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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 allotment. So
sit back, grab a brew and enjoy

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today's episode. Hey everyone, and
welcome to Gardening with Ben for a brand

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new week of episodes. I hope
you are well. It's Monday. Yes,

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most of us will be back at
work, but some obviously workshifts and

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stuff like me. So we've worked
for the last couple of days working today,

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got two more days after this,
and then we've got four days off.

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So it's always good to start a
brand new week with making a list

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of all the jobs that you need
to do in the garden. Now,

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what I tend to do is I
just tend to spend ten minutes going around

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my plot, just writing down all
the jobs that need doing for the week

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ahead. Yes, there is a
lot of jobs that need doing, like

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weeding and tying things up and stuff
like that. But if you're write a

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quick list, it's always good to
then tick it off once you've completed it

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and you feel like you're getting somewhere
with doing the garden. And another thing

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I tend to like to do is
I like to take regular pictures of my

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alotment so that it can show the
progress of the plot over the year and

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how it's come on and informed really
and how well you've got on. So

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it's always good to take visual pictures
as well. And one thing I might

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try one year is stand in the
same spot every day and take a picture

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and then try and put it through
like a fast feed to show its progression

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throughout the year and see what it
actually looks like see if if we can

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actually do it and get it looking
good throughout the year. That would be

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one thing that I would like to
try and do. So if you are

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listening to this, remind me to
do that next year beginning of January and

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we'll take a year's worth a pictures
and splice the multi events, see what

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it comes out like, and see
the progress throughout the year or no progress,

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depends what sort of year I've got
ahead of me. But yeah,

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what are we going to be talking
about today? Well, in today's episode,

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we're going to be talking about making
a plan having a good allotment out.

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And this is quite vital really,
as over the years of having my

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allotment, it's about seventeen eighteen years
I've had my allotment now, an absolute

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long time. In fact, I
think it must be going on twenty.

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I'm sure I got it when I'm
eighteen, So yeah, nearly twenty years

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I've had my allotment. Wow,
and it's still got a lot of work

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to do to it, definitely.
So what have we been up to?

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So we have been trying to plan
our allotment out and get it better every

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single year. I try to invest
in my allotment a bit every single year

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and make a few improvements to it, and eventually by the time I retire,

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it'll probably be all nice and tidy
and hopefully we'd free but to doubt

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it somehow, But we try to
create a plan and a design and put

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it together to make the allotment look
a lot better and easier accessible, and

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some things I've not realized until I've
done it, if it's worked or not,

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or if it needs adjusting. And
what I tend to do at the

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beginning of the year, while there's
nothing growing on the allotment whatsoever, and

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stuff like that, I tend to
get a piece of paper out and draw

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my allotment of how I would like
it to look. And that can be

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from my shed to my polytunnel,
to my food areas, to where my

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paths are going to be, to
how the exact layout is going to be.

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And I've often write down as well
what I'm going to be growing in

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the certain areas. And over the
years, like I said, I've invested

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in certain areas and improved it.
And quite a long time ago, probably

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about ten years ago, I improved
all my rhubarb and fruitry area. I

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completely stripped it out, I cleared
it all. I dug out all the

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rubile plants what I've been in there
from the beginning of the time since I

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had the allotment. I dug them
all out. I black membraned it all.

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I laid paving slabs down for the
path and yeah, that has been

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the same position for the last ten
to fifteen years and it has served purpose.

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So sometimes investing in certain areas and
improving them can get them better and

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you can take it off as that
area is complete and you're happy with it

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and how it's looking from and you
think, right, I can move on

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to a different area of the allotment
next year and invest in that area.

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You don't have to invest in your
allotment obviously, but I don't have a

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garden at home, so it's the
place where I do like to spend a

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bit of money on it and making
it better to a nicer And this year

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on my plan what I drew,
I drew a new seating area and again

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I black membraned it all. I
would chipped it all. I purchased a

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nice chair to sit on, which
wasn't a cheap chair. It was like

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seventy pound and it were handmade chair. But it's somewhere that I actually go

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and sit and enjoy the allotment now
and I sit there for about half an

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hour before I start my allotment in
the morning and just chill out the likes

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take it all in and enjoy it
and have my morning coffee down there in

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the morning, and it's in a
good suntrap as well, so it's nice

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to get a bit of sunshine on
the face in the morning. And I've

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still got lots of areas what I
do need to improve on the plot.

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Like I've also improved my shed this
year. It's done need a lot of

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work on the inside of it,
but on the outside of the shed it's

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fantastic. We've rebuilt it all.
We've built the extension on it over winter

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and that was one big project what
me and my dad did and it's one

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that I can tick off. Has
finished now and sorted. That's all done.

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But I may be possibly having to
do out all my inside of the

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shed this winter. That might be
a plan of what I need to do

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this year because is bind we'd growing
everywhere. It's just a mess, it's

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just a tip. So I might
completely strip it on the inside, dig

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it all over and start from scratch
on the inside. But stay tuned for

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that because it might need a lot
of work doing to it and one of

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these that'll start something and think why
did I start it? I should have

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not done this, I should have
left it as it is. But we'll

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see. Hopefully we get a lot
of stuff sorted and get it ready for

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next year. Now, obviously I
draw a plan of all where all my

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main vegetable beds are going to go, and I've got all them sorted now.

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They're all in the right position with
me. Yes, I do need

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some more wood to replace, someone
to fix some of them what have had

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it and lotted as I've used the
same wood probably with about fifteen sixteen years

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now and the frames on the bed
to had enough of some of them and

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they've got to the end of the
time. But that's all looking good.

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And the other year I did the
top of my plot, I cleared all

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that, got all that ready,
got a nice herb area at the top

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of my plot. I've not touched
it this year, so it's a mess

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again. Don't tell anyone. I
won't show you that on video. But

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it is good to plan and show
what's going off down at the allotment.

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And even if you start off small
when you're having an allotment, when you're

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starting from scratch with an allotment,
it's best not to do it all in

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one go, as it can become
overwhelming. Like I've seen people go down,

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rotivate it all, clear it all
and there's not a single weed there.

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And then a few weeks later because
you've rotivated it, these thousands of

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weeds growing back everywhere. And if
you've got something like bind weeding your allopment

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and you use a motivator, you're
going to be stuffed for years to come.

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So it's good to start off small. Sometimes maybe just cover the full

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length of your plot in black membrane
to keep the weeds down, and peel

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it back a bit every single year
until you get to the top of your

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plot. Don't try and do it
all in one go and think like you're

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Alan tich Marsh or monted On and
you can get it old one in monday,

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because trust me, I bet they
don't do it all in monday.

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I bet they have helpers helping them
do certain stuff in their gardens. So

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try and do a bit year on
year and keep improving on that plan,

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keep doing a step forward every single
year, and eventually you'll get your allotment

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or your garden or look in the
way that you want it to look.

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And I've certainly invested quite a lot
over these last few years, and this

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year I've purchased a load of flowers
on it. It's all looking nice with

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colors. Obviously, I'm wanting to
get more and more perennials down there because

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they'll come back year after year.
But I've spent fortunes on bulbs because it

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looks absolutely fantastic in springtime. Now
looks absolutely gorgeous. But yeah, keep

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planning what you want to do down
in your allotment and garden and eventually it'll

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start to look fantastic. If you
put in the time and the effort,

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it will certainly pay off the rewards. So that has been our short little

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episode today. Remember to make a
plan, try and stick to your plan,

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ticket off as you do certain bits, and hopefully you'll get some fantastic

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produce from your allotment garden. So
until next time, remember keep smiling,

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

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

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and the instgiration for your own gardening
and a lotment journey. If you have

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enjoyed today's episode, please make sure
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love for you to leave a review
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enthusiasts. Your support helps us grow
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You can also follow us on social
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with Ben for daily gardening tips and
mondays, Happy gardening, and until next

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