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Hello, and welcome to Gardening with
Ben. You'll go to a podcast for

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all things green and growing. I'm
Ben, your allotment guide and here to

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help you cultivate your garden and your
passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned

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gardener or just starting out, this
podcast is for you. Each episode will

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dig into tips, tricks, and
techniques to make your garden and allotment thrive

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from planting, sewing, and growing. We will share all the tips and

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add advice. We will also have
regular episodes talking about what we have been

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up to on the Alltment. So
sit back, grab a brew and enjoy

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today's episode. Hello everyone, and
welcome back to Gardening with Ben for a

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brand new episode on a brand new
day. While it's Tuesday today and today

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we are going to talk about mental
health. It's the Mental Health month of

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June where we look at mental health
and we try and support others and do

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our bit out there for one another
in spreading the word about mental health.

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Now, being a guy, we
don't often talk about it, and I

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try to break that stigma and talk
about it in my podcast. I've done

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quite a few episodes on this,
but obviously with it being the month of

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June being the mental health month,
I thought why not talk about it again

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as it is such a big subject
to me, and gardening and mental health

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go hand in hand together, that
is how I see it. And without

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my garden, I would struggle so
bad. And the reason why I struggle

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is I live on my own.
I don't see anyone in my flat for

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days. When I'm working, I'll
not see anybody for four days or something

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like that. So on my days
off, I like to go to my

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allotment and spend as much time there
as possible, being out in the fresh

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air and being at nature. And
that is one of the things why this

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last year I've built a new area
in my allotment which I didn't have before,

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and I've built a seating area.
I've never had a seating area in

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seventeen years i've had my allotment.
I just used to crouch down and just

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have my coffee. But now I've
got a proper seating area where I can

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sit down, relax and enjoy the
sunshine and listen to my music, have

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a look around, see how things
are doing, make some videos, and

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just be there and enjoy it and
be around the surroundings that I enjoy.

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And I'm happy that I've built this
area, as like I said, I

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didn't have anywhere to just sit back
and relax. Yes, there is lots

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of jobs that need doing on the
allotment, but they can't wait. Sometimes

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sometimes it's good to just sit back
and enjoy the area that you're in.

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Now. It costs a lot to
build this area. I bought a nice

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wooden chair that won't rot too easily, hopefully hopefully in the last some years.

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And yeah, that will like seventy
pound it like handmade, and then

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I would chip to it all the
area, put some black matting down,

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put some nice flowers around it in
the borders to make it more attractive and

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just be more peaceful. And it's
the best one hundred pounds that I've spent

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on that area. And if I
can make it any better, I certainly

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will do over these. Possibly next
year I might improve it and add some

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more bits to the area, just
to make it more nice and natural where

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you can sit back. And a
lot of people say that they need an

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area in the garden where they can
sit down, chill and relax. And

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one thing I'd like is like a
little water feature or something. Just hear

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the running off the music, running
sound of the water, because that can

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be relaxing as well. And when
you sat there in the chair, you

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can just sit back, relax and
listen to the all different varieties of birds.

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There's so many different birds that fly
around in the garden, all the

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different tweets and cheaps, and like
I say, I've had bluebirds, blueteds

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nesting in my allotment and that was
absolutely beautiful to see seeing all them baby

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birds flying around. And obviously I
encourage them to my allotment by getting the

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bird food down there. And I've
just recently purchased some bird baths as well,

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so that they can come down and
have a little splash and drink of

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water and just yet enjoy being out
in the garden. And a lot of

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people say obviously being out in the
garden, getting your hands mockey, getting

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your hands in the soil is good
for you as it can be. It's

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very nurturing, getting your hands money
and getting them into the soil. And

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obviously as well being out in the
garden, you get your vitamin D f

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on the sunshine. Now, vitamin
D is proven that it is good for

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your for yourself and for your mental
health. And obviously you can't have too

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much sunshine it's obviously burn and stuff
like that, but getting a bit of

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vitamin D inside it is always good
for yourself. And it's good to have

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a safe space, a space where
you can just feel surrounded by the things

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that you're in joy And obviously it
can be lonely being sat in the garden

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on your own, but sometimes you
can just shut off and zone out and

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just enjoy them surroundings around you.
And they say that meditation goes with mindfulness,

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and obviously being in the garden,
you can meditate if that's something that

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you want to do, or you
can turn your phone off and just listen

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to everything around you. And that's
why obviously green spaces are good for you

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seeing different flowers in there, growing
and looking at the things that you can

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be doing in your garden. And
it's good to get out and about because

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sometimes when you stay locked up inside, you just see them four walls day

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and out, whereas if you're in
your garden, you see something new every

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single day, something changes in that
garden and you can go, yes,

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I've done that, or yes,
don't want that look beautiful. It's absolutely

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gorgeous. That smells gorgeous. But
yeah, the garden is so good for

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my mental health. I struggle a
lot with it. I'm not scared of

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saying that I've had things happen in
the past what trigger it. And there's

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things going off all the time that
trigger it. And it's about fighting it

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and talking to people and just enjoying
what you do. And this is one

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of the reasons why I share all
my tips and advice on my podcast,

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is because I enjoy what people say
to me. I love the feedback that

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I get from people I get.
I love the comments what I get back,

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I don't get no negativity whatsoever.
Yes, sometimes i don't know what

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I'm talking about or I'm just sharing
my experiences of what I do. And

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I'm always learning. Every day is
a learning day. And I'm not a

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professional gardener. Everything I've done I've
learned by myself, taught myself how to

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do, and I'm still learning every
day. Some days I've killed plants off.

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I'm not this gardener. I'll tell
people if I've made a mistake or

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if I've killed something or not planted
it in the right space, but yeah,

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I do love this gardening community.
I've made so many good friends through

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it, and some followers have had
from the very beginning, and I'm getting

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new followers all the time. And
that's why I keep branching out on different

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social medias because I love enjoy doing
it all. And yes, I didn't

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do any podcasts hardly at all last
year, but this year we've done quite

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a lot. They're coming out on
a regular basis because the feedback what people

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give me, it encourages me to
do it. And obviously everybody enjoys them,

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and I see how many people listen
to them each day. I get

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starts through, so it's encouraging to
see. So doing stuff like this encourages

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me to be happy and enjoying myself
as well, and enjoys what I do

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and what I put into it.
So gardening definitely does help your mental health.

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It is proven that it does help. I know they were talking about

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it at one point, doctors referring
people to gardening clubs and stuff like that.

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So if you are struggling with mental
health and you need to get try

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and get better, try and enjoin
a gardening club or gardening community or something

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like that. Or get yourself out
in your garden just enjoying it, even

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if it's going to help it a
friend's garden. Just get yourself out there

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and enjoying, getting your hands mockey, enjoying the flowers, enjoying the smells,

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listening to all the sounds what are
around you. Just get yourself out

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in the garden for a bit.
And I'd like to hear from everybody that's

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listening to this podcast if if it
helps you, if gardening helps your mental

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health, please do get in touch. Send me an Instagram message. I'll

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check them all out on Instagram Gardening
with Ben. Just send me a message

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on Instagram. I'd like to hear
everybody's feedback on how gardening helps with their

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mental health, and hopefully we'll have
a follow up from it and get people's

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responses into this podcast. So please
do drop me a message. I'd love

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to hear from you all, and
I hope you enjoy hearing about my experience

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we're struggling with mental health and how
gardening helps me. So until next time,

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remember please do keep smiling, keep
shining, and keep gardening with Ben.

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Everyone. Thank you for joining me
on this episode of Gardening with Ben

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I hope you have found some useful
tips and inspiration for your own gardening and

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allotment journey. If you have enjoyed
today's episode, please make sure to follow

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and subscribe to the podcast so you'll
never miss a new episode. And if

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you have a moment, I'd love
for you to leave a review and share

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the podcast with fellow gardening enthusiasts.
Your support helps us grow this community and

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continue bringing you great content. We
can also follow us on social media on

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every platform, or Gardening with Ben
for daily gardening tips and the days Happy

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gardening, and until next time,
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and

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keep gardening with them,