COLUMN: Derbyshire dad balances busy time on the allotment with young son's hospital stays

So it's certainly not been easy to get any rhythm going down there, I've been trying to get all the jobs that I have started over the winter finished off ready for the spring. Any spare time has been spent finishing our fruit cage, filling and mulching raised beds and sorting the new layout for our plot.

A couple of weeks ago Oscar took ill due to his neutrophils dropping severely. This meant we had some unplanned stays in hospital, but fingers crossed he is on the mend now. I don't think people outside of having leukaemia realise the unpredictability of it, how life can change in an instant. Obviously with him being so neutropenic it's impacted on the time he can be in the garden Incase he picks up any infections.

Oscar has though been sowing some broad beans, they are tucked away in the greenhouse and I will be planting them out once they are big enough. Now Is the time us gardeners start the onslaught with the seed sowing, but don't be fooled into thinking everything needs to be done this second. There's still plenty of time to worry about it. Always read the seed packet and follow the instructions where you can. Some plants require a lot of heat and light which sadly in our climate we don't have right now. Sometimes the excitement is a little too much after a few days of apricity, when In reality just waiting a little longer won't do any harm.

I have started my carrots off in the polytunnel, this year I am sowing them into toilet roll tubes, 2 seeds per one and then thinning out the weaker of the two. This way I can be sure I have 100% germination and my spacings between them will be correct. There's nothing worse than sowing too many seeds in the drill and having to thin them out. The only thing I will say about this method though is don't let the roots come out of the bottom, they need to be planted before this.

It's a perfect time to be mulching your beds, topping up their nutrients ready for a long season of growing. We have been using well rotted horse manure but good quality compost will also do the trick. If you can, making your own is so rewarding, just be sure to not compost anything that might regrow once you use it, for example tomatoes or anything else tossed into your heap that bears seeds.

Another job to be getting on with is pruning your pear or apple trees while they are still dormant. You want to trim any new growth by a third and cut off any branches that are growing inwards. This is to create a void so that there is air flow between the fruits also reducing the risk of any disease.

The warmer days and slightly lighter evenings are a perfect excuse to get outside, enjoy nature and also have a go at growing some of your own food. I challenge you to it, you never know, you may even love it!