Derbyshire dad-of-four shares his passion for gardening - which helped with three-year-old son's leukaemia diagnosis

I am from Lancaster and Philippa from Sheffield, but we moved to a village in North East Derbyshire back in 2013 and have never looked back since.

Gardening has been my passion for over 10 years now. It’s been a fundamental part of our lives these last couple of years (due to the lockdowns), but even more so this year as Oscar (3) was diagnosed back in June with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Safe to say this turned our world upside down, but gardening and growing our own produce gave us a little escape from the endless trips to the hospital and rounds of chemotherapy.

We moved into our new build house three years ago and so far we have created a tropical themed garden. We have included exotic banana plants, Dicksonia Antarctica (tree ferns), Canna's and gunnera to achieve this look. We can't wait to show you what we get upto in the garden as it certainly takes up alot of our time.

Just over a year ago, I got the phone call to say an allotment had become available and did I want it? Well there was only one answer for that - Yes! And we got it straight away.

Now I'm not going to lie, the first few months were very daunting to any beginner. There was so much to do, but it was time to start drawing up some plans and prioritising what needed to be done.

In the first few months we had it all fenced off, the weeds cleared, a shed made from pallets (which I will show you later on), water storage and a composting system.

After this it was finally time to start getting some of that produce into the ground. We made most of our raised beds from pallet collars and also erected a polytunnel for some of the summer fruit and vegetables.

Our main goal at the start was to try and grow our own produce, but not let it cost the earth. So we definitely got creative and hopefully I can share some of the tips and ways we have done that with you all.

We also share our home (and garden) with two border terriers, Radley and Ronnie, who love to come along. This is mainly to dig my plants up and cause a nuisance, but we love them all the same.

If your thinking about getting an allotment, I would definitely recommend it. Not only is it good for reducing your shopping budget each week, but also the health benefits, both physically and mentally make it so worth while.

Over the coming months, I would like to share what we get up to in the garden and on our plot. I aim to inspire others to find a love of gardening and become a little more self sufficient. Anybody can become a gardener, from those having a huge garden all the way to window boxes on a balcony. The power of plants will always bring a sense of calm to any space.

If we can do it, so can anyone.

We will certainly look forward to sharing some tips along the way.

James, Philippa, Alex, Finlay, Imogen, Oscar.