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Welcome to Gardening with Ben, the
podcast where we dig into the soil of

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our gardens and the depths of our
green funds. I'm your host, Ben,

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here to guide you through the joints
of gardening, from sowing seeds to

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reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode will
explore tips, tricks and tails from the

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garden and allotment, sharing insights from
ourself and stories from our own back garden

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adventures. Whether you're a seasoned gardener
or just getting your hands dirty for the

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first time, there's something here for
everyone, So grab your brew and gardening

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gloves and let's get growing with Gardening
with Ben. Hello, and welcome back

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to Gardening with Ben. It's been
a couple of days since our last podcast,

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but we are back with a brand
new one today. And the reason

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why I can get it out so
early is because it's snowing here where I

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am. It's being predicted all week
and I'm actually surprised at the weatherfore post

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has got it correct, because more
often than not you see something happening and

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it's changed by the time of the
day actually comes. But yes, we

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have got snow here in Sheffield,
and it's not settling too bad to be

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honest. Yet it's pretty good at
the moment. But we are back on

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night shifts tonight, so it doesn't
really bother me if we actually got snowed

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in, because I'd be totally fine
because I'm working from home, so I

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have nowhere to move for the next
few days, and I don't go to

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the allotment on my days off,
especially in winter, or iron go to

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my allotment in the summertime to make
sure everything's watered. In the wintertime,

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my allotment is fine as it is. And that's one of the reasons probably

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why I've not got chickens on my
allotment, because I would need to go

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down every day. I know some
people say you don't need to go down

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every day for chickens, but I
would feel bad and I'd feel like I

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need to go down every day for
the chickens to check on them and to

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feed them, because they're better ended
day and you've got to be there and

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look after them and make sure that
they're all right. And obviously when it's

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cold and stuff like that, you
have to make sure the water's not frozen

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and they've got enough food. And
that's one thing that I made sure I

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did on my allotment yesterday. I
made sure that the bird feeders were awful

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to the top because when the snow
comes, it'll be hard for the birds

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to find the worms and the bugs
to eat. So I made sure they're

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all well prepared for and the birds
were certainly coming in and getting all the

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food and starting to eat it all. But I do love a bit of

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winter snow. It's nice to see. It freshens it up a bit as

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well. It like wash, It
cleans it all up and makes it all

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up fresh again once it all melts
away. So what are we talking about

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today? Well, what can we
do when it's snowing like this? Record

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a podcast for you guys. What
I usually do is I find jobs in

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the house to do for the garden, and that can be basically going onto

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websites and looking for what sort of
seeds you want to grow this year,

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what plants your fancy growing, and
what flowers, and just trying to do

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more research on the actual plant itself
and how to look after it, because

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sometimes I don't spend enough time looking
at how to grow things. And once

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you read up on something and it
says you need to add such and such

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to make it grow better and stuff
like that, and then you realize,

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oh, maybe that's why it's not
been growing so well. So then you

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try it and it grows really well
that year. So it's good to actually

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spend some time researching on how to
make the vegetable better and how to look

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after it better so that you can
get a better crop from it as well.

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And sometimes it doesn't cost expensive to
improve the plant itself. You can

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use Sometimes you can just use organic
matter and stuff like that, or maybe

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where it's positioned in the garden,
something as little as that can make the

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vegetable and the plant a lot better. So I do a lot of time

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for research, and obviously I'm doing
a lot of time for planning as well,

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because my allotment has had a massive
overall change of luck and the way

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it's laid out this year, which
I'll talk about in my catchup tomorrow.

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But my plot is going to be
the best it's looked in absolute years.

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I've spent so much time this year
in effort in getting my plot looking fantastic,

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and I'm certainly pleased with the outcome
of how it's looking. I need

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to stop talking about the plot because
that's for tomorrow. But yeah, so

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spencer some time wisely looking at what
seeds you want to grow, and maybe

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go through all your seed packets see
if you've got some really old ones in

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there that you don't think will Germany
anymore, and stuff like that, and

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just have a tidy up through your
seeds. Possibly write yourself a little action

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plan on things that you want to
get done. Because the snow is going

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to be gone by the weekend up
north, it's going to be washed away

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by the raid apparently, so you
might be back out in your allotment this

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weekend. So write yourself at election
plan of the things that you want to

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do, or some things that you
might want to purchase for your allotment this

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year, whether it be some new
tools. I've got some amazing wolf Garden

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tools which are absolutely fantastic, and
I'm trying to get a few gnomes and

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stuff for my plot. I put
an Amazon wish list up the other day

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which is in the description, and
someone's bought me a couple of gnomes from

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there. So I'm trying to get
a few little ornaments around the plot.

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So if you have a look at
my wish list. I have a look

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to see what I've got in there. But yeah, I've started trying to

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get some gnomes down at the plot. So if you've got any suggestions with

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other stuff what I could get down
there, do let me know. And

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I'm hoping to eventually get some hedgehog
homes down there. That is one thing

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that I would love to see down
at my plot on a regular basis.

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Some hedgehogs. Well, I probably
wouldn't see them because if they're out in

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the daylight that means that they're not
very well. But i'd love to see

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activity of hedgehogs down there so that
I know that they're going around eating all

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the slugs and keeping all the pests
down. If you could have hedgehogs on

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your plot, you're going to be
smashing it for not having many slugs on

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the plot, because the hedgehogs will
just go around scoffling them all up at

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night and eating them all. So
I've got hedgehog houses on my list at

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the moment, but we'll see.
We'll see if we get them. If

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not, I'll probably end up buying
them myself. Because I put everything back

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from my podcasts back into my allotment, so I'm definitely going to hopefully get

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some hedgehog homes down there. One
of my big less things what was on

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my list originally was all my bird
feeders, my bird houses, which I've

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managed to get and I'm so pleased
I've managed to get them. I'm hopefully

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going to get some more bird feeders
eventually down there. I've got quite a

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few, but you can never have
enough bird feeders. I know it's expensive

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filling them up and stuff like that, but it is great to see all

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the different varieties of birds down on
the allotment, and I absolutely love seeing

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them and the bird to keep me
company as well when I'm down there on

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the plot on my own, which
I do enjoy. I prefer to be

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down there on my own, to
be honest. But when mister Robbin's popping

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down saying hello while I'm digging,
while the blue tits are flying around,

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and they've also look so babies at
the moment, they all look so small

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and cute and innocent. But yeah, we're getting so much wildlife popping them

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on the plot, and soon the
frogs will be out and about hopping around

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getting ready for the mating season as
well, so I'm looking forward to that.

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So hopefully we're going to get some
more frogs born down on our plot

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this year, because you can never
have enough frogs down on the plot.

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So we've got lots to do down
there, and there's always plenty to be

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doing when it's snowing, like I
said, whether it be looking for seeds

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on what you're going to be growing
this year, whether it be planning your

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plot out, drawing it up,
creating an action plan, there's always plenty

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to be doing down at the Allotment. And it's amazing because over the last

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few weeks, my Instagram accounts growing
massive. I hit eleven thousand followers yesterday.

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I'm getting more and more people following
me again, and it's good to

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get out there and share with you
all exactly what I'm doing down at the

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plot this year. So hopefully we're
going to have a good yet down at

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the Allotment this year, and I'm
looking forward to sharing it all with you.

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So yeah, make sure you do
have a look at that Amazon list,

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it's in the description. But hopefully
you all have a fantastic day,

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and the weekend is nearly here,
so remember to keep smiling, keep shining

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and keep gardening with Bet and everyone. Have a great day everyone, and

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we'll speak to you all soon.
And that wraps up another episode of Gardening

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with Ben. Thank you for joining
me in this journey. Remember, every

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seed planted is a step towards a
greener world, and every day is a

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chance to grow something beautiful. Keep
nurturing your gardens and your souls. Until

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next time, I'm Gardening with Ben, reminding you to let your garden be

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your sanctuary. Happy gardening, and
see you in the next episode. Remember

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keep smiling, keep shining, and
keep gardening with Ben.