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
to Make a Plan podcast. This is where we're going to dig into the
art on signs of gardening. Every episode we sow the seeds of knowledge with
you, helping you cultivate the green space in your gardens and amortment into a
flourishing oasis. Whether you're a seasoned green form or just starting to get your
hands dirty, join us as we plot out the perfect garden or allotment,
one plant at a time. Let's turn those garden dreams into reality. Grab
your gloves or grab your coffee. It's time to grow with Gardening with Ben.
So welcome to this brand new episode. It's been a few days since
his last one, but we're going to be putting out some more episodes for
you to listen to. Yes, this podcast is backup of Runny and we're
going to keep the regular episodes coming to you and lots of you have been
listening, so thank you for everybody that's been listening, so hopefully these podcasts
will start to take off again. So it's Saturday, and today is the
day when we start to make our plans for the allotment. And as it's
the weekend, it's a good time to get your notebooks out or get your
to do lists out and make a plan. And this is one thing that
I always do when I'm going to the allotment. Either the time before I
go to the plot, I have a look around, I think I need
to do that, I need to do that, I need to do that,
And the only way I get them completed is by making a plan.
And this has worked so well for me over the years. And the plan
is on my plot is to get all finished and ready for April May time,
so it's all cleared, all weed free, all the beds have been
built, and it's all looking spectacular and sorted and hopefully all painted, and
all the paths sorted, all the beds ready for planting out come the end
of May June time when the weather starts to get warmer. But every time
that I go to the plot, I always make a list of the jobs
I'm gonna do, even if it's just like sorting out my seed trays,
washing my seed trays, sweeping a path, clearing the weeds in a certain
area, or pruning my roses back. Each job then you can tick it
off and you feel like you've accomplished it. But never set yourself too many
jobs that you won't ever get to the end of it. Set yourself possibly
four or five different jobs to do while you're down at the plot, and
that way you hope that you can get them all achieved and get sorted.
And that's one thing that I always do at my allotment is that when I
go down there, I think I'm going to clear that area, or I'm
going to sort out that area and get that weeded, or I'm going to
weed four four beds and get them tided ready for next year. And you
might think why am I weeding all my beds now? Because they'll all grown
back by me. But once you've weeded them all and got all the main
roots out, it's good to easy to keep on top of that, and
then you can just keep holding it and keep them down. As long as
you've got those main big roots out, they won't grow back as fast.
And if you just keep holding it every week, then they'll never take hold
and the big roots won't grow again. So it's easy to keep on top
of and keep it maintained. So I say myself, but I never keep
my plot weed free. I can tell you these things, but I never
always doing myself. So I do try, but I always do actually make
a list of the jobs that I need doing. And that is why I've
accomplished so much down at my allotment over this wind period so far. Like
I've got my shed rebuilt, I've got all my fruit try area prune,
I've got it all wood chipped. I've wood chipped all my top area of
my plot, which looks absolutely fantastic now. And over this weekend my plan
is to get some beds rebuilt, paths relaid, and hopefully straightened up.
Because when you look at my plot. My paths aren't straight whatsoever. They're
not in line. So I'm going to try and get them as straight as
I can. They won't be straight, but they'll be straighter than what they
are now. But yeah, I want to get it looking a bit more
better this year. So that's the plan. And we've got lots of wood
to use, so we've got plenty of work that we can be doing,
and I just wanted to look absolutely spectacular my plot. I want it to
be a sure stopping plot this year because I do feel like I've let a
lot of you down last year with my plot. It wasn't up to scratch.
I didn't grow much, I didn't do no podcasts, so I had
not much to show last year on my plot. But I want to show
you how putting in the hard work you can get great results. And that's
what A plan on doing on the plot this year to make make up for
it and putting so much time and effort into it that I do want to
have a good crop and a good outcome to show you and fingers crossed,
we are on the right track and it's coming together pretty well and pretty fast.
Touch wood. We've not had any snow here where I'm in Sheffield.
We've been getting from rain, but it's not been heavy rain that I can't
actually do any work, so I am getting plenty done. I have seen
snow forecast possibly for next week, so we may not get some stuff done
next week, but we are back at work on Monday, so hopefully Saturday
and Sunday we're going to crack on, get lots of work done and hopefully
have some good results to show for it. So that's what I'm tending to
do. I'm writing my list here on Friday night because it's Friday when I'm
recording this podcast. I'm writing my list of all the jobs that I want
to get done on my plot, even if it's just like fill the bird
feeders back up, or sweep a certain path, or tidy my polytunnel up,
or water mass seeds, what are in my polyton on my strawberry plants,
even if it's just small little jobs like that, just write them down
and then you can tick them off once you've done them. And sometimes when
I'm like doing this stuff, I plan on what time I'm going to get
to other hotment, like say ten o'clock in the morning, and I'll leave
at one o'clock and I'll give myself time timings as well, and I'll spend
like thirty minutes on one area or thirty minutes on another area, or ten
minutes pruning my rose tree rock so that I know that I can try and
fit it all in. If I do it faster than that time, then
I know that I've got all the jobs done and it's achieved, and then
you can possibly do a few more jobs, or you can have an early
finish or sit back and actually relax and enjoy your allotment. And that's how
I usually get all the jobs done on my plot by making a list of
the things that need doing down there. So yeah, that is pretty much
what we plan on doing this Saturday, making us list getting lots done.
I won't say the other word getting lots done, but yeah, hopefully we
can get lots done this weekend. So if you're listening to this episode,
please please please let me know what you're getting up to a down at the
allotment this year, not this year, this weekend, this Saturday Sunday.
I will be putting a post on my Instagram on Saturday, so comment on
it. Let me know what you're getting up to or down at the allotment,
what your plans are, and yeah, hopefully we'll get absolutely loads done.
Oh and I'm hoping to plant some seeds, but that'll be in our
roundup podcast where I talk about what I've got up to recently, so you'll
have to wait and see what seeds I'm going to be planting hopefully this weekend.
We've got the seeds ready, we've got them dried out. They're not
smort seeds, but we won't tell you anymore, so you'll have to make
sure you come back and stay tuned for the podcast coming up talking about what
we get what we've been up to down at the plot. So yeah,
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it, so we shall see you next episode. Until then, remember keep
smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everybody enjoy 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.