So, for those who are new to gardening, absolute beginners or never even heard of the phrase, here’s the basics you’re probably going to need:

Gloves – top of my list is gloves! Unless you’re a complete idiot, you’ll realise gardening involves soil and dirt and getting mucky, so get gloves. Even better, get two pairs, one pair that’s fairly thin so you can feel what you’re doing and another hard-wearing pair. If you’re a lady, it’s more difficult to get a good hard-wearing pair, but it is possible. I had to go to three different B&Q stores to find my size, but it can be done!

Basic Tools – you can buy some cheap sets of complete gardening tools, but be careful of the quality - as you can see from the picture, you can get some pretty funky gardening stuff now. Depending on the size of your garden – if you only have pots and a 2 metre square of soil outside your front door you may wish to leave out a few of these – you should probably aim to buy:

• Gardening fork
• Garden spade
• Trowel
• Garden scissors / secateurs (learn this word, makes you sound like you know what you’re talking about)
• Watering can
• Kneeling pad (unless you’re feeling young and fit – in my experience, if you’re over 20, get one)

There are other tools of course, but you can add to your collection as you go along.

Right, now you’re all tooled up and ready to go. Go have a cup of tea and a biscuit, take a rest, you’ve done well so far and tomorrow we’ll start with the gardening work.