SMALLER gardens are likely to be the talk of Chelsea Flower Show this year as several big sponsors have pulled out because of the credit crunch.

Chelsea veteran and award-winning designer Andrew McIndoe has given some thought to the easiest ways to downsize.

“Leaving a garden that you have created and enjoyed to downsize to a smaller plot is difficult, and it would be all too easy to be negative about change and to hang on to the past,” says Andrew, designer of the Hillier exhibit which holds the unprecedented record of 63 consecutive gold medals at Chelsea.

Andrew’s new book, Losing The Plot, is for people who want or need to downsize, for whatever reason.

It offers the following top tips:

■ See this as an opportunity to start afresh with a blank canvas.

Don’t try to replicate your previous garden on a smaller scale – it rarely works. Design a new garden to meet your needs.

■ Don’t attempt to dig up lots of plants and take them with you if you move. Yes, there are bound to be one or two old friends you will want to keep, but limit yourself to those that will move successfully.

■ Make any radical changes at the outset. Tired old paving doesn’t improve with age, it gets worse. If you need to install or replace fences and buildings, do it before you start planting.

■ Plan or redesign your garden from where you will see it most – usually from the windows of the house. This will influence where you put features and utilities, and will ensure that you can enjoy your garden throughout the year.

■ Choose plants that work hard to earn their keep, which have more than one season of interest and which need little attention. You can allow yourself a few guilty pleasures, but it’s those good old evergreen garden stalwarts that will hold the planting scheme together.

■ Keep an open mind to radically different ways of gardening. You don’t have to have a lawn – or grow roses. A raised bed or two might make life easier. It might be fun to grow a few vegetables in containers – even if you’ve never bothered with them before.

■ Make use of pots and containers and consider more permanent planting. Seasonal bedding plants need replacing twice during the year to maintain all-year-round interest. Limit bulbs and bedding plants to a few pots and group them with other permanently planted ones.

■ Consider somewhere to sit and enjoy the garden. You need a comfortable seat or set of furniture somewhere accessible and ready to use in nice weather. Treat yourself. It will make morning coffee, afternoon tea or evening drinks in the garden part of your daily routine.

■ Your preference for certain plants changes over the years. If there is something you’ve always wanted to grow, now is your chance. A new horticultural challenge will rekindle your passion for plants.

■ Take a firm line with gifts of plants from neighbours, friends and family. If you don’t like it, want it, or it does nothing for your garden, don’t plant it. Gardens are easily filled up with well-meaning offerings of rampant perennials and inferior occasion roses.

■ Losing The Plot by Andrew McIndoe is published by AA and has a RRP of £17.99.