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Ben. Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben, the podcast where you're
gardening dreams take Route. I'm Ben, your host and fellow gardening enthusiasts.
Every podcast will dive into the vibrant world of horticulture, exploring everything from the
basics of planting and nurturing in your garden and allotment to the aspects of landscape
design. Whether you're seasoned, green fun, or just starting out with your
first potted plan, this shows your go to resource for practical tips, expert
advice, and inspiring stories of me down at my allotment. So grab your
gloves, get ready to get your hands dirty, and let's grow together with
Gardening with Ben. Hey, everybody, it's not a ghost. It is
Gardening with Ben here, and we are back with another podcast after so long,
and it's been so long. In the last episode, I did say
that I would start doing them again regularly, and I've obviously not been doing
but I do apologize for that. But I've been having a long hard think
and I have been missing doing these episodes. So they are coming back,
and hopefully we're going to get a few recorded for you in advance so that
they're all ready lined up for you to listen to. So it is Christmas
time, well, Christmas has actually gone now. All the bargains are in
the shops, everything's on sale. I've been looking around to see if i
can get any gardening bargains, but unfortunately I've not been able to find any
bargains as yet. But let me know if you've managed to find any.
And obviously one of the good news is is that Wilcos is coming back,
so we'll be able to get as seats from there, and also I've spotted
that they are selling them in my Range shop as well the Wilcose seeds,
so even better. That was one thing that I was definitely worried about when
the Wilco shops were shut in is where I'm going to get all my seeds
from. As I've always had reliable crops from the Wilcose shops themselves, So
I want to continue buying the Wilcose seeds from the Range from now on,
so I don't need to shop online. I can go to an actual shop
and buy what I need. So, like I said, this is going
to be the Christmas episode. And yeah, it has been a long time
since this last podcast, and again I've not been putting much content out on
Facebook or Instagram. Fingers crossed we can start to get that all back up
and running again and get it all back how it used to be. Again.
I do apologize. I've been going through some personal problems of myself just
struggling a lot recently, and it's made me realize how much I am missing
doing all this. So I'm back at it and hopefully we'll get lots of
new episodes in the new year for you. And this episode we're going to
be talking about what we've been up to, and yeah, a bit of
Christmas Is stuff and obviously coming up in coming up episodes, we're going to
talk about how his years been and what our plans for next year are,
so make sure you stay tuned for those episodes coming up. So what have
we been up to, you may ask? I have been sharing some bits
and bobs on Instagram of some of the projects that I've been doing, but
I'm currently in the process of redoing all the plot up, making it all
look good again, and spending some time and some money on the redevelopment of
it just to make it look better and how it's set up really, as
one of the main projects on the plot was to get my shed rebuilt,
as that was structurally damaged and it needed a lot of work doing to it.
But we've managed to get a lot of that done. There's still some
bits left to do on it. After the recent storms, it has had
some damaged into it, so we're going to have to try and fix that
and get that sorted. But the areas that I've been concentrated on, mainly
at the moment, I've been my fruit treat area. I did this fruit
tree area possibly about eight years ago and I've not really done any work to
it while it's been done. What I did, I laid some black membrane
down. I planted my mobile plants through the black membrane. I paved all
the path down the side. I edged it all off with wood to make
it look nice and everything. But last summer the brambles got the whold of
it and they were growing everywhere, and it was just absolutely awful. The
brambles were everywhere. So I spent it must have been a good week clearing
out around my fruit trees, pruning them all back tidy and all up,
shaping them all up. Don't ask me how to prune, because I just
take a guess that I have a girl. All I know is that you've
got to let the air breathe through it. You can't have any branches touching
one another, and they need to be pointing upwards. So that's what I
know about pruning. But we still get fruit on them, so I must
be doing something right. So we've been pruning them all back and getting the
most in ship shape ready for next year, and hopefully we'll get some more
delicious fruit on them. And I'm hoping to put a winter wash on them
soon to stop the winter off, but with the amount of rain that we've
had, it will just wash back off again, so we need to wait
for some dry days before we can spare them with the winter wash, but
just give them that extra protection and look after them. So that's one thing
that we've been up to. And because it's got black membrane down and everything
like that, I don't get no wheat growing on it, even though the
breaks do manage to find a way of grown out and about round all the
fruit trees. We have put some woodchip down as well, just to make
it look nicer and more aesthetic to the eye, because I do want my
plot to look nice and attractive this year. I know an allotments not meant
to look pretty and fantastic, but I do want my plot to look good.
I've not got a garden myself at home, so my allotment is my
garden, and it's my safe space and a happy space. So more nicer
it looks, and the better looking it looks, the happier I will be
with it. So we've wood chipped all that area and made it all look
fantastic, and it does really look posh now I know the wood chip will
not eventually, but every couple of years I can keep buying a couple of
bags and chucking it on and just it keeps the rhubarb mulster as well,
which will keep a bit nice and moist and hopefully get it growing faster as
well. I've already got a lot of rubble popping through already. Yes it
is December, but the rhubarbie is popping through. It's showing its face.
So the mulch must be warming the crowns up and thinking it's time to start
growing. So it's doing its trick, is doing it good, and it's
keeping them nice and moist and looking good. So we've done all that,
and I'm pleased with how the fruit treat area is looking now. And one
area that I've also been looking at is my strawberry bed area. We've got
all that salted, we've got all the runners taken off what we're growing off
them. We've potted all them up. They're all steadily growing and coming along.
I will plant them probably out around March time. I can plant them
out now if I want to. Strawberry plants are very hardy and they do
survive through cold and frost and snow, but I do want to get them
growing a bit in the greenhouse first, and then I will plant them out
in their spaces, because yes, I may have about two hundred strawberry plants,
but I have got a lot of gaps where plants have died off or
they've not taken and stuff like that, so we need to keep them keep
growing. And the more that we'll look after the strawberry plans, the more
strawberries will get off. And you can never have enough strawberries. As I
always say in all my podcasts, strawberries are one of my favorite things from
the allotment, so we're going to make sure we look after them this year.
So I've done the strawberry bed area. So the next area that we
are up to is my main plot area, which is going to take a
lot of time, but in fear right, we've got four months to do
it because we shan't be planting anything outside until at least June July time,
so possibly even six months. I don't plan anything outside until the chance of
frost has gone, which is usually end of May beginning of June, so
we've got six months to get my plot in order and that is possibly how
things are looking up. So we've got all that sort out and the plan
is to get all the paths relaid, all the beds rebuilt. It's all
tied it up and looking smart again, and it is a big job.
You don't realize how big a job an allotment is. People think, oh,
I can just go down a couple of hours each weekend. It's not
as easy as that. Trust me. An allotment is hard work and it
can be really time consuming. It is near enough a full time job.
And as I know it, I had a letter from the council last year
saying that I need to tide in my plot up, so that has given
me a kick up the backside to get it on and get it started even
more. So that is that area coming up. And once we're tidy up
all the plot and rebuilt all the beds and everything, the main job will
be to paint all the beds up, painting all the fencing up, paint
my shed up. But we're not going to do that until around springtime because
there's no point painting it up now and all the bad weather just washing it
straight back off again. So we're going to be waiting until springtime before we
start painting it and making it look more attractive. You don't have to paint
your beds, but I paint them just to protect them from rotting a bit
faster and just to make it look nice as well. So yeah, we've
got We've done quite a lot on the plot this winter so far, and
I use winter as the time of getting my plot ready for next year.
I don't use winters for growing anything. The only things that I've got growing
are some garlics and some winter onions. That's the only things that I've got
growing on my plot at the moment. Like people can grow stuff in polytunnels
and stuff like that in greenhouse, but I want to concentrate on getting my
plot ready and ship shape ready for next year's bumper crop and things cross.
We are going to have a bumper crop, so we'll have to see if
we do manage to get us plot looking really good. And so far,
I'm impressed with it, and quite a few people on the site have said
how good the plot is looking. So stay tuned and you never know,
we may have some fantastic things growing on the allotment next year. So yeah,
that is what we've been up to on our plot. And that's quite
a long catch up really of how much we've been doing down at the site.
And as you can tell, I have been extremely busy with doing it,
and obviously it's around Christmas time at the moment. Yes, Christmas has
passed, but there's plenty of nice Christmas plants still out there and about.
And one of the plants which I've not actually purchased this year, which I'm
surprised that I usually purchased one, is a point I can never say that
word poniceta. And usually they start off reeling nice and red, and then
one next day all leaves have dropped and they all disappeared. I don't know
if anyone has ever had any good look with growing in a plant, but
mine always seems to drop its leaves and I end up losing it all.
But it's the fun of having a nice poisetter for Christmas. But one thing
that I do always grow, which I have purchased again this year, is
some Amaryllis plants. Now bought two this year. I bought a red one
and I think I bought a white one and looking at them just now,
they are starting to send the leaves out so fingers crossed, they will start
to grow fast because amarillas do grow really fast once you start growing. How
fast they grow each day is unbelievable. Literally they can you can see them
growing. They grow that fast. It is amazing how fast they do.
But we've got an amus growing. So once it starts to flower and it
gets near to flowering, I will start sharing some pictures on Instagram for you
to be able to see them. If you're not following my Instagram, do
give it a follow. It's called Gardening with Ben, and yeah, you'll
be able to have a look and see how it's doing. So that is
basically that at the moment with festive plans, is anybody else growing any festive
plants? Do let me know send me a message. I always like to
know what people are growing themselves. And it's interesting hearing from the listeners because
I don't know who's listening to this podcast. I get stats and everything telling
me where people have been listening in different parts of country and different parts of
the world, which I really find interested in where people listen to. But
yeah, I'm interested in hearing from the listeners, So make sure you give
Gardening with Ben a follow On Instagram and send me a message. So that
is basically what we've been up to and a bit of Christmas thrown in.
Hopefully in the next episode we're going to start talking about our year in roundup,
how well we've done, how well the allotment's been, and what we've
been getting up to at the what's how well we've done this year, what's
grown well, what's growing rubbish? And yeah, I'm honest with what I
do with the plot. I tell people how it is, if it's growing
rubbish, and if I'll try it again. So make sure you stay tuned
for that episode. It will be coming on the thirty first, and you
never know, there might be another episode thrown in before that, so make
sure you stay tuned for that episode. And also we'll be doing our other
episode at the beginning of January, talking about what sort of stuff you can
start planting in January and tips and advice for what to do with that month.
So thank you for listening to today's podcast. I hope you've enjoyed it.
I hope you've enjoyed hearing me back on the podcast again. And yeah,
I'm glad to be back and I am smiling right now. As I'm
saying this because I am happy. So remember, keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening with Ben everybody. Until the next time. Thank you
for listening to today's Gardening with Ben's podcast. I hope that you've enjoyed it.
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