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. Hello, and welcome
back to Gardening with Ben with a brand new podcast. We're now in March.
Can you believe it? February is pasted already, Even though it's a
longer month February was this month. It's still flown by. But wow,
have we got a lot done at my allotment. And as we're now in
March, we need to do our February right round up and share with you
everything that we've got done down at the allotment. Read eight before the next
episode, which will be what Jobs to do in March, so make sure
you stay tuned for tomorrow's episode and that will be out early in the morning.
So, yeah, what have we been up to down at the allotment
in February. Well, it's been NonStop. The weather has not been that
bad, to be honest. It's been awful today beginning of March, but
it's not been a bad February whatsoever. And we've got absolutely loads done.
I've near enough got all my allotment ready now ready for the growing season.
And I set myself a mission and I have completed it. I can't believe
how much I've actually done down at my allotment. I must have chucked at
least thirty bags of rubbish away this winter from my allotment from how much rubbish
have collected over the years and over the past year down at the allotment.
But it's certainly looking a lot more better. And yeah, what have we
been doing well this month. We've been concentrating mainly on sorting out all my
fencing down the side of my plot as it had been up a couple of
years. And you know, my DIY skill is absolutely rubbish and most of
it had fell back down again. So we've put it in a lot stronger
out and it should periotically last quite a few years, but we'll see about
that. So it's all back up, it's all nicely fastened together, and
we've sorted out all my flower boarders as well down the side of my plot.
As my plot is higher than the neighbor's plot, so it had a
lot of the soil had dropped out of it. So we've put a proper
wooden border down the side to hold the soil in, and we've also filled
them all back up with fresh compost so that we can plant some summer bulbs,
and we can plant lots of flowers down the side of it now been
out and purchase lots of Gladioli corns. They're not bulbs, they call corns.
So we've picked up a load of Gladioli corns from our local being Que
because they ran out in other places. So I've been out and got some
from being Que and we're going to be planting them this month down the sides
of my plot. So obviously they'll need to be along my fencing so that
I can fasten them to them once the flowers appear, because the flowers do
get top heavy, so they do need something to fasten on to. So
hopefully if all them gladiolies grow, they'll look absolutely fantastic and the bees again,
we'll love them down there. So we've sorted all that out, so
we've got all them to plant, and we need to start looking at getting
some perennial flowers that will keep growing back year after year because the more perennials
that have, the less I have to buy in the future because they'll just
keep coming back year after year. So I'm looking at getting some like lavenders
and maybe heavers down the side, but we'll see, we'll have a look
around. But obviously we'll still grow the annuals, which will be like some
flowers and geraniums and petunias and stuff like that to add a lots more flower
to them. So we've got all them sorted. So that was one of
my big main jobs what I wanted to do, as I've not sorted out
my flower borders for quite a long time. So I've obviously got my border
at the front of the plot, and I've got my border when I first
walk onto the plot, but the main border on my plot has not been
looked after really, so We've put quite a lot of time and effort and
money into sorting that out, and I will be spending a lot more money
towards the end of the year because I want to have spring bulbs all the
way down the sides of the plots, So I'm going to be purchasing so
many tulips, higher siems and daffodils to go all the way down the plot
to make it look nice for next spring. So make sure you come back
next spring and check out my instagram and see all the pictures on there.
If you're not following my instagram, do give it a follow because we do
post lots of pictures on there. It's called Gardening with Ben. So we've
sorted out all that. What else have we sorted out this month? We
have been sorting out getting all my beds fixed back together and all the pathways
sorted again, something that I haven't done for a few years. Like a
few years ago. What I did, I took out all the beds and
I rebuilt them all from scratch, And basically that is what I've done again
this year. I've taken them all up and rebuilt them all because some of
the wood was rotten on some of them, so I had to take all
them up and they'd come unfastened, so they were trip hazards. All the
paths were not level anymore because I've got me walking on them, and the
black membrane had all had it what was down in between the paths. So
yeah, I completely stripped the plot back and rebuilt it all from scratch,
So that has been a job and a half. And for my pathways,
I've got two paths what are paving slabs, so nice to walk on and
they won't get muddy on them, and the rest of the paths of all
wood chip as we had a load of wood chip delivered to our allotment site,
so I've got loads and loads of wood chip paths all over the place.
I've still got a bit left to do. I'm just waiting on some
more getting delivered and then all the paths will be finished as well. So
it is going to look pretty posh this year my plot and the amount of
time and effort I've put into this winter will certainly hopefully pay off. The
next main jobs over the next month will be to repaint all my beds and
getting them looking brand new again. Well they won't look brand new, but
they'll look a lot nicer than they actually are, and we usually paint them
green. Even though it does wash off after a bit of time, it
does make them look nicer for the time being and for the summer, and
it helps stop the wood from rotting as fast. So we'll be getting all
them painted and looking spot on. And another job will be to dig over
all the beds as well, which I'm planning on doing throughout the March time.
So March time we will be painting all the beds and getting them dug
over. I've also bought a silver as well, because i want to save
the soil because it's a lot of stones in it. So I'm going to
try and sieve as many stones out as possible and try and get rid of
them, just to make it better for growing in. And we're also going
to add some nutrients into the soil. We're gonna have some manure into it,
we're gonna have some compost into it. We're just going to improve the
soil and hopefully improve our planting. Yes, we are spending a lot of
money on it this year, and it's probably cheaper to buy the vegetables from
the supermarket, but they won't taste as nice, and hopefully once they're done
that it will last for a few years and hopefully we'll get a good crop
of stuff. And I don't care about if it costs cheaper to buy it
from a supermarket. Sometimes it's about the enjoyment of being outside in the garden
in the fresh air and being with nature, and that's what I get,
and it's good for my mind while i'm down there, and obviously I live
in a flat on my own, so it's good to get out and about
earn every day when i'm off work, I'm always down there, come rain
or shine. I was down there this morning when it was absolutely chucking it
down, but I got out of the flat and out and about down to
the allotment for a bit. So yeah, it has been a busy in
February, and again I'm very impressed with what I'm doing. This month is
going to be even more busy because we've got all the seeds to start planting
this month, which I do enjoy. That's my favorite timeel for you.
Hence the reason why I get all these jobs done on my allotment through the
winter, because March April time, May time we're busy months. We're sowing
seeds and potting on and getting them all ready to plant out, and that's
the exciting part. The winter period is the hard work I always class it
as. So, yeah, we have got it all ready, and that's
why I always say to start getting you all ready for the year after from
September October onwards right through winter and just keep on going and keep going down
and getting that work done and it pays off like it has done for me.
And again hopefully this year is going to be the best year ever down
there. So that has been what we've been up to in February. So,
like I said, make sure you come back for tomorrow's episode. Tomorrow's
episode with talking about all the jobs which need doing in March in the garden
allotment, fruit areas and flower areas, so make sure you come back for
that episode. If you've not followed or subscribed to this podcast, make sure
you click the follow button and the notifications on so that you know when new
episodes do appear. Feel free to leave a comment as well. On Spotify
you can leave a comment or leave a review, and you can leave a
review on iTunes as well. So yeah, thanks for listening to today's episode.
As always, everyone, 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.