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 joys of gardening, from sowing seeds to
reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode will explore tips, tricks, and tales 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 a brand new episode of Gardening with Ben Well. The weather
has changed absolutely at the moment, and long may it last. It's been
like sixteen seventeen degrees in weather today. I saw the forecast yesterday and I
thought, yes, please be like this, Please be like this. I
want to start my seeds off. We need to get them started. I
feel like I'm behind because I look at old photos when they pop up and
stuff like that, and I'm thinking I should have stuff planted by now,
I should have it planted. But I hadn't got any seeds planted. The
only seeds that I'd got planted were my carrot seeds, which I've shown recently
on one of my tiktop videos. But yeah, my carrot seeds are germinating,
they're popping through, they're taking sprout and fingers. I'm holding my fingers
crossed so that I get some carrots this year because I've never had any success
with carrots. I'm growing them in a raised bed planter which I purchased online,
and yeah, we will see if they grow or not. At the
moment, I'm keeping them in the polytunnel where it's nice and warm, and
the raised bed container has a cover over it as well, so it's even
warmer. So hopefully it will speed them on and get them growing fast.
And yeah, hopefully we're going to get a fantastic crop of carrots. Have
to make sure you stay tuned for that and see how we get on.
But if you're not following my Instagram or my Facebook page, do give them
a follower and also a TikTok page. They're all gardening with ben but yeah,
you will find them. So did we get any seeds planted today?
Well, yes, we did. We went to the Range to buy all
our seeds this year. Usually it's Wilkers, but obviously Wilkers has shut and
new shops are reopening again, but the Range sell all the Wilcose seeds,
so I purchased all my seeds from there. And yeah, we have got
started in sewing all our seeds. And I'm one of these people that are
eager to get them all started. And I've started my tomato seeds off.
And how I've started my tomato seeds off this year is the same way that
I've done them last year. Last year I got some tomatoes from the supermarket,
some nice tasting ones who are small cherry ones which were yellow, red
and orange. And what I did with the last year is I cut them
in half, scoop the seeds out, put them straight into soil and they're
all germinated and we had a fantastic crop and grew them outside first time,
and I was happy with how they tasted and they all ripened and I didn't
get no diseases on them or anything like that. And the reason why I
grew them outside is because the year before we'd had a heat wave and I
struggled to keep up with water in them, and I thought if they're outside,
there's more moisture in the ground for them to get hold of and get
growing. And yes, we had a fantastic crop. So I thought I'll
do that again this year. So I bought the exact same ones again this
year, and we've cut them in half and we have tucked the seeds out,
We've put them in soil, and we have germinated, hopefully get them
to germinate with covered them with cling film to keep them moist and warm.
And they're in my greenhouse, which is unheated. I don't have a heated
greenhouse. It's unheated, and I still managed to get them to Germany.
So if you're worrying about whether it needs to be heated or not, my
greenhouse is unheated and I've grown them in there for the past few years and
had plenty of success. So unheated greenhouses are fine. Obviously, if they're
heated, they will speed it up, but I don't have a heater and
I wouldn't like to helive a heater on an unmanned alopment. And yeah,
we get a good crop from that. So we've got all that growing and
I've been out and bought all my seeds. I've got my beetroo, I've
got my lettuce, I've got my cauliflowers. I've got my cabbages. I've
got my radish, I've got my sweet cor I've got my cucumber, I've
got my peppers, I've got my calls yets, I've got my pumpkins,
I've got my squash. I'm trying to think of other things. And then
I've got some sunflowers and culundola and some asters planted. I've probably got a
lot more other seeds than that, but those are the ones that I have
remembered. But yeah, we've got all them planted today, and if you've
got me on Instagram, you can see the photo of them all planted today.
There's still a lot more seeds left that I do need to get planted
and get started. I need to start my peas off. That is another
thing I need to get started. So hopefully we'll get them up and money
next time I run my a lotment. But next for the next four days
I'm going to be working, so unfortunately, I won't be able to get
them planted for a bit. But I want to plant them straight into the
ground, and I don't know. I'm thinking do I plant them straight into
the ground because we do have rats, we do have miles, we do
have squirrels, and they will all eat them, and I don't want to
lose them all. As soon as they start shooting through, that's when they
start eating them, and they eat all the crops and the sprouts coming off
them. I'm still undecided yet on whether I actually sew them into the ground
or sew them in pots first to get them to a good decent size.
But we'll keep thinking about it. Well, I've got four days to think
about it, whether I plant them into the ground or whether I start them
off in first. And that is one of the usual things that I do
with my runner beans. I start them off in pots, get them to
a good size, and then I plant them all outside to protect them from
the small animals. But we won't be planting runner beans till April. April
time is the time for planting runner beans, so we don't need to buy
them yet. I'll be purchasing them closer to the time, and I'll also
be buying some climbing beans, which I need to buy. They're not ready
to be planted till April yet. I was reading all the packets as I
was picking them up. It's had aple on them, so I don't need
to buy them yet. But yeah, we have got a lot of stuff
growing and this is an exciting bit. So we've got all them in trays,
we've got more water, we've got more covered with cling form. I've
put labels on them all. Yes, I've remembered to put the labels on.
I made sure that. And I've used a label printer as well this
year rather than actually writing on tags. So if you're on TikTok, do
give it a watch and you'll see the label printer which I've purchased, and
I've also put the link into that as well, so gardening with Ben on
TikTok, I've shared a little video of the label printer that I've purchased,
and it's no inking it. It's a firmal printer, so it burns it
onto the label and you can just keep charging it up. But it doesn't
take batteries, so hopefully they will stay on. If not, I'll lose
all my labels off them and I'll not know what's in it all. So
hopefully over the next few weeks. If it stays warmer, the laws start
germinating. And this is why I use the winter period as a time to
improve all my plot, do all the little jobs that need doing, and
getting it all ready, because the springtime is a busy time. Like sawing
all the seeds today, it took literally all morning and all afternoon. It
took forever, and I've still not planted all my seeds yet. I've still
got to learn more left plant and it can be time consuming, and it'll
get even worse when I'm having to start watering them all. Once i have
to take all the clean for them off and they start growing, I have
to keep watering them all every day, and then when they're big enough,
I'll have to transplant them all into individual pots and then water them and keep
them growing. So yeah, it is a busy time. So this is
why I always say about doing all them jobs in the winter time. But
today I managed to sit down in my brand new chair and my allotment and
just take stock of everything that I've done over this last few months down at
the plot and all the money I've spent on it. Yes, I have
spent a lot of money on it, but like I say, all these
podcasts go back into funding it and improving it. And I've planted so many
spring bulbs. My neighbor and my plot said to me how beautiful it smell.
He could smell it on his plot all the higher sims. The fragrance
was just wafted everywhere and it just looks absolutely amazing. And even I had
a visit to come down one of my friends to my plot that had not
been down for a couple of years, and she says, you've gone posh
this year. Haven't you wear a plot Ben? And I said, yes,
it's gone a lot posture this year. I've got all my wood chip
down on my paths and all around my beds and around my fruit areas or
wood chipps. I've got all my paving slabs down and it's all neat and
tidy. It all looks really good down there. And I've put so much
time and effort, and I'm using it to show you what can be done
on an allotment site and what can be grown, and how to look after
it and improve it, and gives you little ideas on stuff you can do.
And I just love sharing it. All with you all. So yeah,
hopefully, fingers crossed, we're going to have a successful year and I'm
looking forward to going down in four days down having a sneaky peak seed if
anything's germinating, which it probably won't. Do you always do that, You
keep going down having a sneak peek, seeing if anything's shooting through or not.
That first bit of growth that comes through, you're like, oooh,
yes it's coming, it's coming, and then you've still got to wait until
July August time before you can eat it. But yeah, you do get
so much happiness from seeing stuff grow and how it improves over the year.
So it has been a busy day down at the Allotment today, and I'm
sorry that we've not had a podcast for a while, but we're going to
keep popping them up and talking about how activities down at the Allotment and how
things are growing and how it's all coming along and sharing those tips and advice
that I do with you all. So I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
As always, please do remember to keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben everyone. Until next time. Remember we'll see you also,
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 sanctuary. Happy gardening, and see
you in the next episode. Remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
Gardening with Ben.