Welcome to Gardening with Ben, the podcast where we dig into the soil of
our gardens and the depths of our green funds. I'm your host, Ben,
here to guide you through the joints of gardening, from sowing seeds to
reaping bountiful harvests. Each episode will explore tips, tricks and tails from the
garden and allotment, sharing insights from ourself and stories from our own back garden
adventures. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just getting your hands dirty for the
first time, there's something here for everyone, So grab your brew and gardening
gloves and let's get growing with Gardening with Ben. Hello, and welcome back
to Gardening with Ben. It's been a couple of days since our last podcast,
but we are back with a brand new one today. And the reason
why I can get it out so early is because it's snowing here where I
am. It's being predicted all week and I'm actually surprised at the weatherfore post
has got it correct, because more often than not you see something happening and
it's changed by the time of the day actually comes. But yes, we
have got snow here in Sheffield, and it's not settling too bad to be
honest. Yet it's pretty good at the moment. But we are back on
night shifts tonight, so it doesn't really bother me if we actually got snowed
in, because I'd be totally fine because I'm working from home, so I
have nowhere to move for the next few days, and I don't go to
the allotment on my days off, especially in winter, or iron go to
my allotment in the summertime to make sure everything's watered. In the wintertime,
my allotment is fine as it is. And that's one of the reasons probably
why I've not got chickens on my allotment, because I would need to go
down every day. I know some people say you don't need to go down
every day for chickens, but I would feel bad and I'd feel like I
need to go down every day for the chickens to check on them and to
feed them, because they're better ended day and you've got to be there and
look after them and make sure that they're all right. And obviously when it's
cold and stuff like that, you have to make sure the water's not frozen
and they've got enough food. And that's one thing that I made sure I
did on my allotment yesterday. I made sure that the bird feeders were awful
to the top because when the snow comes, it'll be hard for the birds
to find the worms and the bugs to eat. So I made sure they're
all well prepared for and the birds were certainly coming in and getting all the
food and starting to eat it all. But I do love a bit of
winter snow. It's nice to see. It freshens it up a bit as
well. It like wash, It cleans it all up and makes it all
up fresh again once it all melts away. So what are we talking about
today? Well, what can we do when it's snowing like this? Record
a podcast for you guys. What I usually do is I find jobs in
the house to do for the garden, and that can be basically going onto
websites and looking for what sort of seeds you want to grow this year,
what plants your fancy growing, and what flowers, and just trying to do
more research on the actual plant itself and how to look after it, because
sometimes I don't spend enough time looking at how to grow things. And once
you read up on something and it says you need to add such and such
to make it grow better and stuff like that, and then you realize,
oh, maybe that's why it's not been growing so well. So then you
try it and it grows really well that year. So it's good to actually
spend some time researching on how to make the vegetable better and how to look
after it better so that you can get a better crop from it as well.
And sometimes it doesn't cost expensive to improve the plant itself. You can
use Sometimes you can just use organic matter and stuff like that, or maybe
where it's positioned in the garden, something as little as that can make the
vegetable and the plant a lot better. So I do a lot of time
for research, and obviously I'm doing a lot of time for planning as well,
because my allotment has had a massive overall change of luck and the way
it's laid out this year, which I'll talk about in my catchup tomorrow.
But my plot is going to be the best it's looked in absolute years.
I've spent so much time this year in effort in getting my plot looking fantastic,
and I'm certainly pleased with the outcome of how it's looking. I need
to stop talking about the plot because that's for tomorrow. But yeah, so
spencer some time wisely looking at what seeds you want to grow, and maybe
go through all your seed packets see if you've got some really old ones in
there that you don't think will Germany anymore, and stuff like that, and
just have a tidy up through your seeds. Possibly write yourself a little action
plan on things that you want to get done. Because the snow is going
to be gone by the weekend up north, it's going to be washed away
by the raid apparently, so you might be back out in your allotment this
weekend. So write yourself at election plan of the things that you want to
do, or some things that you might want to purchase for your allotment this
year, whether it be some new tools. I've got some amazing wolf Garden
tools which are absolutely fantastic, and I'm trying to get a few gnomes and
stuff for my plot. I put an Amazon wish list up the other day
which is in the description, and someone's bought me a couple of gnomes from
there. So I'm trying to get a few little ornaments around the plot.
So if you have a look at my wish list. I have a look
to see what I've got in there. But yeah, I've started trying to
get some gnomes down at the plot. So if you've got any suggestions with
other stuff what I could get down there, do let me know. And
I'm hoping to eventually get some hedgehog homes down there. That is one thing
that I would love to see down at my plot on a regular basis.
Some hedgehogs. Well, I probably wouldn't see them because if they're out in
the daylight that means that they're not very well. But i'd love to see
activity of hedgehogs down there so that I know that they're going around eating all
the slugs and keeping all the pests down. If you could have hedgehogs on
your plot, you're going to be smashing it for not having many slugs on
the plot, because the hedgehogs will just go around scoffling them all up at
night and eating them all. So I've got hedgehog houses on my list at
the moment, but we'll see. We'll see if we get them. If
not, I'll probably end up buying them myself. Because I put everything back
from my podcasts back into my allotment, so I'm definitely going to hopefully get
some hedgehog homes down there. One of my big less things what was on
my list originally was all my bird feeders, my bird houses, which I've
managed to get and I'm so pleased I've managed to get them. I'm hopefully
going to get some more bird feeders eventually down there. I've got quite a
few, but you can never have enough bird feeders. I know it's expensive
filling them up and stuff like that, but it is great to see all
the different varieties of birds down on the allotment, and I absolutely love seeing
them and the bird to keep me company as well when I'm down there on
the plot on my own, which I do enjoy. I prefer to be
down there on my own, to be honest. But when mister Robbin's popping
down saying hello while I'm digging, while the blue tits are flying around,
and they've also look so babies at the moment, they all look so small
and cute and innocent. But yeah, we're getting so much wildlife popping them
on the plot, and soon the frogs will be out and about hopping around
getting ready for the mating season as well, so I'm looking forward to that.
So hopefully we're going to get some more frogs born down on our plot
this year, because you can never have enough frogs down on the plot.
So we've got lots to do down there, and there's always plenty to be
doing when it's snowing, like I said, whether it be looking for seeds
on what you're going to be growing this year, whether it be planning your
plot out, drawing it up, creating an action plan, there's always plenty
to be doing down at the Allotment. And it's amazing because over the last
few weeks, my Instagram accounts growing massive. I hit eleven thousand followers yesterday.
I'm getting more and more people following me again, and it's good to
get out there and share with you all exactly what I'm doing down at the
plot this year. So hopefully we're going to have a good yet down at
the Allotment this year, and I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you.
So yeah, make sure you do have a look at that Amazon list,
it's in the description. But hopefully you all have a fantastic day,
and the weekend is nearly here, so remember to keep smiling, keep shining
and keep gardening with Bet and everyone. Have a great day everyone, and
we'll speak to you all soon. And that wraps up another episode of Gardening
with Ben. Thank you for joining me in this journey. Remember, every
seed planted is a step towards a greener world, and every day is a
chance to grow something beautiful. Keep nurturing your gardens and your souls. Until
next time, I'm Gardening with Ben, reminding you to let your garden be
your sanctuary. Happy gardening, and see you in the next episode. Remember
keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.