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Growing With gardening with
Ben hello and welcome to the catchup
with gardening with Ben the podcast
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Alik gather to share their love for all
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this week's episode of catchup with
gardening with
Ben in this episode of gardening with
Ben we're going to be talking having a
little catch up and just letting you
know what what we've been up to down at
the alotment and at home really and how
we're preparing for this year in the
gardening
world so what have we been up to
recently so as you know the weather has
been absolutely horrendous over the
Christmas period and the beginning of
January it's been windy it's been
raining we've not had no Frost or snow
but the weather has been absolutely
terrible so every time it's been raining
I've been off work so I've not been able
to go to the alotment I could go in my
shed but I've done everything that need
to do it in my shed at the moment so
it's a case of sitting it out and
waiting for the decent
weather and today as I record this
episode it was one of the nicest days
that we've had so far this year and this
episode is recorded a few days in
advance so it is it's been absolutely
gorgeous down at the alotment today yes
the ground has been absolutely soaked
and wet but we're still being able to
manage to get on and do some
work because obviously it's nice and
easy to weed the ground will be heavy
but it's easy to dig those weeds out and
get them all up and out of the ground
which is what we're wanting to do we're
wanting to get all my main plot area
cleared now and we're wanting to get it
all ready for this year and I'm hoping
to get all my main plot area done by the
end of January which is quite a long
time giving myself but um I'm it does
need a lot of work doing to it so
hopefully we can get all my main plot
area cleared all the beds rebuilt all
the paths laid and it looking good for
this year so we'll see how we get on
fingers crossed with manager hopefully
the weather will be nice tomorrow as
well to get back down and do some more
and yeah
we we've set ourselves a bit of a
mission this year but we are going to
smash it and we're going to crack it
this year it's going to be a good year
down on the allotment I can tell that
for sure this year but we'll see how we
get on so hopefully things will
progress what else have we been up to
well all the bulbs are starting to pop
through on the plot now I went down
today like I said and I've had a look
around all my spring bulbs are starting
to pop through now there's absolutely
loads of bulbs planted in my L from
tulips to crocuses to deodal to highs to
irises it's going to look absolutely
beautiful come springtime that's if the
squirrels haven't eaten all the bulbs
fingers crossed they've not and we do
get a beautiful display down there every
year I keep buying some M spring bulbs
to plant um because they do take them I
do know they do take them from the plot
um but every year we keep planting more
and more and I've got a plan of where
I'm going to plant some next year um the
areas that I wanted to plant them in
I've planted them this year um but next
year we've got another area to get them
in so we're going to start saving us
pennies ready for next year to plant
them all and hopefully we'll continue to
add the beautiful display that I have
down at my plot on my lotman and make it
look absolutely beautiful and and I do
love the spring bulbs on the plot and
every I always say we all need to plant
spring bulbs on us plot to encourage the
bees and it's the first thing the bees
see when they wake up from hibernation
and it's the first bit of food that they
can get to give them the energy that
they need to get started ready for the
year ahead and without the bees we
wouldn't get any pollination so we need
the bees down on our
plot so the bulbs are coming along
really really well and in regards to my
shed you know that I've been doing a lot
of work on my shed recently um last year
uh I had a lot of it collapse and get
destroyed through the winter through the
winds through the awful winds and I've
literally stripped it all back to its
framework rebuilt half of the shed uh
where it had all collapsed uh so I've
got a bigger shed
again and literally put new plastic on
it while recycled plastic and got all
them got all that sorted got it looking
ship shape um I stripped out all the
shelving I stripped out all the
cupboards out of the shed uh I cleared
all the rubbish out there must have been
about 20 BS of rubbish in there you
don't realize how much stuff you store
in your shed of rubbish uh every week I
kept shooking some bags away uh but
we've cleared that much rubbish off my
allotment it's I can't believe how much
I had um and even from like broken plant
pots and compost bags and stuff like
that we've chucked absolutely loads away
so literally stripped it back to its
core we built New Shell in uh We've made
it all out of wood all the shelv in uh
before there were metal shelves and
stuff like that and they were too heavy
and they kept collapsing and falling
down uh so we've made own nice New
Wooden shelving using all the wood that
I've recycled off my plot um from the
shed which I took down um so hopefully
when it starts to get a bit warmer I
might get it all painted inside the shed
but that's a job for the back log it's
not an important job that needs doing uh
it's just a job that's there if I want
to do it uh just to make the shed look
nicer but it's not an important job so
we got all the shed ready and that was
one of main jobs I wanted to get done
over the winter period because last year
I didn't have my shed so I couldn't
start all my seeds off and get all of
them growing I had to purchase Plants
and stuff like that I couldn't start the
seeds off myself uh which made me not do
as well on my plot totally because
without the shed I weren't able to get
it all uh growing myself so I didn't
grow much last year at all so yeah yeah
hopefully we can get it all uh started
again all the seeds in springtime so
we'll have to see about them and see if
we can get them all growing and I've got
some big plans for some seeds this year
I want a good crop from my Harvest off
my plot this year I want to be able to
stand proud and say yes I grew all this
on my allotment look what I've grown uh
so I want to be impressed with what I do
get to grow this year so hopefully we do
get some stuff and yeah I'm pleased with
how the shed's looking uh it was one
important area of my plot that needed
fixing uh I'm still looking at my polyon
allil thinking I'm going to have to
replace the skin on there eventually but
it is going to be pricey if anyone wants
to give me a free poly tunnel skin who's
listening a sponsor feel
free but the worst bit it'll be digging
it out and retuning it all and putting
it all back on it again that will be the
hardest job uh I have to keep sealing it
back up where it's splitting and
everything uh but one of these days I'm
going to go and it's going to all be off
uh so we'll have to see fingers crossed
we might get it through another year uh
and then start saving for a new poly
tunnel skin ready for next year but
we'll see how we get on with
that but yeah I'm pleased with how it's
coming on we've got all his fruit trees
sorted they're all pruned back all
looking good and in shape for the this
year um we put wood chip down all around
my fruit trees around my rhubarb all my
rhubarb's popping through already which
it shouldn't be it should be asleep uh
but yeah it's all popping through and
it's looking really healthy uh so I
might get a really good rubar crop this
year um so we might be doing a lot of
crumbles and pies and stuff like that um
but hopefully we'll get a lot of rubab
off my allotment and into the the
cooker but we'll see how we get on with
that
so we'll keep working hard we'll keep
working on and getting it all together
and yeah talking of seeds uh I've been
out and purchased some tomato
seeds well I've not purchased tomato
seeds I've purchased a tomato themselves
and if you'll have seen my Instagram
post or my Facebook post recently uh the
way that I start my tomatoes off is from
the tomatoes at the supermarket uh I
don't buy the seeds anymore I purchased
tomatoes and scoop the seeds out and
then just shove them straight into
compost and let them grow and when they
started growing then I'll separate them
out grow them on and then I'll plant
them outside in the ground because they
did absolutely fantastic last year
growing in the ground outside I couldn't
believe how well they did
I thinking I might not get any tomatoes
on them because the shop bought
Tomatoes but there was the best tomatoes
that I've ever grown and I grew them
outside this year well last year rather
than inside because the year before we'
had the heat wave so it was struggle to
keep them watered so I thought I'll
plant them outside where it'll where
they'll be moist and keep uh well
watered uh with the water what's in the
soil and stuff like that and yeah I
can't believe how well they actually did
they did absolutely fantastic we got a
fantastic CPP of tomatoes we got red
cherry ones we got yellow ones we got
orange ones growing and they're all
fantastic it was just a
multi-purpose pack of different colored
tomatoes and I just scooped them out put
them into a plant pot of compost and let
them grow and I did label them up so I
knew which color or witch in each plant
pot uh from the Tomato that i' uh took
the seeds out of and they did absolutely
fantastic so I've gone along them lines
this year and thought what other stuff
can I try from the seeds of Supermarket
plants so I've been and got some beef
Tomatoes as well um I'm thinking though
the beef Tomatoes might have to be grown
in the polym because they are bigger
they'll take longer to ripen so we might
have to try those in the poly tunnel
rather than actually grow them growing
them outside um so we're going to give
them a try in the poly tunnel but we
have got some beef tomatoes and again
with the beef Tomatoes like I think it
cost me like 50 P for the beef tomato
and when you go to buy the seeds from
the uh shop or from the catalogs you
won't get many seeds in a packet and
it'll be expensive to buy so overall it
is cheaper
I don't even dry the seeds out uh which
everybody used to say that you used to
have to do you have to dry them out and
then start them off I just leave them in
their goo and I just get a teaspoon
scoop it out and shove it straight in
the compost and it worked so there you
are people if you've been drying them
out don't dry them out just put them
straight in the compost and it w grow
trust me I had fantastic crop last year
so we've got them to try try we've also
got some
um Peppers to try I thought I'll give
peppers a try seeing as I've done
tomatoes and they work fine I'll try
Peppers so we've got some peppers to try
I've got a red a yellow and a green one
to try and again you get lots of sea in
a pepper uh when you cut them open so
we're going to be trying to do that as
well and the next thing that I tried is
because I've grown peppers in the past
and sometimes I've struggled with them
uh I saw a multi pack of very small
Peppers just really small Peppers so for
Oh They'll be better they could grow
better than the big ones so I've
purchased these small ones they're in a
multipack they like uh yellow and red uh
colors so we're going to give them a try
and see how well we get on with them so
you'll have to stay tuned for them ones
and see how well well we get on
I don't know whether I should grow them
indoors or whether I should grow them
Outdoors um I might try some indoors and
some outdoors and see how well they both
do uh compare them I do like comparing
stuff seeing which works better I once
did that with seed onions
and uh with the onion bulbs that you can
buy and the seed onions did better than
the onion bulbs that you can buy uh but
obviously it all goes down to the side
and the conditions of your allotment um
but I do like trying different methods
and trying different ways of growing
stuff so we've got them and then we've
got some melons to try as well I'm going
to try some melons uh cuz obviously you
get a lot of seeds in them so yeah we're
going to have some fun this year people
gardening with Ben is back last year we
had a disaster with the plot and we
didn't do much we didn't do no social
media we didn't do no podcasts or
anything like that but this year trust
me gardening with Ben is back bigger
stronger and better and I'm glad that
you've all stuck around and that you've
all started coming back and listening to
these podcasts again because it is good
to hear you well not hear you good to
see you all listening uh I can see from
the stats of the podcast how many
people's listening and where people
listen as well it's always good to hear
see that people are listening in
different countries all around the world
and enjoying the podcasts
so we've got a lot to do over these
coming months um but we are well ahead
uh we've done a good start to the year
um we're going to have a good year down
at the plot I can feel it it's going to
look the best it's ever a l to my plot
and I'm certainly going to be enjoying
sharing it all with you this year down
on the allotment so as always thank you
for listening to today's podcast if you
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everyone until next time remember keep
smiling keep shining and keep gardening
with Ben
everybody and that wraps up another
episode of gardening with Ben thank you
for joining me in this Journey remember
every seed planted is a step towards a
Greener World and every day is a chance
to grow something beautiful keep
nurturing your Gardens and your souls
until next time I'm gardening with Ben
reminding you to let your garden be your
Sanctuary happy gardening and see you in
the next episode remember keep smiling
keep shining and keep gardening with Ben