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 will explore tips, tricks and tails from the
garden and Allotment, sharing insights from ourself 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. Hey everyone, and welcome
back to Gardening with Ben for brand new episode. Well what have we been
up to at the Allotment the last few days? Well, it's absolutely chucked
it down, That's what I'll tell you. I keep posting photos on my
Instagram and Facebook in the morning saying it's an absolute gorgeous morning, the sunni
is shy, it's absolutely beautiful, the weather's fantastic, it's nice and warm,
and then what happens an hour later? It absolutely bounces it down.
But we still have managed to get jobs done outside on the allotment, and
I've managed to actually plant some seeds outside. I don't plant many things outside
before the chance of frost has passed. They don't say to plant out until
middle of May, late May if you want to not get any frost,
well, especially where I am. So what have we been planting outside?
Well, today, we've been planting some radish outside. I have grown some
in seed tray which is all ready to be planted outside, but I've also
planted some seeds outside straight into the ground so that I don't have to worry
about transplanting them or disturbing them, and hopefully get a good crop from them,
because they do grow pretty fast and they're one of the fastest growing vegetables.
And the ones that I've planted are a white variety called white icicle,
which I've never tried before. They're quite new to me, so we've planted
some of them. We've also planted some red ones, small red ones,
and we've also planted some salad variety. Difference between salad variety and red ones,
who knows, we'll only find out once we've tasted them. But yeah,
they've all gone into the ground, and obviously, like I said,
it absolutely chucked it down afterwards, so I didn't have to water them.
And I've also remembered to label them up so that I know where they are
when they start popping through the ground. And I've planted these in some of
my smaller beds down the edge because I'm going to plant some peas in the
middle of them. Now. All my peas are growing at the moment in
my shed. I've planted them in trays because rather than plant them straight into
the ground where the mice and the rats can eat them and the pigeons,
I thought i'd give them a good chance to let them grow a pretty big
before I plant them all our side where I want them to grow, and
then cover them with netting and protect them that way, so we've got all
them to plant out when it gets a few more weeks. Peas are fine
outside in the cold, and yeah, I'll be waiting until they get a
bit bigger before we do plant them all outside in the garden. Fingers crossed
they do grow well. Because I do love peas, they never make it
to the home in time. I always end up eating them when I'm down
at the plot, which I'm sure most of you actually do yourself. So
we've planted all them bradish, But what hells have we planted? Well,
we've been so busy planting more and more seeds. I'm going to have so
many plants to grow down at the allotment, and trust me, I've still
got a load more seeds left plant. So we've been planting, if I
remember rightly. We've planted a whole host of different varieties of sunflowers which I
got delivered. Different colors, different varietis, different sizes, different shapes,
so I'm looking forward to them. I grew them a few years ago and
I had some lovely red ones, black ones, yellow ones, orange ones,
teddy bear ones, so I'm looking forward to growing them again this year.
We've also planted a variety pack of different squashes and pumpkins and squashes,
so yeah, I'm looking forward to them as well, all different unusual ones
like the Turkish ones, the buttonup squash ones, jack o lanterns, all
different types of them, so we've got all them in as well. Hopefully
they'll start germinating and start popping through soon. We've also planted a host of
different varieties of climbing beans to try this year. We've planted some yellow ones,
some purple ones, and some mixed coloredly colored ones, so again we're
looking forward to the different varrietis and I just want to try different varieties stuff.
I always like trying different types stuff or new stuff and weird and wonderful
because it's good to see, and obviously I add some color to the garden
as well, trying different colored stuff as well, rather than it just being
the normal beige or green varieties of vegetables. We've also tried, for the
first time this year, some black tomatars, which are called indigo, so
they are kind of bluey blackie color, so I'm looking forward to trying them
seeing how they get on. We've just only shown them, so they might
be a bit late, but they'll soon catch up, as tomatoes do.
We've also planted some lemon cucumbers. Now they don't taste of lemon, but
they actually look like lemons, so I've posted them online and a lot of
people in my comments have been saying how nice they actually are and how tasty
they are, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing what they look like and
what they taste like. So I'll definitely keep you updated on them on here
and on the Instagram and Facebook if you don't already follow me on there.
Now we've been busy sorting out all them seeds. We've also potted up some
lettuce to grow outside of my iceberg lettuce. We've potted up some broccoli,
and we've potted up some sunflowers what we're already growing. So they're all potted
up. I've still got absolutely loads of stuff left pot up. I don't
think i'll be potting anything else up this week. I may pot up my
cauliflowers, but we'll see. We'll see what they look like. They still
look a bit weedy and a bit small at the moment, so we might
wait for them until next week. We've also been busy. We've planted some
more salad leaves, some because I do always grow the iceberg lettuce, but
I'm trying salad leaves as well this year, so then I can just snip
it off text moment have it in my sandwich. But yeah, we're trying
some salad leaves this year. And we're also trying some salad bawl mix,
which is just like lettuce type really, but the salad leaves are like all
different peppery tasting different varieties of salad leaves. But yeah, I'm looking forward
to that and I might grow some of those in my hangers this year.
I've bought some of those green felt hangers to try and grow some stuff in,
so we'll see about doing them as well. Well. Tomorrow is going
to be another day, busy day of planting season. I'm just looking at
how many seeds I've got now, as you know, I get magazines with
seeds in in and everything like that, and a lot of the stuff is
stuff that I probably wouldn't purchase to try and grow, but obviously, because
I've got the free packets of seeds, I'm going to try and grow.
And that's how I tend to find new varieties of stuff to try and grow.
If I've got it in a magazine and it's been really nice and delicious
and tasting, I'll often go out and buy again. So it does work
that they do come with all these magazines to give them a try. So
we're going to be trying some of those. But yeah, everything is coming
along pretty well at the moment, and I'm producing a lot more content for
you to see and to follow this year, because like I said last year,
I'll let you all down with not producing enough content. So I'm producing
daily little producing little blogs. So when i've been down at the allotment to
share with you from down there so you can see everything that I've been getting
up to and you can follow along with yourselves. And I hope you're enjoying
those little videos because I'm certainly enjoying making them and putting them on TikTok,
Instagram and Facebook so that you can all follow me on them and see them.
And if you do see them daily blog videos, just give them a
like and give them a comment because it does help boost them. And I'm
trying to build my audience as well this year. That's one thing I'm trying
to do as I've been stuck around the twenty one thousand mark on Facebook.
I know that's a lot of followers, but I am trying to keep growing
and keep producing the content for you. And yeah, it's really good getting
a lot of stuff as well, sent me from TikTok for me to advertise
on that, So I'm getting lots of little products and stuff to try and
share with you all and see what it's like as well. So I'm hoping
that you're enjoying all them little videos were put. Planted some wildflower seeds the
other day. What we got from Johnson's. We planted some seed bombs what
I got delivered as well. We've also got some plant food to try out
this week. What I'm going to try on my potatoes. I'm going to
sprinkle someone with potatoes. I'm also going to sprinkle somewhere. I've just planted
all my baddish seeds as well, and where I'm going to plant my peas
in a couple of weeks, so we might plant some of those and get
the ground a bit more tasty and more food in the soil for them so
that we get a crop from them. So yeah, it's good trying out
all these different little products as well. And I've got some spring summer bulbs
on the way as well, so I'm going to look forward to planting all
them. I absolutely love some of bulbs down at my allotment, so I'm
looking forward to sharing them with you. So yeah, it's going to be
another busy day down at the plot tomorrow, and I've got Friday morning down
there and then I'm back up work and I go away for a few nights
next week, so hopefully we get some more content out there for you in
a couple more podcasts, but we'll see how we get on. And I
just want to say thank you for all those that do support me and follow
me and listen to these podcasts. It really does I do appreciate all the
support that you give me as I still class myself as an amateur gardener and
every day is a learning day in the world of gardening, and it's great
seeing everybody's plots and gardens come along. So as always remember keep smiling,
keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. And that wraps up another episode
of Gardening with Ben. Thank you for joining me in this journey. Remember,
every seed play land 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.