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episode good evening and welcome back to
gardening with Ben for a new podcast on
this Tuesday morning on the 1st of March
we are finally in March and let's keep
us fingers crossed that it's not going
to be a bad and miserable March because
it can be you never know it could be
very snowy some marches are very snowy
but then some we can get heat waves if
you remember back to the first lockdown
what we had in the UK
we had a massive heat wve and I was able
to start off most of my seeds and get
them all germinated in then and fingers
crossed come the end of March that is
when I'm going to be sewing literally
all of my seeds as that is when I
usually start mine in my unheated
greenhouse and start getting them
growing because I like to get them
started then because like I say it's
unheated Greenhouse so it can take a
while from to J terminate but if you get
a few good spell days it will get them
started and get them going as I don't
have shelves in my house or I haven't
got a garden with a greenhouse I have to
start everything off down at my
allotment so I have to make use of what
I've got and hence one of the reasons
why I've been trying to fix it and
repair it from these storms to try and
make it warmer again so that we can get
those seeds germinated and the other day
when I was in the greenhouse it got up
to 20° so but it shows the weather is
starting to get warmer and it is getting
time to start getting those seeds
germinated and getting them growing and
yeah I'm I'm getting on with getting my
plot ready getting all the jobs done
getting it all ship shape and ready I'm
hoping that my plot will be complete for
around the end of April all my jobs will
been done by the end of April and I can
get sewing planting stuff
outside POS
couple of weeks into May once the chance
of frost has passed because I I'm not
one of these Keen ones that likes to
plant stuff out early I wait until the
chance of frost has definitely passed
because I've seen so many people
planting stuff outside and losing crops
and it's disheartening they've tried
growing them all from seed or they've
been out and purchase the plants and
then they've lost them all to the frost
so it's not worth it being too eager
sometimes s it's best off waiting until
the time is right to actually plant
stuff
outside so in today's episode we're
going to be talking about all the jobs
which need doing in your garden and
allotment in March and tomorrow's
episode will be all about what seeds we
can plant in March so make sure you do
click that subscribe button because then
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amazing how many people do listen to
these podcasts it really does make my
day and I certainly do enjoy interacting
with everyone cuz that's the sort of
person I am I love chatting to people
and I love making new guarden in friends
so in this episode we're going to talk
about all the different jobs which need
doing in the allotment and the garden we
usually start off with what needs doing
in the vegetable garden then the fruit
garden and then what needs doing in the
flower garden so you can either make a
not to this or you can listen back to it
a few times and make sure you get all
them jobs done and tick them off as you
go along and the quicker you get them
done the more time you have to doing
other jobs around the the
allotment so yeah first off what needs
doing in the vegetable garden not many
jobs in the vegetable garden as
obviously we're not growing much at the
moment outside in the veg patch but if
you're grow asparagus you can prepare
your beds this month making sure that
they're Weed Free and if you've got your
asparagus crowns in the ground at the
moment add some mulch around them
because that will help keep the weeds
down it will keep the ground moist and
it will give it the nutrients it needs
to get in some good asparagus growing
and obviously asparagus is expensive to
buy in the shops so if you can plant
some asparagus good on you go for it and
save some money and then when you invite
your friends around you can have some
nice Posh meals and show them the
asparagus that you have made and cooked
for
them if you've been growing green manure
in your beds to to keep uh over winter
now is the time to dig it over and dig
it into the soil this will help add the
nutrients into the soil for your plants
for the coming year so if you're growing
green manure in your beds get that dug
over now I've never actually done this I
need to have a look into growing green
manure um I just tend to not do much
over winter but obviously growing green
manure you can add the nutrient back
into the ground and it really does help
the
plants so the vegetable beds make sure
that they're all Weed Free get them all
ready if you want to warm them up put
some sheets of plastic over the top that
will warm the beds up and encourage it
for when it you're sewing your peas and
stuff outside warming the soil up can
help speed germination up as well I've
seen some people plant the onion sets
and then put black plastic over the top
to warm them up and to get them
sprouting and it does work and it's same
goes for growing potatoes in the ground
they put the potatoes in the ground then
put BL black plastic over the top and it
warms it up and speeds up the uh
germination of the plant and you can get
some good crops from doing this now onto
the fruit Garden jobs now obviously
doing the fruit Garden jobs is very
important because if you look after your
fruit plants they will give you
fantastic it crops back so you need to
make sure you get these fruit Garden
jobs done and as you will have seen I've
been making my fruit Garden absolutely
massive now on my plot I've extended it
and created a new area with lots of new
food in it and I've got more planed on
Thursday so make sure you stay tuned on
Instagram because I'll be sharing some
pictures of new stuff what I'm going to
be planting on Thursday my fruit Garden
yes I've got even more fruit garden
garden stuff to plant but over the next
few years my fruit production is going
to be fantastic I do love growing fruit
because it's so quick and simple just to
eat it you don't have to cook it or
anything like that so the fruit Garden
is something that I absolutely love on
my allotment and you will have seen from
how many strawberries I grow so if
you're growing blueberries feed your
blue BRZ this month with some ericaceous
plant
fertilizer now this is something I need
to look at doing because obviously I've
just planted some new blueberries and
I've already got two growing already and
I've never actually fed them before so I
do need to look into feeding them and
giving them something so after this
episode after I've recorded it I'll be
adding it to my shopping basket and
getting some ordered hopefully uh to
feed my uh blueberri plants with because
again blueberries are expensive to buy
in the supermarket so if you can get a
good return from the blueberry plants
then why not get them growing fruit
trees make sure you've mulched them all
this month to give them the food that
they need to help grow they'll soon be
starting to Blossom so make sure they're
all mulched up and yeah look after them
keep looking after them give them water
if it's
dry obviously trees will drink as much
water as you give them so keep giving
them a drink of water to help grow them
and encourage their Blossom to
fruition
raspberries make sure the tips of the
summer fru and raspberries have had the
tops cut off them this will encourage
the raspberries to Bush out and produce
more fruit so if you've left your canes
from last year which have grown which
will be the ones that fruit this year
trim the tops off the canes and that
will help make them Bush out and produce
more fruit because they will focus on
growing the fruit rather than growing
any tall of the
canes rhubarb mulch your rhubarb this
month but do not cover the Crowns if you
cover your crowns The Mulch can burn the
crowns and kill the crowns off so make
sure you leave an area around the crown
so that it's not touching the crown I
sometimes give man chicken manure as
well as that helps feed them as well
over the next few months as it Waters
down and feeds into the
soil strawberries if you wanted an early
crop what you can do is cover them with
a clutch and this will warm them up and
help produce the flowers a lot faster
but do remember to take the clutches off
when the flowers are starting to come
out because the bees will need to get on
them and help pollinate them so yeah if
you want an early crop of strawberries
do do that but I'm going to wait until
Wim buing time I always like my round
Wim
buing Stone fruits if you're grow
nectarines apricots and peaches cover
the trees with fleece to protect the
Blossom from frost because the BL
Blossom can get killed by the frost and
you don't want that so good luck if
you've got really tall trees but try and
protect them as much as possible flower
garden jobs now these are the tips that
I need to start reading up on more
because as I am getting on this year I
am growing more and more flowers uh
again watch out on Thursday you'll be
able to see what else I've purchased for
my allotment for the flower department
wow it's I'm getting addicted to Growing
these flowers but I just can't wait to
see the show what's going to happen in
spring and summer this year down at my
plot the color is going to be absolutely
amazing and again if you've got an
allotment plant flowers encourage the
bees to come if you're the only plot
that's got flowers on them the bees will
come to your plot and then they'll help
pollinate all your fruit as well and
that's what you want to encourage so
plant flowers plant flowers if you've
got some space everybody's got some
space put them down your borders down
the side of the plot plant some summer
bulbs get everything growing all the
flowers look into it again listen to
tomorrow's episode and you'll be able to
hear all the different flowers you can
plant in
March if you grow in clamus what you
need to do is prune these back now
before the new growth starts on them
because they'll start growing again now
if they've been dormant over winter now
is the time to get them prune back
before the new growth starts on them now
I've just planted a clator and mine's
obviously very small so I want the
pruning mine but I am looking forward to
watching it grow and training it along
my shed and I C I really can't wait for
the clus it's something that I've always
wanted to grow on my alotment so I'm
looking forward to
that daffodils mine haven't popped open
yet they're still waiting to pop open
but obviously if it's down south you
might be getting them out already they
might be popping open if it's War where
you are they will still start to open so
as daffodils start to die back you can
dehe head them but do not cut them back
to the base just dehe head them and let
them rot back to the bulb because all
the nutrients go back into the bulb and
it will store it for next year so do not
trim off them ugly looking leaves what
it leaves behind just leave them and let
them Rock back to the
bulb he if you've got any old dead he
what's DED back after winter now is the
time to prune it back and shape it up
ready for the year
ahead
hydranges one thing that you don't prune
when the flowers die on them you leave
the heads on them all the way through
the winter it's one thing my grandma
always used to tell me Ben don't Pro my
hyers until
Springtime and as you will notice your
Hy engers will start to
send out fresh shoots now and start
budding up so now is the time that these
can be pruned back you might want to
wait until middle and end of March but
now is the time to start deheading the
Hy Rangers and you can take them back to
around 13d of last year's growth on them
so yeah start shaping up those hyd
rangers for fantastic flowers this year
and as I shared the other day I've just
got four new Hydro engers on my plot
I've never grown Hydro engers before so
it's something new for my plot so I'm
looking forward to those Hy rers growing
on my plot and getting some fantastic
color from her now something I do need
to get for my allotment for this next
tip is fuches so prune these back this
month to around two buds on each
stem that's for fuchur prun these back
this month to around two buds on each
stem and it's definitely something I
want to get from my plot a
fuchsia but if I'm getting a fuchsia it
will need to be a Hardy variety that
will last for winter because I don't
want to have one that I have to keep
taking inside all the time I want one
that I can actually look after and leave
outside
panes if you want them to keep flowering
keep deheading them they'll start to die
back a bit this month
but just keep deheading them as they die
off the flowers and you never know you
might keep getting some flowers on them
and keep attracting um making it look
nice and beautiful pansies are something
that definitely add color to the plot
and that's one thing that I am going to
be sewing in the next few months is
pansies I've got some seeds to grow I've
grown them from seed before and they did
fantastic first time I've grown them
from seed and I'm definitely going to be
growing them again
perennials if you've got any perennials
that are growing in the garden or
alotment cut back any old foilage ready
for the new growth this year roses if
you're wanting to prune your roses these
can be pruned back this month ready for
the new growth growing this year and
then last but not least slugs the
dreaded slugs slugs will start coming
out of hibernation they'll start waking
up again they'll start looking for that
fresh vegetation all them fresh new
plants that you're going to be planting
they're going to be looking for them yes
they will come out at night and they
will start attacking again so start
getting those beer traps set up ready to
catch them
slugs obviously we don't want to
encourage slug pallets so try and think
of other ways of catching them slugs and
I tell you what some people do they
actually go out at night with a
flashlight and they actually go out
catching all the Slugs yes people do
that because that's when the slugs come
out mainly at night they won't come out
in the daytime much you may see a few
but they don't come out as much as they
do at night
and one tip what I was taught about
watering is never water at night because
the ground will be wet and that will
encourage the Slugs to come out at night
and eat your crops water the plants in
the morning before the sun comes up this
is obviously in the hot periods water
the plants before the sun comes up do it
then and you will protect your crops
better from the Slugs so that is one big
tip you can learn from today water your
plants in the morning and not at night
and yeah it's going to be a busy old
March and tomorrow's episode will be a
very long one because there is lots and
lots of stuff that we can start to S
obviously today's episode is a longer
episode than usual usually they're only
about 10 to 12 minutes long but we've as
the season goes on these episodes will
get longer because we'll have more and
more to talk about and I do love talking
about all these different topics and I I
I get excited sometimes when I'm just
talking to this microphone on my own as
I'm saying all these tips but I do
really hope that they do help you and
and they do give you tips yourself
because like I always say I've just
learned all this as I've been doing it
over the years there's still so much to
learn and as I do these episodes I learn
things I research things I look up
things before I do these episodes so
yeah I I'm learning every single day so
I do hope you enjoy these epes do click
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time remember keep smiling keep
gardening and keep listening to
gardening with Ben's podcast see you all
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