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Ben. Well, everybody, guess who's back. We are back. Gardening
with Ben is back once again. Yes, it has been since January since
we have recorded a new podcast for you, and I to apologize for a
starter because I've not really said about why I had disappeared really and yeah,
it's been a very funny year altogether, and that's just not with my allotment
in life, everything that's been in general. Because I'm sure, if you
like me up in the North, we have not had a good summer this
year whatsoever. If you're looking back at last year's summer, we had a
drought, what was absolutely roasting out it within the forty degrees as and we
had a water shortage and a drought on and this year has been the absolute
opposite. It has not stopped raining whatsoever at all down on my allotment,
and the only days it has stopped raining is when I've been working. So
ends why I've not been down at the allotment much this year. And I
think it all goes back towards the beginning of the year real well during winter
period really because I couldn't get down to the allotment much to do all the
winter jobs which I planned on doing for some reason or over I think it
was really called winter, so I couldn't get much done down there. I
had big plans for over the winter period as well, because the sort of
things that I wanted to get done was I wanted to get all myst shed
rebuilt. If you remember last during the winter period, will towards end at
winter my shed collapsed and yeah, it just went to a mess. So
I had got nowhere to grow all my seats in and it would during one
at storms it absolutely destroys a lot of it. So I lost the end
piece on my shad so it opened to all the vulnerabilities. And usually in
the winter period, I use that as a time to do any repairs and
stuff like that what I want to do at the allotment. So basically I
got nowhere to grow any of my seeds this year. I've obviously got my
polytonnel, but my polytunnel skins ripped, so I need to repair that as
well, So that's another job that I need to do. And I think
that things sort of got on top of my It's hard when you're sharing stuff
on social media all the time that you feel like you've got to be perfect
and you've got to show off what you're doing. And I feel like I've
let people down by not showing what I do on my allotment this year that
I've not been on my Facebook page going live on it, I've not been
on my Instagram. I'm showing pictures of it regularly and showing what's happening down
at the allotment. I've not been doing these podcasts because I've not been doing
much on my allotment or growing much this year. So I feel like I
have let people down in a sense. I did post a post on Facebook
recently on Instagram saying that I've been away this year from posting stuff and I
just had a break from it all because I've had a bad year on the
Allotment and I didn't think that I could share stuff with you if from down
there this year. But yeah, it's good to have a break as well
from social media sometimes and obviously the expectations of doing this regularly for you to
listen to it's also another thing to do. So hopefully we are going to
start coming back now with the podcast. So I'm just wanting to say thank
you for all the kind messages what people have sent my people have sent me
a load to messages saying, oh we're missing you, We're missing Yeah,
when are you're coming back? Then? We love listening to your podcast when
we're down at the Allotment or when we're walking, or when we're going to
sleep. Yes, I do help people get to sleep by talking on the
podcasts. But yeah, I do want to say thank you to everybody that
does support me. It does mean the world to me. And obviously,
like I say, everything that I get from the podcast goes back towards the
Allotment work, So yeah, that has been this year. It's been a
pretty rubbish year and I'm wanting it to get to the end and start again
next year from scratched down at the Allotment, and hopefully next year we're going
to be having a better year down there, down at the allotment. So
you might want to know what exactly have grown down at the Allotment this year,
because I've obviously not been sharing it with you all on social media so
and through the podcast. So we have grown a few bits and bobs.
We've got a few things growing, not much obviously, as like I said,
I couldn't grow anything from seeds really down at the Allotment this year.
So we have managed to obviously grow on my fruit because obviously that's in the
ground anyway. It's not something that I do need to start from seed.
So as food has done really really well this year. As I've said,
there's been a load of rain down at the allotment this year, so I've
got I've had lots of strawberries growing. They're all now starting to send off
all the runners for the plants that we can plant up for next year to
fill all the gaps in so we're getting all them sorted, but we'll talk
about how to start your runners off in another podcast. Then we've obviously got
we've had as raspberries, they've done really well. As autumn raspberries, they've
done well. As rue barber has done fantastic because obviously ruebarb are made up
of water, so the more it rains, the better the rubo crop you'll
get. But this is around the time of year when it starts to die
off ready for next year. So soon we'll let it alder our back so
that all the nutrients grow back into go back into the rhubarb crown ready to
produce for next year. Then we've got as cooking apples, we've got as
apple eating apples, and we've got as pears they're oldering well. And as
plum tree, we didn't get no plums this year because I did give it
a good chopping back last year, so I was expecting not to get any
plums this year, so I'm not disappointed about that. But hopefully we should
get a good crop next year on the plum tree fingers crossed. And then
we've got as faunless blackberries. Now these are just starting to fruit, so
hopefully we'll get some delicious blackberries coming on them. But they seem to have
grown so fast, all the long stems on. Wow, this and growing
really really fast, So hopefully we get some good crops as well coming up
in the next few years. I didn't realize how far they actually grow,
so we need to get them all fastened up and tied up and sorted.
And then obviously we've got us new plants. What we've planted. We planted
some grape vines this year. Again, we won't get no grapes this year,
but hopefully in a few years time we may be able to train them
and get some grapes growing on the allotment. Then we've got our logan berries.
They were only planted last year, so we've not got no logan berries
on them. I think I've got one one logan berry on my loganberries,
so hopefully in a couple of years time we should get some of them.
And yeah, everything from the fruit side of things has grown really well.
So what vegetables have we got planted this year? Well, this year I
planted my potatoes in boxes rather than in the ground, because a lot of
the times when I'm digging them up, I tend to chopping to him and
I ruined them so and I don't always manage to get them out of the
ground. So we've tried growing them in boxes this year, so we've got
to harvest them. They should be ready for harvesting now because the plants have
died back, so we can see what potators we've got growing there. We
have got some lettuce growing that's growing really well. We've not grown icebergs this
year. We've just grown the leaf lettuce what I bought in a multi pack
from one of the garden centers, so we've got some of that. We
have got sweet corn. My sweet corn's growing really well. I'm really pleased
with how well that's growing and how well it's looking. It's looking really healthy
again. I grew the plants from the garden center plants what I bought because
I couldn't start them off myself. But fingers Crossed will be growing all as
seeds as selves next year, so hopefully we'll get some good sweet corn on
our crops. What else have we planted. Oh, we've just harvested some
peat roots today. And if you check out my Instagram, you'll be able
to see the photo of one of my beat roots that I picked today.
We're absolutely massive now that has done really while, I'm surprised with how while
it's done. Then we've got some leaks in. They're growing well and tomatoes.
I'm growing my tomatoes outside this year. Obviously, like I said,
we've not had much sun here in the north, so I don't expect them
to ripen yet. Hopefully they will still ripen and they will get some red
tomatoes on them. Fingers crossed. We grew them from seed from out of
actual tomatoes that we bought from the supermarket. This year, I tried that
for a change, rather than buying the package of seeds, I just went
to the supermarket and bought a tub of mixed tomatas, scraped the seeds out,
planted them, and all the seeds grew. So hopefully it works.
But we'll see fingers crossed the plant to healthy. They've got to tomatoes on
them. We just need them to start writing and then we'll see what they
taste like, and you never know, we might keep on doing it like
that if they've grown well. I decided not to plant them in the polytonnel
this year because, like I said, last year, they were a drought
so I thought if we have a hot summer again, at least they're outside
and they'll keep moist in the ground better than they would do in the polytonnel.
They wouldn't dry out as fast as they would do if they're indoors.
And obviously, like say, it's rainloads. So they've done it really well.
We're growing and we've got lots of tomatoes on them. So that's the
only vegetables I've got growing this year. I've not got much growing whatsoever.
I've not got my pumpkins, I've not got my cause yet, I've not
got my iceberg lettuce, I've not got my squashed this year. I've not
got the runner beans. But yeah, it's been a very quiet year down
on the allotment this year for me. But we never know, fingers crossed,
it might be about a year next year. And today I've just started
building my shed back up with my dad. He says he's going to help
me do it. So we've done quite a bit today, got quite a
bit done. So we'll have to see how we get on with it and
see if we can get a shed built and cleared out ready for next year
to start all the seats off, but then think what I've got to do
for next year. I finds somewhere to buy the seeds because I always get
them from Wilkinson's, and while Wilkers now they're called, was called, obviously
the sad news that it's shutting, and that is where I get all my
garden stuff from and it's been a very valuable shop to me over the years
because it's the cheapest place to buy the seeds and I do get good crops
from him. So we're gonna have to look elsewhere, but yeah, we'll
look around. If anybody's got any good suggestions, send me a message,
let me know where to get them from, and yeah, I'll be happy
with that. So that is a bit of a catch up of what I've
been up to down at the allotment this last year, well the last eight
months really, but yeah, I've got a lot of things to do,
and like I said, it's been a struggle, not always good in myself,
but yeah, I try to keep smiling, try to keep positive,
and thankfully it's not in that bad estate of my plot. Hopefully over the
winter period this year we can get it looking back to how it was and
hopefully make some my improvements to it ready for next year and make it as
maintenance free as possible, because that's the thing I'm trying to do. He's
trying to make it as easy as possible, have proper paths down rather than
it just being black membering. I'm having paving slabs down for nice paths so
that it's easier to walk on. And yeah, you never know. Hopefully
over the winter period we can get it Lucky back to ship shape and get
it all sorted ready to start sharing stuff again on social media with you all
next year. And like I do say, I want to apologize for not
doing any podcasts for the last eight months or Instagram post on my plot or
Facebook lives. I just wanted to spend some time getting myself back to where
I am in myself and hopefully start sharing stuff with you again. And as
always, I do want to thank you all for your support. I do
love you all. I do love for receiving all the messages that you saved
me and keeping in touch with me. And hopefully the podcasts are back here
to stay and we'll start sharing more stuff with you again. So hopefully we'll
have another podcast soon. And remember if you are new to this podcast channel,
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So until next time, remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening
with Ben. Everyone. Thank you for listening to the Day's Gardening with Ben's
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