If the winter has taken its toll on your outdoor containers, how about investing in a shiny new set?

You can break up the old ones to place in the bottom of new containers to improve drainage, so nothing will go to waste.

Garden centres throughout Kent will be taking delivery now of thousands from huge Grecian-style glazed urns, to light resin contemporary planters.

If you're going to invest in new pots, make sure they match the outside of your property and the style of your garden. If you live in a centuries-old cottage featuring original brickwork, for example, you may want to steer clear of contemporary urban planters.

Glazed terracotta pots are generally more frostproof than unglazed ones, but if compost in the pot becomes waterlogged and then the water freezes, it will expand and crack the pot as well as killing the roots of your plants.

Laura Ashley has branched out on to the garden scene with a new range of frostproof glazed terracotta pots in pastel blue, available from Monday, March 20, from £6.99 to £34.99.