WHILE the weather this month has not really been too helpful, if you wanted to be out in the garden, then let’s hope February might bring some better days.

If you have not yet got around to it, jobs to do at this time of year to keep you busy could include cleaning pots and containers, garden tools or water butts and preparing greenhouses for the upcoming spring.

OK, they are not the most glamorous of tasks, but they will set you up for a great year ahead. Honest.

With more enforced time at home, why not start planning what you want to do with your garden in the months to come? Now is the perfect time to order seeds and plants from the comfort of your armchair. I’ve been studying what’s new and interesting from the company I normally buy some summer plants from. My list is almost complete and then I’ll be ordering.

With all the winds we have had, it might be a good idea to check your winter protection is still working for you – survey any stakes, supports and ties that might have been damaged in bad weather and take any remedial action needed.

This weekend sees me return to BBC Radio Sussex, joining Joe Talbot on the Mid-morning Show on Sunday at about 1.10pm. I will be updating listeners on the current state of play in relation to gardens being able to open, or not, next month for the National Garden Scheme. February normally sees the snowdrop gardens welcoming visitors but 2021 might, unfortunately, tell a very different story due to lockdown, why not listen in on Sunday and find out?

I am not scheduled to open my garden this year until June, but with the roll out of the vaccine not hitting later groups as yet, the 12-week wait between doses could, potentially, put early openings at risk. While my 93-year-old mother had her first dose of the vaccine last week, my partner, who will be the last of us to be called, and I are in later groups. We’ll have to see when he receives it and where the intervening three months take us. I will certainly need to review the situation nearer the time if we have not all received the two doses. Fingers crossed.

While most did not want the predicted snow last weekend, I was secretly looking forward to it but it never materialised. What we did get in its place was the most amazing sky over the garden. It was as if the whole sky had been set alight, giving a real glow the garden below.

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