1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,719 Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to a podcast for 2 00:00:06,839 --> 00:00:12,039 all things green and growing. I'm Ben, your allotment guide and here to 3 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:17,079 help you cultivate your garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:22,440 gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you. Each episode will 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,920 dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to make your garden and allotment thrive 6 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,679 from planting, sewing, and growing. We will share all the tips and 7 00:00:31,719 --> 00:00:37,399 add advice. We will also have regular episodes talking about what we have been 8 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:42,159 up to on the Alltment. So sit back, grab a brew and enjoy 9 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:49,840 today's episode. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening with Ben. I 10 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:55,119 just want to say a massive thank you to everybody that listened to yesterday's episode. 11 00:00:55,759 --> 00:01:00,000 The feedback that I've got from it is absolutely fantastic. Everybody was saying 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,799 how crisp it sounds, how a lot clearer it sounds, and even like 13 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:10,159 the new intro as well. So I hope you're enjoying the new crisp podcasts 14 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:15,359 brought to you from Gardening with Ben. So what have we been up to 15 00:01:15,359 --> 00:01:21,040 today? Well, it's Bank holiday Monday, everyone, It's a day when 16 00:01:21,079 --> 00:01:23,159 we get a day off, well, hopefully most people get a day off. 17 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:29,159 And yeah, I put a post on this morning saying happy Bank holiday. 18 00:01:29,239 --> 00:01:33,239 What's everybody up to today? And I had a lot of replies back 19 00:01:33,239 --> 00:01:38,120 to saying that it was raining where they are, and thankfully up north in 20 00:01:38,239 --> 00:01:44,439 Sheffield, it's been absolutely gorgeous. It's been sun is shining and yeah it's 21 00:01:44,439 --> 00:01:49,840 been boiling hot today someday en weather in fact. But we've been busy with 22 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:57,719 our allotment and I've been doing quite a bit today. I've potted up all 23 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,640 my cucumber plants into bigger pots. Some of them had been nibbled and lost 24 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,840 the leaves and there were just a stem left on them. But fingers crossed 25 00:02:06,079 --> 00:02:07,800 they might grow back, but we'll see. We'll see how well they get 26 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,960 on. But I've planted them up anyway we can give them a chance. 27 00:02:12,479 --> 00:02:16,560 If not, I'm sure we'll hopefully get some from the plants that are healthy 28 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,960 eight and growing. So we've potted all them up into big pots. They're 29 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,680 in my polytunnel. I'm not growing them outdoors. I'm going tob my polytunnel 30 00:02:23,719 --> 00:02:30,919 because the cucumbers do like hot weather and it gets really hot in my polytunnel, 31 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,319 so fingers crossed we get some great crops from them, and hopefully they'll 32 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,520 produce up to October. That's when they usually die back for the year, 33 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:43,080 so if we look after them, we can get crops all the way up 34 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,080 to October. But obviously we won't get any cucumbers for a couple of months 35 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:53,360 now while they're growing into big plants. So we've also planted some peppers as 36 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,840 well. We've potted all them up and again they're in my polytunnel. I've 37 00:02:58,879 --> 00:03:01,479 never had much look from pepper plants, so we'll give them a try. 38 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,759 We'll see how well they get on and one of these that if it fails, 39 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,479 I'll just keep trying it every year until I manage to get some even 40 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,479 though yes, it is a waste of time and money if they don't ever 41 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,919 grow, but it's the fun of it and I enjoy it. So hopefully 42 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:24,240 we'll get some peppers growing in my polytunnel. We've also been busy out in 43 00:03:24,319 --> 00:03:30,159 the garden today as I've got an issue with bind weed, and bind weed 44 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:37,719 is absolutely atrocious. It just grows everywhere and the more you dig it up, 45 00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:40,159 the more the roots end up breaking and you get more and more plants, 46 00:03:40,479 --> 00:03:44,400 you have to literally get out every single bit of route, which will 47 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,479 never happen on the plot. But we've got a lot out. But we're 48 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:52,960 still getting it down the edges of my plot, and it's starting to look 49 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,120 like a jungle bind weed grows so fast it's unbelievable how fast it grows. 50 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,000 So I've been trimming it all back and trying to get my roses back because 51 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:09,039 it tangled its whole itself all around my rose plants, and trying to untangle 52 00:04:09,039 --> 00:04:15,680 it from a forawny rose is so difficult as you're trying to unwind it, 53 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:19,879 and it's not really like you can use gloves because you need to unpeel it 54 00:04:19,879 --> 00:04:24,240 from the stems and stuff like that. And I was being so careful not 55 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:29,120 to damage the roses what are growing on it, but hopefully we'll get some 56 00:04:29,399 --> 00:04:32,680 nice looking roses on it. So we've been doing that as well. We've 57 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:38,480 also planted some more sunflowers. Yesterday, when I went shopping for my new 58 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,759 stuff for doing my podcasts on, I went out and bought some more seeds 59 00:04:42,759 --> 00:04:46,120 and I bought some sunflower seeds, and this time I planted them straight in 60 00:04:46,199 --> 00:04:50,040 the ground. I'd already started some offing pots which I've already planted out, 61 00:04:50,079 --> 00:04:55,639 but I've put some straight into the ground. I did this previously another year 62 00:04:56,199 --> 00:05:00,279 and the grew absolutely fantastic. They're absolutely beautiful. We'll keep using those pictures 63 00:05:00,319 --> 00:05:06,000 to these to this day and how beautiful they are grown. And obviously we're 64 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:11,680 growing them outdoors straight in the ground. They're a lot stronger sometimes and they 65 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,680 can withstand, so hopefully we get some great pictures from the sunflowers, because 66 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,800 you can't be a lovely looking sunflower. And the bees absolutely love them. 67 00:05:21,319 --> 00:05:26,639 They absolutely gorgeous for the bees. And at the moment, I've just posted 68 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,519 a video on my social media of the aliums on the plot. The bees 69 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:35,199 are going absolutely crazy over them at the moment. There's so many bees hanging 70 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:40,120 around, flying on them, crawling on them, getting all the nectar and 71 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,560 the pollen, and yeah, they're absolutely loving them at the moment. The 72 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,319 bes, the aliums, i mean, are one of the best things that 73 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,560 I've got growing on my plot. Yeah, you don't get many bulbs in 74 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:54,839 a pack when and they can be quite expensive, but they're so valuable for 75 00:05:54,879 --> 00:06:00,399 the bees and they absolutely adore, just crawling all over them, attracted to 76 00:06:00,439 --> 00:06:04,600 him so much, and as you can see from the video, they're just 77 00:06:04,639 --> 00:06:09,839 swarming in the bees that are out there. So we've been doing that. 78 00:06:09,959 --> 00:06:15,319 What else have we been up to today? But yeah, we've not done 79 00:06:15,399 --> 00:06:17,680 awful Well, we have done a lot, but it doesn't seem like an 80 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:24,000 awful lot because sometimes it just takes too long to get stuff done. And 81 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,600 on one of these that starts a job, sits down for a few minutes 82 00:06:27,639 --> 00:06:31,000 and carries on and sits back down again. And I just enjoy being out 83 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:38,680 in the sunshine and just enjoy being out with the nature. But it's coming 84 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,480 on good. My plot. There's a lot of work still left to do 85 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,040 on it, and it's a struggle keeping up with all the bind weed. 86 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,000 And sometimes it can be dis sartening because you put a lot of time and 87 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 effort in and then like you're not there for a few days and you come 88 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,800 back and all the weeds have grown back again. You're like, oh, 89 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,600 not again, not again. But if we didn't have the week to dig 90 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,759 up, we wouldn't enjoy it, I don't think as much, because you'd 91 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,160 just be sat there all the time. You wouldn't be getting the exercise, 92 00:07:08,199 --> 00:07:11,600 you wouldn't be getting the enjoyment, you wouldn't be getting your hands dirty, 93 00:07:12,079 --> 00:07:16,800 you'd just be sat there observing. But I love gardening. It brings so 94 00:07:16,879 --> 00:07:23,000 much pleasure to me. But hopefully, fingers crossed, we're going to be 95 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,879 back down at the plot tomorrow, hopefully getting some more seeds planted, which 96 00:07:28,079 --> 00:07:30,480 I'll keep you updated on. I'm not going to tell you what seeds I'm 97 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,240 going to be planting until tomorrow, but hopefully we'll get some more seeds planting. 98 00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:38,800 Like I say, these podcasts are going to be back up and running 99 00:07:38,839 --> 00:07:43,439 again for you. I'm hoping to bring out a video later today on my 100 00:07:43,519 --> 00:07:46,759 YouTube channel and my TikTok and my Instagram, so make sure you stay tuned 101 00:07:46,759 --> 00:07:49,879 for that. I am trying to bring back content for you all to watch 102 00:07:50,519 --> 00:07:54,319 as that is one thing that I used to do. I used to do 103 00:07:54,399 --> 00:07:58,920 lots of videos and stuff like that, so hopefully the videos will be making 104 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,680 a return. I'm just trying to get used to this new laptop. It's 105 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:07,240 a struggle. It's a Chromebook and I'm not used to using a Chromebook. 106 00:08:07,279 --> 00:08:11,639 So yeah, hopefully we'll get used to it and we'll get some videos out 107 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,600 there for you again, because I do know that you all enjoy love seeing 108 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:20,199 the content and seeing my plot as well. So thank you for listening to 109 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:24,360 today's gardening podcast. I hope you've all had a fantastic bank holiday and that 110 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,439 you've managed to get some sunshine. That is the main thing. I hope 111 00:08:28,439 --> 00:08:31,240 you've managed to get some sunshine today. So until next time, everyone, 112 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:41,600 remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with everyone. Thank 113 00:08:41,639 --> 00:08:46,399 you for joining me on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you 114 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,159 have found some useful tips and instegration show for your own gardening and a lot 115 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:56,360 more journey. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow and 116 00:08:56,519 --> 00:09:00,960 subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode. And if you 117 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,120 have a moment, I'd love for you to leave a review and share the 118 00:09:03,159 --> 00:09:09,960 podcast with fellow of gardening enthusiasts. Your support helps us growers community and continue 119 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:16,759 bringing you great content. You can also follow us on social media on every 120 00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:22,080 platform, or Gardening with Ben for daily gardening tips and days. Happy gardening, 121 00:09:22,159 --> 00:09:26,759 and until next time, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and 122 00:09:26,919 --> 00:09:28,879 keep gardening with Ben.