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 --> 00:00:26,960 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 allotment. So sit back, grab a brew and enjoy 9 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:50,520 today's episode. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening with Ben for a 10 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,280 brand new episode. Yes, it's been quite a while since our last episode. 11 00:00:55,679 --> 00:00:59,079 I've had a bit of a rest. Sometimes it can be a bit 12 00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:03,560 overwhelming according so many episodes at once, but we've had a little rest. 13 00:01:03,759 --> 00:01:07,480 And yeah, we've been pretty busy down at our allotment for the last few 14 00:01:07,519 --> 00:01:11,879 days. While we're being off work. It's been absolutely gorgeous. Whether the 15 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,159 last couple of days we've had a bit of rain, but not much, 16 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:21,040 but yeah, we've had absolutely glorious sunshine, which always means that we need 17 00:01:21,079 --> 00:01:25,120 to do lots of water in and get it, keep it hydrated, and 18 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,560 keep everything growing as well as the weeds. The weeds certainly love the sunshine 19 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:36,400 and the water. But yeah, the produce is coming along fantastic now and 20 00:01:36,439 --> 00:01:41,359 I'm going to be sharing some pictures of what I've been harvesting. I've harvested 21 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,799 all the rest of my potatoes today and they look absolutely beautiful. They look 22 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,840 absolutely delicious. I can't wait to try them in the air fire tonight and 23 00:01:51,959 --> 00:01:57,280 have some chippies fresh from the allotment. It is lovely when you like harvest 24 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:01,239 it that day then eat them that night, and the freshness of how well 25 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,239 they taste, it's absolutely phenomenal and you can't beat it. You can't beat 26 00:02:06,239 --> 00:02:13,439 the fresh produce from the same day's harvest. And we've also harvested some runner 27 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,759 beans which look absolutely gorgeous. I need to learn how to cook runner beans. 28 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:21,639 I've never cooked runner beans before. I'm learning more and more stuff every 29 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:30,039 single day. And we've also harvested some they're like purple French beans, by 30 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:34,120 the lots of it, purple or black French beans, and they look interesting. 31 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,599 What they'll taste like, I don't know, but we'll have to again 32 00:02:37,759 --> 00:02:39,960 learn how to cook them and taste them. You probably think, well, 33 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,080 it's easy to cook the you just don't shove them in a pan. But 34 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:49,680 yet I'm no cook and every day is a learning day for me when it 35 00:02:49,759 --> 00:02:53,280 comes to cooking. Give me a garden in any day. Man, You'm 36 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,759 not a perfect gardener either, so so yeah, we'll give them a try 37 00:02:57,879 --> 00:03:01,439 and see how well they come out. So we'll keep your posted on them. 38 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,360 So what else have we been up to down at the allotment. What 39 00:03:06,439 --> 00:03:09,400 We've been doing a lot of clearing some of my beds, what we're growing 40 00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:17,639 as some of the beds I finished harvesting, like my lettuce. My lettuce 41 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,840 had gone, it had had enough now, it had got to the time 42 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,000 when it's passed its cell by day. So we dug all that up shoved 43 00:03:25,039 --> 00:03:30,879 in as compost heap. We also dug over our pea beds what I've had 44 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:36,080 all my peasing. So that were three of the beds ready for my late 45 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,319 crop. What I'm going a plant. I've got some kell done wonder peased 46 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:44,280 plan. They're currently just shooting through in the seed trays in my shed at 47 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,479 the moment, so in the next week or two we'll probably be planting those 48 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,919 out, so stay tuned for that. We've also got some more runner beans 49 00:03:51,919 --> 00:03:54,360 to plant out. I've planted a lake crop of runner beans as well. 50 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:59,360 We've already obviously got runner beans growing, but I've planted a lake crop as 51 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,120 well, so they should be coming along pretty fine as well. They're all 52 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:09,080 popping through in the seed tray, so we'll be planting those out as well 53 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,280 soon. And obviously, as you know, runner beans do grow fast. 54 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,399 Once they start growing, they'll speed speed up, speed up the canes, 55 00:04:17,439 --> 00:04:21,199 and up the netting, so we'll soon be having runner beans off them. 56 00:04:21,639 --> 00:04:26,879 And obviously runner beans you can harvest all the way up to October, possibly 57 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,439 November, depending on the weather situation. When we get the first frost, 58 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,920 that will be when they kill them off, so we can be harvesting absolute 59 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,040 alerts. So we do need to learn how to cook runner beans if we're 60 00:04:39,079 --> 00:04:46,000 going to be harvesting lots of them coming up. We've also been busy just 61 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,120 like tidying up and doing a bit of pruning and tidying up some of my 62 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:55,040 roses and tidying up some of our borders. What I've got growing, and 63 00:04:55,759 --> 00:05:00,399 yeah, just doing the general maintenance as well. And it's because obviously I 64 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:05,680 do watch videos and everything all the time for tips and advice as I'm always 65 00:05:05,759 --> 00:05:12,319 learning as well. And one video that I watched this week was Alan tich 66 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:19,519 Marsh talking about pruning roses back while deadheading roses back, and basically it's a 67 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,800 climbing rose that he was doing, and climbing roses tend to have like three 68 00:05:24,879 --> 00:05:30,079 or four flowers per stalk growing on them, and what he said is that 69 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:39,040 rather than deadhead and just chop off where the rosebud was, you need to 70 00:05:39,079 --> 00:05:43,959 go back to the stalk to where it's about pencil thick. So you can 71 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,480 end up chopping off up to a foot off the rose, basically off the 72 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:58,439 rose branch, as he said that it gives the rose more momentum to bush 73 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,680 out and all to provide more blooms on the roses, and it makes it 74 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,879 better. Rather than just pruning off the flower head, you need to go 75 00:06:06,959 --> 00:06:11,680 back about a foot to where it's a pencil thick on the stalk. So 76 00:06:12,079 --> 00:06:15,560 I've learned something new this week, and I do love sharing tips that I've 77 00:06:15,639 --> 00:06:21,279 learned from other people. As sharing helps everybody, so hopefully we'll get more 78 00:06:21,319 --> 00:06:26,319 and more rose blooms. So I'm going to go around next time i'm off 79 00:06:26,439 --> 00:06:30,600 and do as he says and pruning them back to about a pencil thick from 80 00:06:30,759 --> 00:06:35,160 where the flowers have ended. So hopefully, fingers crossed it comes back better. 81 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:40,519 If not, I'm blaming Alan chich Marsh. But yeah, I saw 82 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,399 that video this week and I thought i'd share it with you what I've learned. 83 00:06:45,319 --> 00:06:47,959 So I've done that, and obviously we've been watering and watering and watering 84 00:06:48,079 --> 00:06:54,279 absolutely low to watering. And I've also had a bit of a tide up 85 00:06:54,319 --> 00:06:57,199 in my shed. I don't usually do it till the winter time, but 86 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,160 it was raining one day last week and I thought I'm going to start tidying 87 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,199 it up. And I have a lot of trouble with bind weed on my 88 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,480 plot, and however much I try, I'll never get rid of it, 89 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:13,000 not unless there's a miracle and it just disappears overnight. But I don't think 90 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,839 that. But yeah, I have bind weed growing everywhere, and it grows 91 00:07:16,879 --> 00:07:20,759 all inside my shed as obviously I don't do much digging in there. It's 92 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,959 all black member and at bottom, so I can't get all the roots out 93 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,759 and everything like that unless I had to take all the flooring and do that, 94 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,519 but I'm not exactly going to do that. So we've been clearing out 95 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:38,360 a lot of our bind weed from the shed, which is a job in 96 00:07:38,399 --> 00:07:43,279 itself, but it's certainly looking a lot better, and hopefully it'll be a 97 00:07:43,319 --> 00:07:46,000 job that I don't have to spend all winter doing tidy and all my shed 98 00:07:46,079 --> 00:07:47,680 up. So I'm going to try and do a bit each week and get 99 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,319 it all ship shape, and hopefully this winter I might actually give it a 100 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,959 lick of paint, because last year I obviously spent all the time rebuilding it 101 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,360 all and getting it back to how it should look and revamping it all and 102 00:08:01,399 --> 00:08:05,839 putting all new shelving up everything like that. We spent all winter doing that. 103 00:08:05,839 --> 00:08:09,079 That was one of my biggest jobs that I've done for a long time 104 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,319 down at the allotment, so we spent all winter doing that. So hopefully 105 00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:16,439 this winter I may actually give it a lick of paint and tig it up 106 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,399 and make it look more attractive on the inside, and we may look at 107 00:08:20,399 --> 00:08:24,759 that bind weeding the floor in. Eventually it's not top of my priority, 108 00:08:24,839 --> 00:08:28,199 but it is a priority to get it sorted, so we'll keep an eye 109 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,240 on that and see if we get to do that. But yeah, I've 110 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,120 also obviously been filming some YouTube videos as well as I've not posted any YouTube 111 00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:39,399 videos for a while, and they'll be available on my YouTube channel. If 112 00:08:39,399 --> 00:08:43,279 you've not checked it out, go and check it out. It's called Gardening 113 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,519 with Ben. They'll be popping on for the next few days. We've done 114 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,960 an allotment tour video today so you can have a look around my plot, 115 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,480 see what's growing, what's not growing, have a look how it's all coming 116 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,840 along. And yeah, just sharing how things are getting on down at the 117 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,840 atment so that you can all have a nosy around and see what I'm actually 118 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,399 talking about. And you can also see all the seeds what I've got growing 119 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,159 down there as well and how well they're all coming on for July. And 120 00:09:11,279 --> 00:09:16,080 one of my videos is recently, what I posted about ten days ago is 121 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,879 doing absolutely fantastic. It's getting loads of views. That's talking about all the 122 00:09:20,919 --> 00:09:24,759 seeds that you can plant in July. So I'm going to do another video 123 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,639 at the beginning of August talking about all the seeds that you can sew and 124 00:09:28,759 --> 00:09:31,360 grow in August. So we're going to do that each month I think now 125 00:09:31,799 --> 00:09:37,320 as obviously that is a topic what people do like to see and see what's 126 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,480 growing and what you can still go down at the allotment and in the garden 127 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,960 in August, so we're going to do that each and every month for your 128 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,960 all to watch. So yeah, we have been very busy down at the 129 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:54,159 Allotment. I don't think there's anything else to report back on, but yeah, 130 00:09:54,399 --> 00:09:58,240 have a look at that videos and check them out. And obviously if 131 00:09:58,279 --> 00:10:01,120 you're not following my Instagram account, give that a followers well, because that's 132 00:10:01,159 --> 00:10:05,679 why I share all my photos. Again, that's called Gardening with Ben. 133 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:11,279 And hopefully we'll get some more podcasts recorded for you all to listen to. 134 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,440 But we're back at work tomorrow, so we'll be very busy again. But 135 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,480 I hope that you've not missed me too much. And if you've not subscribed 136 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,919 to this podcast channel, please do subscribe to it. Like it. You 137 00:10:22,919 --> 00:10:28,559 can also leave comments, I believe in certain countries now not in the UK. 138 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,080 I don't think we can leave comments on the podcast yet. You can 139 00:10:31,159 --> 00:10:35,080 leave questions and answers, but we can't leave comments yet, but feel free 140 00:10:35,519 --> 00:10:39,080 to give it a like and share it with friends and family. So until 141 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:43,360 next time, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with 142 00:10:43,399 --> 00:10:52,120 Ben. Everyone, thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening with 143 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,679 Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips and instegration for your own 144 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:01,120 gardening and a lot of the journey. If you have enjoyed day's episode, 145 00:11:01,279 --> 00:11:05,399 please make sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a 146 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,480 new episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love for you to 147 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,799 leave a review and share the podcast. But fellow gardening enthusiasts, your support 148 00:11:13,919 --> 00:11:20,919 helps us throw this community and continue bringing you great content. We can also 149 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,480 follow us on social media on every platform the Whole Gardening with Ben for daily 150 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,960 gardening tips and mondays. Happy gardening, and until next time, remember, 151 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,799 keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.