Now’s the time to be making some new year resolutions. I’ve certainly made several in relation to my garden. The first will mean we only see two public days this summer, over the weekend of July 23 and 24 for the Macmillan Coastal Garden trail.

That said, the garden will be open “by arrangement” from June 1 right through until July 31. Visitors will be able to book online through Macmillan, via my website, for certain dates or just call and arrange a visit. See the garden opening page of my website for the full details.

In previous years, the back of the house has been a haven for hundreds of containers with flowering shrubs and summer annuals. The only problem, as I get older, it has been so labour and time intensive to keep it looking its best. The new sunken garden has been planted with drought-tolerant shrubs and will be used as plant theatre for my ever-growing collection of succulents, all of which are over-wintered in the heated greenhouse or house porch. The use of old railway sleepers – on end as opposed to laying horizontally – create much interest in themselves, as well as the stunning Indian sandstone circle with cobbled edge. So, the second resolution means I will be able to get the summer annual containers down to about 50, mostly located around the pond.

The reduced number of visitors will mean I don’t have to bake as many cakes as in previous years. Now that sounds a great resolution in itself.

We scaled down openings last year but still managed to raise almost £13,000 for charity, so it will be interesting to see how much we achieve this year.

READ MORE: The best wintry walks in the South Downs

Why not think about your own plot and what you might want to change this year?

With it stripped back to the bareness of frozen winter, you can start the year productively. Grab a pen and paper, go out into the garden and think of two or three changes or improvements you would like to make in the coming year.

The changes can be very simple, like adding a single new plant, or highly ambitious, like building a new conservatory or anything in between. Either way, you’ll get a real sense of achievement when they’re completed in a few months’ time.

We’ve been quite lucky so far and not had too much frost here in Seaford but I reckon that will change this month.

To be honest, I like to see a bit of frost every so often as my garden takes on quite a magical look with all the frosted rusty metal.

Read more of Geoff’s garden at www.driftwoodbysea.co.uk