If your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and take up exercise are proving hard to sustain, a few hours a week in the garden will not only give you a head start to spring but may help as part of a fitness programme too.

Raking leaves, digging, weeding and moving shrubs can all be done at this time of year and will help you tone up.

Raking and forking helps strengthen arms and shoulders and tones the abdominal muscles, while digging and bending (from the knees, keeping the back straight) to move or lift plants or pots can help tone thighs and buttocks.

“The thing to keep in mind is always to try to do things to your maximum range of movements,” says Colin Holding, head coach of Wildfitness (www.wildfitness.com), a company which runs transformative fitness holidays.

He says sitting down is the worst position for the human body, adversely affecting posture and the digestive system and that our natural sitting position is in fact a full squat.

Weeding beds and borders gives the legs, hips and buttocks a good workout if you squat while you weed. Heavier work such as clearing brush and stacking wood can give you the equivalent workout to a light aerobics class.

“Get down as low as you can so that your bottom is as close to your heels as it can be. From that position you can do gardening rather than getting down on your knees,” he advises.

“When you stand up you will be using your joints to their maximum range of movements.”

From a squat position you can weed or plant and each time you move along a border you stand up and then squat again.

“With deep squats, you use the biggest muscles in your body – leg, thigh and hip muscles – and will aid lymphatic drainage, pumping out toxins as you completely rely on muscular movement for this.”

He also recommends just ‘hanging’. In-between other tasks, take time to find a high branch of a tree and just hang from it to take your body weight.

“It’s great for posture and is good for shoulder strength.”

Balancing on one foot while gardening, whether you are trimming a hedge or sowing seeds in the greenhouse, also promotes strength and confidence and keeps the nervous system in good condition, he says.

Set yourself a 30-second time limit to start and, as you progress, increase that and maybe even close your eyes, which makes balancing harder, he suggests.

Gardening can help the cardiovascular system, reduces the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other medical conditions as well as burning calories, according to US research.

Half an hour’s digging can use up 250 calories, weeding will burn 105 calories, raking 100 calories and mowing the lawn 195, so those garden chores you’ve been putting off may help you squeeze into those jeans which have been on the tight side since Christmas.

“Changing the type of garden tools you use can also influence the number of calories burned and will also have cardiovascular benefits,” says award-winning garden designer David Domoney, who offers tips on how to get fit gardening on his website www.daviddomoney.com.

“For example, use a rake instead of a leaf blower, take extra long strides while raking or use short, quick motions, and keep the rake close to your body, switching sides every two to three minutes.”

Go for a push mower if you want a more strenuous workout, rather than a power mower which will make the job easier.

Gardening will not only help you physically, but psychologically too. Working in the fresh air and being among trees and plants reduces stress and relieves muscle tension, studies have shown.

Remember your limitations, though. Many gardeners worry that too much lifting in the garden will damage their backs. Obviously, if you are attempting to move a really heavy object, ask for help.

“You need to keep an ‘S’-shaped spine position when lifting, sweeping or raking, changing sides regularly. Stand with your back against a wall, with your head, shoulder blades, heels and the base of your back (coccyx) also touching the wall. That will give you an idea of the ‘S’ spine position.

“Keep your shoulders back and look at the horizon, not downwards, when you squat, to hold the position,” says Domoney.

Work at a steady, constant speed to keep heart rate up at a set level and don’t do too much of one thing – three hours’ digging is likely to result in a lot of aches and pains.

Change positions regularly to move from pruning to weeding or try to alternate which hands you use.

Do the less strenuous gardening chores such as tidying up or a little light pruning to warm up and get the muscles moving and the same when you cool down, he advises. If you tire halfway through, take a break.

“Listen to your body. Don’t wear yourself out because that’s mainly when you’ll injure yourself,” he adds.

With a little effort two or three times a week in the garden, you’ll soon have your New Year’s resolution to get fit back on track – without a gym membership form in sight.

Best of the bunch – Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

This hardy perennial with small, knobbly tubers produces vibrant yellow flowers above a ruff of bright green leaves in winter, just at a time when everything else is dull and dank.

The native European woodland plants grow to just 5-8cm (2-3in) in height and look great planted in large numbers under shrubs and deciduous trees. They do well in partial shade in any fertile soil which doesn’t become too dry in summer.

Plant tubers in autumn or buy plants ‘in the green’ and plant when the soil is not too wet or frozen.

Good enough to eat – Planting fruit trees

Now is a good time to plant new fruit trees and bushes, provided the soil isn’t frozen or too wet when planting. If it is, wrap the dampened rootball or pot up the trees and store them in a cool, frost-free shed until the weather improves. In the meantime, add plenty of organic matter such as compost or well-rotted manure to the planting hole.

If you’ve already planted young trees earlier on, add a sprinkling of blood fish and bone to the surface of soil around tree, cane and bush fruit, gently raking it in to the ground. Also, add a mulch of compost to the newly planted trees to help suppress weeds and keep moisture in the ground.

Three ways to… Control earwigs

1. Fill upturned flowerpots with straw or shredded paper and place them on top of canes close to vulnerable plants. These will trap them. Check the pots daily.

2. Check out dark places where they may hide during the day and dispose of those you see.

3. Set beer traps, digging a shallow depression in the soil for a small saucer so that the edge of the saucer is level with the soil surface. Pour in about half an inch of beer and empty the saucer daily, re-filling it with fresh beer.

What to do this week

• Enrich soil with compost where beans are to be grown.
• Take root cuttings from oriental poppies, Primula denticulata, eryngium, rhus, verbascum and Phlox paniculata.
• Bring container-grown plants such as camellias into a cold greenhouse for extra winter protection.
• Take cuttings from greenhouse chrysanthemums.
• Buy in well-rotted farmyard manure or mushroom compost to mulch borders or dig into the soil.
• Cover areas still to be dug with a sheet of polythene to keep off driving rain, ensuring it remains dry enough for digging.
• Continue planting trees, shrubs, hedging and roses.
• Use cloches to protect alpine plants.
• There’s still time to move shrubs which have outgrown their allotted space.
• Order seeds and young plants from mail order companies.