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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, and welcome
back to Gardening with Ben for a brand

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new episode today here on Thursday.
Well, it's my last day of working

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and then I've got four days off, so you'll be getting podcast talking all

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about what I've been getting up to
down at the Allotment. Again, some

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of you may enjoy that, or
some of you may enjoy these different sorts

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of podcasts that we've been doing this
week now. We've been talking about all

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the different topics regarding what I've been
posting on my Instagram and my Facebook,

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different questions and different tips and advice
each and every single day. It's something

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new that I've been trying over the
past week and it seems to be taking

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a good reaction from my followers and
from my listeners as well, as we're

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getting more than more people getting involved
in them daily tips and Advice, So

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thank you for all those that are
contributing, as it does help build a

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podcast as well different questions. Each
day we can talk about the different topics

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that have come up. Now,
yesterday's daily tip, what we talked about

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was talking about what's the piece best
piece of gardening advice and tips that you

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have ever been given? And I've
learned quite a few tips and advice from

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this post as well as obviously I
shared my tip yesterday talking about putting the

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plastic bottles over the sweet corn,
which quite a few people have acknowledged and

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liked it. So thank you for
those that have done and I hope that

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you find it useful for when you're
growing sweet corn as well. And let's

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go through each of the tips that
people have responded to on my Instagram post,

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as it's good to talk over them
and see what people have been told

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and how well it works as well. So first off. One of the

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tips was enjoy it and take your
time. Now, this is one tip

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that I do live by. And
like I said, I've had my plot

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going on twenty years in total,
and it's a big size plot for one

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person definitely, And it's took me
around twenty years just to get to the

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top of my plot to the boundary. And you might actually twenty years to

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get to the top, but yeah, twenty years it's taken me to get

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to the allotment top. I've just
been working a bit every single year and

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getting a bit further, doing improvements
to certain areas and working on different pieces

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every single year. And I like
to try and spend a bit of money

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on a certain area and like improve
it and make it better. So that

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is a bit less maintenance for me
as well. So I like to try

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and improve it a bit every single
year. And that's one of my winter

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projects. What I usually do.
I usually concentrate on a certain area and

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improve it and make it look better. Now we've we had a lot of

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winter projects this year. Trust me. I spent so much time and quite

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a lot of money on doing certain
improvements down at my plot. And some

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of the improvements were not that necessary, but I'm happy with what I've done

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and how I've improved it. Like, one of my main projects was rebuilding

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my shed because my shed had collapsed, so I've got nowhere to grow all

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my seeds. So that was the
main big project what I did with my

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dad, and he gave me a
massive helping hand with it. He did

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most of it, and I'm so
thankful for him for what he's done for

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that. And what else I've did
up was around my rhubarb, my roubarb

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beds being in like fifteen sixteen years
now, and this year I mulched all

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around it, which I've never had
mulch down on it, so I mulched

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it all made that look better.
I also built a seating area so that

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I can actually sit down, relax
and enjoy it. And I know you

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think, well, you've not got
much time to relax and enjoy it,

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But I am finding time to actually
sit down and enjoy it, and I

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have a drink my coffee on my
seat and look at it all and think,

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wow, I'm happy with that.
I'm happy with how it's all gone

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on. So take your time and
enjoy what you do. Another comment was

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Tomato feed works for everything, said
my mum works for me, no faving

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around trying to decide which one to
use. It's generally cheaper and leaves me

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more in the kitty for the best
rose feed from David Austin Roses. So

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yeah, try different feeds, whichever
feed works best for you. Tomorrow Feed

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has got a lot of nutrition in
it and obviously it works well for this

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follower, and it's good tips go
by. And obviously I use it on

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my cucumbers, I use it on
the tomatoes, on my pumpkins, on

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my coach jats, So you can
pretty much use it for a lot of

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things and it all gets going well
and it all helps. So yeah,

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if you find a product that you
like, try it and see if it

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does work on everything. Obviously risking
it if like it doesn't work connect but

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if you go by the instructions of
how much to use per millimeters of water,

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etc. You won't go wrong.
So I've learned at it for that.

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So yeah, I'm going to start
using tomato feed on a lot of

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stuff now, as I've been using
chicken pellets main lay and I've been using

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bone meal and that seems to be
working. Well, at the moment,

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my sweet corn growing fantastic. But
for that liquid feed, I might try

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using some tomato food on them,
So thank you for that tip that was

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submitted. Also, somebody said look
after the soil instead of feeding your plants.

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Obviously, the nutrition in the soil
feeds your plants, so that's a

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good one as well. So why
not look after it and put the food

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back into the soil to feed the
plants as it's the soil what's used literally

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to feed the plants. So yeah, looking after the soil is instead of

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feeding you plants. Another comment is
fill the planting hole with a water with

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water a minute before planting. Those
routes will establish while they search for a

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drink, So if you're planting out, make sure you fill it with water

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first and then the plants routes will
find that water and they will establish a

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lot faster and a lot quicker.
So that's another good tip there. So

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yeah, I'm learning. Like I
always say gardening, you are always learning

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every single day, and the tips
and advice what people give me, I

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always take it on board. I
learn new stuff every single day and I'm

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so glad. I posted this on
my Instagram because people are sharing so many

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great tips with me, so thank
you for everybody that has got involved.

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Another one is by somebody knew that
started following me and listening to my podcasts.

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This is my life, this is
my village life, and she's loving

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the podcast. And if you're listening, hello to you. This is my

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village life. Thank you for being
a great supporter. And this comment is

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to give everything a go. You
have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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So yeah, putting all you have
nothing to lose. Yes, it

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might be a few pence from sowing
the seeds and they don't germinate or something

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like that, but it's all trial
and ever. It's all about having fun

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and having a laugh at the end
of the day. Yes you get produced

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from it, Yes you get great
delicious fruit and vegetables from it, but

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you've got nothing to lose at the
end of the day. It's all about

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having fun and enjoying it. And
this is why I'm enjoying trying all these

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cuttings out what I'm doing because it's
all trial and ever, and if they

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don't grow, they don't grow.
I've not lost anything. I've just given

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my plan A haircut by trimming it
down to take the cuttings. So yeah,

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you have nothing to lose with gardening. Another comment, which I'm going

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to try, is to use plastic
bottles to water your tomatoes, pumpkins,

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et cetera. Plant them as close
to the roots as you can. It

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saves water in the long run.
So basically, plant a water bottle at

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the side of your vegetable, oil
your tomatoes or something like that. Put

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some holes obviously in the bottle top
so that the water can drip out,

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and make the holes as big as
how fast you want it to drip out

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or not. Obviously, the smaller
hole it'll take longer to drip out,

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so it'll lasts longer. And obviously
you can fill them up with food as

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well. If you're feeding them for
a few days, you can put a

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tiny bit of food in as well
to give it that extra kick and that

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extra boost, and it will feed
it straight to the roots as well.

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You won't lose none of that special
nutrition that you're trying to put into the

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soil. So another good tip there
from Hyday to grow what you like to

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eat first. Allotment yet grew loads
of broadbeans and was so proud, but

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none of us liked them. Who's
done that? Who's grown stuff that they

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don't actually like? We've done that. We've grown radishers, we've grown gooseberries,

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we've grown Brussels sprouts, and nobody
actually likes them. But the joy

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of doing that is that you can
give it away and people who will enjoy

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receiving them, and they will certainly
become your best friends straight away from all

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the fresh produce that you're giving them. So yeah, I do love that

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people have been sharing these tips with
men. I've learned a lot from it,

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and I hope you've learned a lot
from it. It's good to get

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people's advice, and passing tips from
one another is amazing because you're passing it

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down to different generations. When I
first got onto my allotment site, there

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was one person left on the allotment
site and it'd all become derelict around him

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before the council did it all and
got it all back up and win again.

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And he'd been on there keeping that
allotment site open and running, and

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all the weeds were growing around him
and everything, but his allotment was pristine.

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He learned. He taught me so
much, and he used to go

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down to his allotment and he used
to hoe his beds every single day.

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He'd not got a single weed on
it. And from hoeing it every single

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day, nothing will grow because you're
doing it every day. And yeah,

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it might only be of ten to
fifteen minutes just going round holing every single

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bed, but in the long run
it's a lot faster because no weeds have

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taken route. You're not spending time
getting all the weeds out. If you

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keep on top of it, you
will beat the weeds. The weeds won't

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win. You will win the battle
in the weeds. So that is one

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fantastic tip that I learned from him
as well. So what was the daily

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tip that we put on the allotment
today on the Instagram today? The daily

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tip of the day what we put
on yesterday, actually not today because I'm

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pre recording. This is start start
planning for autumn planting and order seeds exactly,

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start looking at what seeds you can
grow for next year. And now

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is about the time around this month
next month to start planting potatoes for Christmas.

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So have a look at my podcast
where I was talking about what seeds

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you can plant this month and have
a look right down a list of all

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the seeds that you can start this
month. There's plenty on there that you

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can actually keep growing up until this
year and ready for next year. So

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have a look at that podcast.
It's only quite a few episodes back.

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It's not far back. It's beginning
of July. So have a look at

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that podcast and have a listen to
what seeds and stuff you can start this

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month. But yes, if you
are wanting Christmas potatoes, have a look

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around see if if you can order
some online. Amazons sometimes have them,

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or potato shops online, stuff like
that. Garden centers online. You won't

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find them in the actual garden centers
or in any do it yourself shops,

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but you will find them online if
you are wanting to grow seed potatoes.

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Now, I'm just going to grow
normal potatoes from the supermarket. Yes,

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you do. Hear a lot of
stuff online say you shouldn't grow normal potatoes

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because they've been treated and stuff like
that, and it can spread diseasers.

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But my dad's done it many years
and we've had fantastic potatoes from them.

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So I'm going to get a packing
new potatoes from the supermarket. I'm going

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to plant them in some of the
boxes that I've just harvested all my earliest

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from, so that I can start
them off outside while it's meant to be

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warm. It's not warm, it's
it's raided. But you can start them

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off outside in boxes. Don't start
them off in the ground if you want

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in Christmas potatoes, start them off
in boxes. When the first frost starts

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to appear, you need to take
them inside before that happens, So possibly

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like beginning of October, middle of
October, take them inside inside a polytunnel,

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inside a greenhouse somewhere where there's plenty
of light and grown in there.

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If you leave them outside, the
frost will kill them. But if you

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move them inside into a polytunnel or
into a greenhouse, they will be protected

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and you will be able to harvest
potatoes for Christmas Day for your Christmas meal,

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and they'll taste absolutely delicious. And
potatoes are easy to grow. You

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might not get loads in your tubs
and stuff like that, but they will

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be homegrown and they'll taste a lot
more nicer than shop bought ones. Yes,

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you may have started them from shop
bought ones, but they'll still taste

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as nice. As home grown ones
from seed potato. So if you've never

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tried growing potatoes at this time of
year for Christmas, give it a try.

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Let me know if you're going to
try it. I'd love to hear

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from you all. I'm going to
start mine probably in probably about two or

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three weeks, so make sure you
stay tuned for that. I'll post it

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on my Instagram and on my Facebook, so make sure you do follow my

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socials Gardening with Ben, and I
just want to say as well, thank

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you for everybody that he's getting involved
in my Instagram posts and asking the daily

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questions and the tips. But if
you do get a chance, please do

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shareing them to your stories. I'm
trying to get them out there as much

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as possible to help as many people
as possible in growing their own and encouraging

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everybody to get involved as well.
So that's been today's podcast. Hopefully tomorrow's

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podcast we'll be talking about what we've
been up to at the Allotment and telling

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you what we what's growing and what's
not growing. I'm an open and honest

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gardener and I had a mess today
saying that I like how you are not

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posh, you down to earth and
you speak it how it is literally,

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and that's what I want to do. I'm not one of these gardeners I'll

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use all the posh words and all
the technical terms and everything like that.

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I'll say it how it is because
that's how I am. That's how I

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want to know these things. I
wouldn't know all the Latin names and everything

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like that. But yeah, I'm
glad that I'm getting comments like that because

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that's how I want to come across
to everyone. So I hope that you've

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enjoyed this episode. Make sure you
do give it a like, give it

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00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,919
a comment as well if you can, and make sure you follow me if

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you're not already following me, and
click the belt so you get notified when

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new podcasts come up. So until
next time, everyone, remember keep smiling,

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keep shining, and keep gardening with
everyone. Thank you for joining me

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on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you have found some useful

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00:17:00,799 --> 00:17:04,400
tips and inspiration for your own gardening
and a lotment journey. If you have

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00:17:04,599 --> 00:17:11,359
enjoyed today's episode, please make sure
to follow and subscribe to the podcast so

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you'll never miss a new episode.
And if you have a moment, i'd

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love for you to leave a review
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Your support helps us grow this community
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You can also follow us on social
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Ben for daily gardening tips and mon
days. Happy gardening, and until next

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time, remember keep smiling, keep
shining, and keep gardening with them,