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Hello, and welcome to Gardening with
Ben, the award winning gardening podcast as

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voted for by the Grow your Own
magazine and buy my followers and buy my

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00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:15,720
listeners. I hope that you have
all click that subscribe button. If you

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for Gardening with Ben and follow me
on all my social media's. So sit

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back, relax, grab a boot, and let's enjoy today's Gardening Podcast with

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Ben. Well, everybody, guess
who's back. We are back. Gardening

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with Ben is back once again.
Yes, it has been since January since

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we have recorded a new podcast for
you, and I to apologize for a

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starter because I've not really said about
why I had disappeared really and yeah,

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it's been a very funny year altogether, and that's just not with my allotment

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in life, everything that's been in
general. Because I'm sure, if you

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like me up in the North,
we have not had a good summer this

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year whatsoever. If you're looking back
at last year's summer, we had a

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drought, what was absolutely roasting out
it within the forty degrees as and we

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had a water shortage and a drought
on and this year has been the absolute

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opposite. It has not stopped raining
whatsoever at all down on my allotment,

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and the only days it has stopped
raining is when I've been working. So

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ends why I've not been down at
the allotment much this year. And I

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think it all goes back towards the
beginning of the year real well during winter

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period really because I couldn't get down
to the allotment much to do all the

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winter jobs which I planned on doing
for some reason or over I think it

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was really called winter, so I
couldn't get much done down there. I

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had big plans for over the winter
period as well, because the sort of

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things that I wanted to get done
was I wanted to get all myst shed

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rebuilt. If you remember last during
the winter period, will towards end at

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winter my shed collapsed and yeah,
it just went to a mess. So

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I had got nowhere to grow all
my seats in and it would during one

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at storms it absolutely destroys a lot
of it. So I lost the end

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piece on my shad so it opened
to all the vulnerabilities. And usually in

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the winter period, I use that
as a time to do any repairs and

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stuff like that what I want to
do at the allotment. So basically I

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got nowhere to grow any of my
seeds this year. I've obviously got my

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polytonnel, but my polytunnel skins ripped, so I need to repair that as

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well, So that's another job that
I need to do. And I think

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that things sort of got on top
of my It's hard when you're sharing stuff

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on social media all the time that
you feel like you've got to be perfect

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and you've got to show off what
you're doing. And I feel like I've

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let people down by not showing what
I do on my allotment this year that

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I've not been on my Facebook page
going live on it, I've not been

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on my Instagram. I'm showing pictures
of it regularly and showing what's happening down

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at the allotment. I've not been
doing these podcasts because I've not been doing

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much on my allotment or growing much
this year. So I feel like I

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have let people down in a sense. I did post a post on Facebook

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recently on Instagram saying that I've been
away this year from posting stuff and I

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just had a break from it all
because I've had a bad year on the

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Allotment and I didn't think that I
could share stuff with you if from down

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there this year. But yeah,
it's good to have a break as well

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from social media sometimes and obviously the
expectations of doing this regularly for you to

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listen to it's also another thing to
do. So hopefully we are going to

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start coming back now with the podcast. So I'm just wanting to say thank

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you for all the kind messages what
people have sent my people have sent me

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a load to messages saying, oh
we're missing you, We're missing Yeah,

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when are you're coming back? Then? We love listening to your podcast when

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we're down at the Allotment or when
we're walking, or when we're going to

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sleep. Yes, I do help
people get to sleep by talking on the

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podcasts. But yeah, I do
want to say thank you to everybody that

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does support me. It does mean
the world to me. And obviously,

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like I say, everything that I
get from the podcast goes back towards the

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Allotment work, So yeah, that
has been this year. It's been a

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pretty rubbish year and I'm wanting it
to get to the end and start again

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next year from scratched down at the
Allotment, and hopefully next year we're going

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to be having a better year down
there, down at the allotment. So

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you might want to know what exactly
have grown down at the Allotment this year,

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because I've obviously not been sharing it
with you all on social media so

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and through the podcast. So we
have grown a few bits and bobs.

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We've got a few things growing,
not much obviously, as like I said,

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I couldn't grow anything from seeds really
down at the Allotment this year.

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So we have managed to obviously grow
on my fruit because obviously that's in the

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ground anyway. It's not something that
I do need to start from seed.

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So as food has done really really
well this year. As I've said,

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there's been a load of rain down
at the allotment this year, so I've

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got I've had lots of strawberries growing. They're all now starting to send off

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all the runners for the plants that
we can plant up for next year to

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fill all the gaps in so we're
getting all them sorted, but we'll talk

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about how to start your runners off
in another podcast. Then we've obviously got

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we've had as raspberries, they've done
really well. As autumn raspberries, they've

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done well. As rue barber has
done fantastic because obviously ruebarb are made up

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of water, so the more it
rains, the better the rubo crop you'll

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get. But this is around the
time of year when it starts to die

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off ready for next year. So
soon we'll let it alder our back so

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that all the nutrients grow back into
go back into the rhubarb crown ready to

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produce for next year. Then we've
got as cooking apples, we've got as

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apple eating apples, and we've got
as pears they're oldering well. And as

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plum tree, we didn't get no
plums this year because I did give it

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a good chopping back last year,
so I was expecting not to get any

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plums this year, so I'm not
disappointed about that. But hopefully we should

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get a good crop next year on
the plum tree fingers crossed. And then

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we've got as faunless blackberries. Now
these are just starting to fruit, so

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hopefully we'll get some delicious blackberries coming
on them. But they seem to have

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grown so fast, all the long
stems on. Wow, this and growing

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really really fast, So hopefully we
get some good crops as well coming up

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in the next few years. I
didn't realize how far they actually grow,

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so we need to get them all
fastened up and tied up and sorted.

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And then obviously we've got us new
plants. What we've planted. We planted

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some grape vines this year. Again, we won't get no grapes this year,

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but hopefully in a few years time
we may be able to train them

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and get some grapes growing on the
allotment. Then we've got our logan berries.

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They were only planted last year,
so we've not got no logan berries

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on them. I think I've got
one one logan berry on my loganberries,

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so hopefully in a couple of years
time we should get some of them.

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And yeah, everything from the fruit
side of things has grown really well.

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So what vegetables have we got planted
this year? Well, this year I

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planted my potatoes in boxes rather than
in the ground, because a lot of

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the times when I'm digging them up, I tend to chopping to him and

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I ruined them so and I don't
always manage to get them out of the

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ground. So we've tried growing them
in boxes this year, so we've got

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to harvest them. They should be
ready for harvesting now because the plants have

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died back, so we can see
what potators we've got growing there. We

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have got some lettuce growing that's growing
really well. We've not grown icebergs this

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year. We've just grown the leaf
lettuce what I bought in a multi pack

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from one of the garden centers,
so we've got some of that. We

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have got sweet corn. My sweet
corn's growing really well. I'm really pleased

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with how well that's growing and how
well it's looking. It's looking really healthy

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again. I grew the plants from
the garden center plants what I bought because

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I couldn't start them off myself.
But fingers Crossed will be growing all as

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seeds as selves next year, so
hopefully we'll get some good sweet corn on

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our crops. What else have we
planted. Oh, we've just harvested some

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peat roots today. And if you
check out my Instagram, you'll be able

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to see the photo of one of
my beat roots that I picked today.

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We're absolutely massive now that has done
really while, I'm surprised with how while

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it's done. Then we've got some
leaks in. They're growing well and tomatoes.

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I'm growing my tomatoes outside this year. Obviously, like I said,

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we've not had much sun here in
the north, so I don't expect them

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to ripen yet. Hopefully they will
still ripen and they will get some red

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tomatoes on them. Fingers crossed.
We grew them from seed from out of

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actual tomatoes that we bought from the
supermarket. This year, I tried that

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for a change, rather than buying
the package of seeds, I just went

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to the supermarket and bought a tub
of mixed tomatas, scraped the seeds out,

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planted them, and all the seeds
grew. So hopefully it works.

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But we'll see fingers crossed the plant
to healthy. They've got to tomatoes on

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them. We just need them to
start writing and then we'll see what they

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taste like, and you never know, we might keep on doing it like

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that if they've grown well. I
decided not to plant them in the polytonnel

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this year because, like I said, last year, they were a drought

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so I thought if we have a
hot summer again, at least they're outside

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and they'll keep moist in the ground
better than they would do in the polytonnel.

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They wouldn't dry out as fast as
they would do if they're indoors.

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And obviously, like say, it's
rainloads. So they've done it really well.

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We're growing and we've got lots of
tomatoes on them. So that's the

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only vegetables I've got growing this year. I've not got much growing whatsoever.

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I've not got my pumpkins, I've
not got my cause yet, I've not

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got my iceberg lettuce, I've not
got my squashed this year. I've not

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got the runner beans. But yeah, it's been a very quiet year down

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on the allotment this year for me. But we never know, fingers crossed,

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it might be about a year next
year. And today I've just started

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building my shed back up with my
dad. He says he's going to help

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me do it. So we've done
quite a bit today, got quite a

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bit done. So we'll have to
see how we get on with it and

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see if we can get a shed
built and cleared out ready for next year

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to start all the seats off,
but then think what I've got to do

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for next year. I finds somewhere
to buy the seeds because I always get

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them from Wilkinson's, and while Wilkers
now they're called, was called, obviously

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the sad news that it's shutting,
and that is where I get all my

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garden stuff from and it's been a
very valuable shop to me over the years

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because it's the cheapest place to buy
the seeds and I do get good crops

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from him. So we're gonna have
to look elsewhere, but yeah, we'll

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look around. If anybody's got any
good suggestions, send me a message,

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let me know where to get them
from, and yeah, I'll be happy

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with that. So that is a
bit of a catch up of what I've

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been up to down at the allotment
this last year, well the last eight

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months really, but yeah, I've
got a lot of things to do,

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and like I said, it's been
a struggle, not always good in myself,

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but yeah, I try to keep
smiling, try to keep positive,

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and thankfully it's not in that bad
estate of my plot. Hopefully over the

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winter period this year we can get
it looking back to how it was and

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hopefully make some my improvements to it
ready for next year and make it as

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maintenance free as possible, because that's
the thing I'm trying to do. He's

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trying to make it as easy as
possible, have proper paths down rather than

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it just being black membering. I'm
having paving slabs down for nice paths so

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that it's easier to walk on.
And yeah, you never know. Hopefully

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over the winter period we can get
it Lucky back to ship shape and get

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it all sorted ready to start sharing
stuff again on social media with you all

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next year. And like I do
say, I want to apologize for not

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doing any podcasts for the last eight
months or Instagram post on my plot or

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Facebook lives. I just wanted to
spend some time getting myself back to where

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I am in myself and hopefully start
sharing stuff with you again. And as

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always, I do want to thank
you all for your support. I do

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love you all. I do love
for receiving all the messages that you saved

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me and keeping in touch with me. And hopefully the podcasts are back here

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to stay and we'll start sharing more
stuff with you again. So hopefully we'll

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have another podcast soon. And remember
if you are new to this podcast channel,

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click that follow button, click that
subscribe button, and then you'll get

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notice of all podcasts on this channel. There's about two hundred and odd fifty

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podcasts on this channel, so make
sure you're go and check them out.

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So until next time, remember keep
smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening

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with Ben. Everyone. Thank you
for listening to the Day's Gardening with Ben's

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podcast. I hope that you've enjoyed
it. If you haven't subscribed to this

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channel, please do click that subscribe
button and feel free to share it as

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well on your Instagram stories. All
you have to do if you're listening on

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Spotify is click the share button and
you can share it straight to your Instagram

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story for all your followers to listen
to and help build my listeners up as

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00:15:41,919 --> 00:15:46,000
well and get more people listening to
it. Feel free to check out all

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my social media's Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, and TikTok. Yes I'm on

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00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:56,919
TikTok go check it out. Check
out my dance say Gardening with Ben and

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00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:02,159
check out the link as well in
the discription of this podcast where you can

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00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:07,000
check out my Gardening t shirt shop
where I sell funny t shirts with all

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00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,600
different funny logos and designs on and
feel free to support me by purchasing one,

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and all the money obviously goes back
into my allotment where I can share

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more gardening tips with your So until
next time, remember keep smiling, keep

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gardening, and keep listening to Gardening
with Ben's podcasts