COLUMN: Derbyshire dad-of-four shares his 'crazy year' in the garden - from sizzling summer to Arctic blast

Luckily we have been busy already, planting spring bulbs, making a raised bed with some timber we had left over from our last project and wrapping some of the tender plants. We have taken full advantage of the sales, this is a really easy way to fill your gardens with plants without breaking the bank balance, and anyway, who doesn't love a bargain!

We have been busy planting tulips, daffodils, alliums, anemone's and crocus but to name a few. Now I know we won't have the impact of the Keukenhof gardens over in Holland, but we do hope to fill our garden with some lovely bright colours after a dull and gloomy winter.

One of the most important jobs we have done, is wrapping and protecting our lovely tree ferns. They sort of become part of the family and certainly need a little help at this time of the year. We wrap ours with horticultural fleece, then wrap them again with hessian and finally stuffing the crown with dried oak leaves and straw.

After the hardships this summer brought, we thought that we best strengthen our water storage capacity a little. At home we have added another 3000 litres and down at our allotment another 8000, which should stand us in good stead come the droughts. We all know that rainwater is so much better for our plants and it's free, so it's a no brainer.

As it's gotten colder, the allotment has slowly come to a halt. This has given me a chance to get a few other jobs done that I wouldn't have had time for otherwise. I've harvested the last of our carrots and parsnips ready for Christmas and also sown some more onions that I have picked last week.

Winter is a brilliant time to get all those maintenance jobs done, you know, the ones you keep putting off all year because you're just too busy. Hopefully we will be ready for the onslaught at the start of spring.

Looking back over the year, I have made a list of what's worked, and what's not. As gardeners we are always learning, always adapting to the changing seasons and always trying to improve on the year before. We have had a great year for tomatoes and chilies, but not so good with our beetroot and cabbages. I would certainly put this down to the hot weather as we ran out of water, so it became a bit of a headache.

So my question to you is, what could you do better next year? And will you be changing anything in your garden?

If you would like to follow our journey, we are over on Instagram @a_life_in_the_garden.