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 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. Hello and welcome to make your seed list and try new things podcast by Gardening with Ben, the podcast that nurtures and gardening curiosity. Here we explore the endless possibilities of the plant world, the allotment, the garden, the classic favorites to the unusual plants vegetables. Each episode will help you create your perfect seed list and encourage you to branch out into uncharted worlds. Whether you're a balcony gardener or have acres to play with, there's always something new to try, so grab your notebooks, grab your coffee and let's cultivate a spirit of botanical adventure this year. So welcome back to Sunday's podcast and I hope you've listened to Saturdays. There's a new podcasts coming every day for the next few days, so make sure you click that follow button, click that subscribe button and you will get notified when new podcasts come up. So these podcasts are going to be recorded on a regular basis now and as you'll have noticed, we've had quite a few this year, and certainly more than we had last year. So the back and fall wing, everybody's enjoying them. The comments that have been getting from people, the message everybody is happy that the gardening podcasts are back, and there's certainly a lot of you listening to them. It's so amazing seeing how many people listen to them. The starts are phenomenal. Thank you all for tuning back into these Guardian podcasts and I'm glad we've got them all back up and running again. There's plenty of podcast episodes on my playlist, so make sure you have a listen to them. Are over two hundred going into three hundred soon. But yeah, there's plenty of podcasts on their for you to listen to, So if you're feeling bored, have a listen, and it all helps towards my allotment journey. So in today's podcast, we're going to talk about seeds, trying new things and making those seed lists for this year, because it is getting to the time when we need to think about what we're going to be growing this year down in our allotments and gardens. So what I tend to do and I'm making my seed lists and planning for the year ahead. We are talking a lot about planning over these podcasts because it is time to do all the planning ready for this year. So it is a big subject to talk about, and rather than putting in a massive episode, I'm putting them all into separate episodes for you to listen to each day. So what I usually do when I make my seedless is I'll write down all the seeds which I'm definitely gonna grow, which are my general ones, which are usually sweet corn, cor jets, pumpkins, beet roo, lettuce, cabbatures, cauliflowers so yeah, and runner beans and peas, all the general normal ones which you will tend to grow every year down at the plot, and whether it's to do with using the same varieties that you used to that have grown well in the past, or whether it's tried new varietis what have come out. And a lot of the time when you're buying your seeds, if you're looking in places like wor Curs, well it's not well Wilkers is just starting to come back, but it's Wilcose seats are now in the range if you've not noticed that. So if you've got a range near you, they've got worl Cose seats in or places like being Q or garden centers, they'll tend to just have the general seeds which everybody knows about. They don't tend to have the weird and the wonderful ones which nobody's ever tried, and or sometimes the nicer ones to grow, to be honest. So sometimes when you're wanting to try out these weird and wonderful varieties, the best way of looking for them is sometimes in on gardening websites you'll find different varieties and plants to try to grow down at your allotment or in the garden, or another way is ordering a seed catalog and from like well known brands of seeds, and often they'll have sections where there's new varieties to try, or varieties which you've never even heard of, or vegetables you've never even heard of. That is the best way to try and find new stuff to grow down at the allotment, and trying these weird and wonderful varieties is sometimes a lot better. To be honest, because I've used this tip, I comment many times is that I once tried growing purple cauliflower down at my allotment because I've tried white cauliflower and I never got good results. So I thought, I'm going to try purple cauliflower. I've got a packet of seeds given to me, so I give them a try, and they were the best cauliflowers that I've ever grown in my life down at my allotments. So since then, I've stuck to growing purple cauliflowers and the results of them were absolutely fantastic, and I'll never go back to growing white ones now. I'll just stick to the purple variety, and maybe I'll try growing the purple bustle sprouse because they may taste a lot nicer than the green ones. But we never know, but yeah, that is a tend to think. One thing that I tend to try and do when doing allotments is trying new stuff every year down at the plot. I like to try something different each year down at the plot, whether it be new varieties of squash or different varieties of squash, different types of beans, different cold beat roots, different cold radishes. It's always good to try new stuff. And that's what I've done over the past few years. Like last year, I grew different varieters of squash, which were fun interesting, trying loads of different types of squash, like you're butting up squashed your turkish squash, your pumpkins, you, yeah, everything, all different types of varrieters. And then one year I tried different types of beans. I've got yellow beans, i got purple beans, i got black beans, I've got the normal green beans, and it were good to try all different writers. So what different thing are you going to try and grow your plot this year? If you've got an idea of growing something different that you've never tried before, let me know, send me a message. It's always good to hear what people are wanting to try and grow down at the allotments. So it's good way of trying different things. And another way that I try new things is that I have gardening magazines, and I have the Kitchen Garden Magazine and the Grow your Own magazine, and in those magazines, usually get ten packets of seats in each magazine. So imagine getting those magazine is twelve times a year. That's one hundred and twenty packets in one magazine and other, so it's like two hundred and forty packets of seeds in a year, and there'll be plenty of stuff in them seed packets that you would never go into the shop and purchase that packet of seats because you'd think, I'm not spending that money on them seeds when I don't need them, And obviously you do get them with the magazines, so it's a good way of trying new stuff. And in these magazines there are some unusual stuff that come with them, some stuff that you would never actually try and taste or try and grow. But usually what I do with these seeds is that I try and I just saw them. I have nothing to lose. Obviously, I've paid for the magazine and it's paid for the seats, so I might as well, just sprinkle them in some compound, see if they come, plant them out and fill up a gap on the allotment garden. You're not losing any money by planting them, so you can try them and you never know, you might absolutely love and try them. So if you want to try different types of seeds this year, it is my advice is get them magazines. Grow your own Kitchen Guarden magazine and you'll get plenty of varieties to try in them. Or again, grow through us to seed catalogs and put across next to everything that you want to try this year and give it a try. It's nothing to lose. If you do fail, you can try and try again. I've been trying and trying again with carrots every year, but one year I will grow some good carrots. And when I do grow some good carrots, you will see that picture coming every day on my Instagram proof I'll be showing off that carrot to the rest of the world and hopefully we will get a good result coming through. So, yeah, yesterday we talked about making plans for your weekend and making those lists for down at the allotment. Today we've been talking about making the list of seeds, what we're going to grow for the year. And I think it's been a productive weekend this weekend, and hopefully tomorrow's episode we'll be talking about catching up with Gardening with Ben. What have we been up to at the allotment, What have we been up to, what have we been doing, because we've been off that three days, so we've hopefully got plenty of work done. I have pre recorded this episode before I've been to the allotment on Saturday and Sunday, but they catch Up with Gardening with Ben will be recorded on Sunday, so then it will be up today and you'll be able to find out exactly what I've been up to down at the plot and you will all be up to date with as far as I'm up today. So I hope we've enjoyed today's podcast. Remember to do click that following that subscribe, but leave some feedback on the podcast as well on Apple as Spotify you can leave ratings and it does help push me out. So until next time, remember keep smiling, 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 sanctuary. Happy gardening, and see you in the next episode. Remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.