Welcome to Gardening with Ben, the podcast where we dig into the soil of
our gardens and the depths of our green funds. I'm your host, Ben,
here to guide you through the joints of gardening, from sowing seeds to
reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode, we'll explore tips, tricks and tails from
the garden and allotment, sharing insights from ourselves and stories from our own back
garden adventures. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just getting your hands dirty for
the first time, there's something here for everyone, So grab your brew and
gardening gloves and let's get growing with Gardening with Ben. Hello, and welcome
back to a brand new episode of Gardening with Ben. Well, it's been
a few weeks since our last episode. I do apologize I have been busy,
but we have been cracking on with the allotment. Now I've got a
lot to fill you in on what we've been getting up to down at the
plot and what we're going to be doing. It has been getting warmer,
he says that as it's going to start getting colder towards the end of the
week, but hopefully we will be getting lots done down at the plot in
the meantime. So what have we been up to recently. Well, I've
purchased my Gardener's World ticket ready to go and see that which went to see
last year and it was absolutely amazing. It's the first time that I'd ever
been last year, so I definitely whipped up a ticket to see it again
this year. And it were great to meet so many different individuals from the
gardening world and some of the people that I know from seeing online and sharing
their tips and advice. It were great to meet up with them and see
them in action and their show gardens what they've done. So yeah, it
has been a busy week down at the allotment recently, and like I said,
it has been getting warmer, so the bulbs have started coming up and
started showing a lot more and this speeding up with the growth now and hopefully
Fingers Crossed in a couple of weeks will start to have loads of flowers out.
We've already got the loads of crookses out which I've shared a load of
photos on my Instagram of them recently, and I've also shared a video today
of my first bee of the year that I've seen down at the allotment and
it was there having all the pollen out of the crookers. And that is
why I always say why it is important that we should plant spring bulbs on
our allotments for the bees at this time of year. So that is one
of the main reasons, and I just want to share that with you.
And it was like the bee crawling on the crookers, getting all the pollen
and the nectar from the crookus itself and it was just covered in pollen.
You could see it all over it. But yeah, that is something that
I didn't want to share with you all today. So we've been busy down
at the allotment way of getting things ready for this year. It's a big,
long slog, but we're getting there. We're getting there. We're getting
absolutely loads done and every day I'm doing loads more down there. This past
week, what I've been concentrating on is doing all my fencing downside of the
plot because a lot of it had collapsed from the wind damage and from posts
that had rotted and yeah, just a bit of wear and tear really,
so it was a case of getting all that fastened back up, which I've
done one side today. I've finished that one side off down my plot,
which I did share a picture of it partially done last week, so that
i'll be ready for painting this coming springtime. I'm not gonna be painting it
yet because it'll poly just wash off, and the paint does wash off eventually,
so yeah, we'll be getting that painted in the next few weeks.
But i need to fill the border in now, because I've put some edging
down the side to stop all the soil and the compost falling down onto my
plot neighbor, because my plot is a bit higher than the neighbor's plot,
so it does tend to fall off. So I've put all proper edging down
the side, and yeah, I'm going to fill it full of compost and
I'm hoping to get absolutely loaded. Glad he realized the plant down the side.
And then I'm going to plant a load of wires flowers down the side
as well, so that it looks attractive and the bees come and the insects
and it'll look an absolute picture. And then next at the end of the
year, I'll be planting loads of spring bulbs down that side, because there's
not many spring bulbs in there at the moment, so I want that side
to look absolutely fantastic next springtime. And the same goes with the other side
of my plot. I need to sort out all the fencing on that side,
so that's one job that I need to do in the next few weeks.
But we're getting there. We're getting there slowly, and I've got all
my paths covered now. They've got all wood chipped down so it's nice to
walk on. And yeah, it's a whole level now, which is a
bonus because it won't level before I've sorted out all the paving slabs. That
all the paved paths are sorted, they're all looking fantastic. I've still got
all the beds to dig over, which won't take long. I think I've
got like sixteen to eighteen beds, so we've got to dig all them over,
and I'm gonna really give them a good digging over this year. And
I'm gonna buy myself a sieve and sive out all the stones in the rubble
just to make it a bit more nice and better in the soil and get
rid of all them stones what are in there, and then I'm going to
feed them. I'm gonna put some more compost in so yeah, I've got
a lot to get done in the shape of the beds, but we're on
track for getting it all ready for the springtime. I've never been so on
tracking my life on my plot. Usually I'm rushing around at last minute before
I'm planting my stuff out. But this year, my plot's going to look
absolutely fantastic. And if it doesn't, please hold me to that because I've
put so much time and effort into my plot this year that I do want
to have good results down at the plot and just to show it off and
show what you can grow and teach other people to grow stuff and how easy
it is as well. And I've also purchased some stuff off of online which
I'm looking forward to come in when thing's come today to my parents and my
mum like what I've you ordered. It's massive box, so you'll have to
wait and see for what I've ordered. Hopefully we'll get some good results in
what I've ordered. But yeah, I've started creating a lot more content as
well for you, which I said i'd do this year because I've not been
doing much content last year. So I've started doing all the videos again.
I've started doing all the pictures and sharing stuff online with everybody. But it's
one step at a time. It does take a lot of time to do
all this stuff for you, and I'm trying to keep up to date with
it. I have been sacking with the podcast over the last couple of weeks,
but I just can't wait now for spring to start, so in all
these seeds and hopefully once this cold weather does pass in the next couple of
weeks, hopefully we'll start to get the sunshine and start to get the warm
weather. And then obviously one of the first things on the list what will
be planting or a potatoes, And again I'm going to be planting them in
boxes this year, as I did that last year. And yeah, hopefully
we're going to get a lot of stuff planted and going on, and I'm
making use of all the space this year. It's going to be absolutely jam
packed full of different vegetables of all different types and different varieties and just showcasing
what you can do, how you can do it, and the journey of
the allotment year. And that's my plan for the allotment this year. So
fingers crossed we do get stuff done down there, and I've got a lot
to share with you. We will be going back to sharing some more tips
and in these podcasts coming up. Over the next few weeks, We'll be
getting quite a few more episodes recorded for you, so make sure you do
hit that follow, hit that subscribe button, and yeah, hopefully we're going
to be sharing a lot more with you. And thank you for listening to
today's episode. It has been a short episode, but I just thought i'd
bring it up to date with what we've been getting up to, so we'll
see you again next time round. So remember, keep smid, keep shining,
and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone, 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 sanctra. Happy gardening, and see you in the next episode.
Remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.