add atmosphere and inject playfulness. Now's the time to colour scheme and get your paintbrush out when spring arrives.

As 25 December looms, here are some Christmas present ideas for garden lovers and would be garden lovers. All ideas tested, spotted or touched by me. None have been “gifted”, so you can be 100% sure these are heart-warming recommendations you can trust, one friend to another.

So often we concentrate on flowers to light up our gardens with colour, forgetting a display of mellow fruitfulness prolongs a garden’s interest and provides the bonus of essential food for birds and wildlife.