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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 from

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

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We will also have regular episodes talking
about what we have been up to

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on the alltment. So sit back, grab a brew and enjoy today's episode.

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to
Gardening with Ben for a brand new

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episode today. Wow, the temperature
has heated up here in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

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Wow. Today has been an absolutely
poiling day and it's been summer.

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Summer has been here for a single
day. And that's all will be getting

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it far because I've checked the weather
forecast and making I have a stormy night

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and it's meant to rain all the
way through to tomorrow, so hopefully it'll

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stop by the time I go to
the allotment tomorrow, as I've got lots

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to get on with while I'm off
work. And it's been an extremely busy

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day today down at the plot.
I've done absolutely loads and today has been

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a day of sewing all my duly
seeds. Now I'm going to talk about

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this in another podcast, all the
seeds that I've sown, but if you

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want to watch, you can check
out my YouTube video that I've just posted

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today of all the seeds that I
have sown. And I've sown a lot

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today. I've still got to go
back for some more compost and so some

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more tomorrow. That's why I don't
want it to rain tomorrow so that I

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can get down to the plot.
I don't want it to be too muddy

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while down there. But hopefully we'll
get a lot of seeds on and because

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the weather is warmer, they will
hopefully germinate a lot faster than they would

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in the springtime. And we've planted
so many more peas, absolutely loads,

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so fingers crossed we can get some
more peas growing on my allotment ready for

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later on in the year. And
I planted loads more runner beans as well.

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And now I said I wen't going
to talk about it and tell you

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what I've been planting, but I
wanted to tell you and I planted all

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loads more runner beans, so hopefully
we'll get a load more produced growing later

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on. I need to get some
potatoes as well, as I do need

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to start off my Christmas potatoes.
That is one plan that we do need

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to do. So we might call
and get some potatoes to start for Christmas

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today. So make sure you stay
tuned for that video as well, because

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I'll be sharing that once we've done
it, as I do like sharing all

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these little videos of what we've been
getting up to. I'm not putting making

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big long videos nowadays. I'm just
making nice short videos for you to watch

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on YouTube as and when you can
get chance as when I post on Facebook

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and stuff like that, they get
lost within all the news feed, whereas

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if they're on YouTube, you can
just watch them when you feel like it.

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And if you don't following my YouTube
channel, do give it a follow.

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It's called Gardening with Ben and you
can click the bell icon as well

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and it'll notify you when I post
new YouTube videos. So I hope you're

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all enjoying them little updates that we're
doing. So yeah, apart from doing

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all the seeds we didn't have to
water outside as it rained last night,

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so it absolutely chucked it down,
and when I got to the allotment this

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morning were absolutely soaking. You know
when you're walking past stuff and it's just

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like dripping on you and you're like, oh no. But that is the

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joy of the rain last night that
I didn't have to water today, so

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that's saved half an hour in its
time. But I did water inside my

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polytunnel, where my cucumbers are growing, where my peppers are growing, where

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I've got all my cuttings, what
I've taken from my lavender and from my

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salvia what I took yesterday. They're
still alive at the moment, so fingers

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crossed we do get some roots on
them. Obviously, I'm trying some in

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soil in the polytunnel, but then
at home I've got some growing in little

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shot glasses and they're still alive at
the moment. I've got some futures.

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I've got some lavender growing at home, so hopefully we'll see which ones do

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best. I'm guessing the ones in
water will do better than the ones in

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soil, but that's just my little
thinking of which ones will do better.

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Hopefully they all take route and then
we'll have absolutely loads of futures and absolutely

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loads of lavender next year. But
we'll see, we'll see how we get

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on. It's all worth a try. And like I keep saying, you

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have nothing to lose from it as
free cuttings. Really you're just snipping them

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back, tiding them up, taking
the cuttings off and sticking them into water

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and see if they take. So
yeah, we've watered inside better and we've

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continued as well tidying up my smart
plants as I've got so many smart plants

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growing. I didn't realize how many
are planted now. These tomato plants are

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what I've started from seed from the
supermarket. I went out and bought au

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pune of tomatoes mixed martars from Tesco. Took all the seeds out, scooped

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them out, didn't dry them out, just planted them straight in soil.

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You don't need to dry the seeds
out. You can just plant them straight

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in soil and they will grow.
And they are growing pretty well. So

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I'm looking forward to a mixed variety
of tomatoes which are grown outside the orange,

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yellow and red ones. So hopefully
we'll get some good produce from them.

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Obviously, they won't grow until a
bit later on in the season,

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like my dad's smartes in his greenhouse
be med. At the moment, they're

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doing absolutely fantastic, but I'm not
expecting tomats on my plants for probably about

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a month or two. They've just
started growing little tomatares on them at the

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moment and they're coming on nicely.
So hopefully this rain and the sunshine will

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help bring them on and get them
growing faster. But they've got loads of

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flowers on, absolutely loads of flowers
on, so hopefully the bees will do

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the work and pollinate them all and
we'll get some great tomatoes growing on them.

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So we've done that. We've also
harvested some more potatoes, some nice

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new potatoes from out of one of
my big containers. What I've grown them

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in. I didn't grow them in
the ground this year. I grew them

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all in tubs and I planted about
four or five in each one. And

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yeah, I'm happy with the amount
that I've got in. I've not got

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loads, not got loads of potatoes. I should have probably kept on water

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more than I actually did, but
we've not got loads. We've got a

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decent variety and decent cropping just for
me. I live on my own,

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so I'm happy with how many we've
got. So I've found out a quick

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way to wash potatoes as well,
once you've dug them up. And this

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is a brilliant idea. Now I've
got one of these plastic crates what you

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get from the garden centers to light
blue with holes in the bottom. So

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I got them all in there,
and I'd got the host pipe on at

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the time because i was filling my
water in butts up as obviously I need

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all the water for my own manual
seats, and I thought, rather than

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washing them under the tap or scrubbing
them clean, I use the host pipe

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and it got a nozzle on the
end, what makes it more finer and

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more powerful. And I just sprayed
them all in this crate. I didn't

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have to move them around or anything, and it brought them up looking absolutely

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spotless. It was the fastest way
I've ever cleaned potatoes in my life.

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So if you hate washing them in
a bucket or scrubbing and cleaning stuff like

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that, don't do it. Get
one of these plastic crates. You can

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often get them free at garden centers
and put your potatoes in there and just

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use the host pipe and spray them
clean and they'll come up absolutely beautiful.

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They look white and so tasty.
I want to eat them now. I'm

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just looking at them while i'm recording
this, But if you've not seen the

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photo of it, go and check
them out on Instagram of my potatoes what

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I've harvested today. They look absolutely
pristine. Now I'm going to use I'm

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going to do these in the air
fry. I think I'm going to make

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some chips out of them and see
how they get on. As I don't

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have any hobs at the own at
home, so I can't really boil stuff.

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It's like a portable one, but
it's rubbish. So we're going to

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air fry them and chip them and
probably put a few spices over them and

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see what they taste like and how
they turn out. So I'm quite looking

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forward to how well these come out. It'll be the first time that I've

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ever done chips in the air fight
as well. I've never done chips before,

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so I don't know how long I
need to leave them in for.

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I'm guessing you put them on air. Five other than on most because I

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don't want them. I don't like
roast potatoes, so I'm guessing you put

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them on air fr but we'll give
them a try. It's worth a learning

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curve. I'm always up for learning
something new, So yeah, I'm going

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to be having chippies Tomam and I
and we'll see how they get on.

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Obviously, we'll post a photo of
what they look like once we've trimmed them

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all and eating them. Well before
I eat them, i'll post what they

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look like and how they come out
of the air fire. If you've made

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chips in the air fire before,
let me know. Feel free to drop

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me a message on Instagram. I'm
always wanting to learn new stuff and I'll

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love it how people keep messaging me, telling me stuff and sharing tips with

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me. So thank you for everybody
that does get in touch. And I

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hope that you're enjoying all these podcasts. I say they are coming later in

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the afternoon while I'm work because I
like to talk about what I've got up

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to the allotment. When I'm working, I usually pre recording, and i'll

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pre record different topics and talk about
other stuff rather than my allotment. So

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hopefully fingers crossed. Like I said, we're going to be back down at

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the allotment tomorrow if it is absolutely
chucking it down. The plan is to

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start tidying my shed up before winter, as usually that is a winter job.

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I won't tie do my shed up
until the winter time. But obviously

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we've started a load of the seeds
off now for July, so we won't

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be planting more seeds much later.
But I want to get my shed ready

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because if we're going to be starting
all these cuttings off, like my futures,

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matt lavender, my salvia, my
roast cuttings, we're going to be

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potting them up and keeping them in
the greenhouse over winter, so I need

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it to be all nice and tidy
in pristine for them growing in there.

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Whether it'll be warming off in there, I don't know. It's not got

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a heater inside, so we're not
on no heat to keep them warm,

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but we might have to build something
like some bubble wrap over it or some

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sort of invention. I'm no good
at building, as you all know.

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Usually my shed falls down, a
shelf falls down in the shed, or

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I end up losing a fence.
My fence blows down. I'm the worst

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DIY person in the world. I
will never give any tips out on building,

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that is for sure. Don't expect
to see a Building with Ben podcast

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coming to that is for sure.
But yeah, hopefully we're going to have

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a great day to morrow down at
the Allotment. But obviously I'll keep you

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all updated with how well we're getting
on. Like you say, if you

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don't follow my socials, please do
follow my Instagram and my YouTube channel called

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Gardening with Ben. Feel free to
drop me a message on my Instagram.

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I'm always chatting to people and keeping
up to date with everyone. So until

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next time, remember 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 integration for your own gardening

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

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follow and subscribe to the podcast so
you never miss a new episode. And

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

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

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

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on every platform for All Gardening with
Ben, for daily gardening tips and to

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days happy gardening. And until next
time, remember keep smiling, keep shining,

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and keep gardening with Ben