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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

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to Make a Plan podcast. This
is where we're going to dig into the

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art on signs of gardening. Every
episode we sow the seeds of knowledge with

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you, helping you cultivate the green
space in your gardens and amortment into a

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flourishing oasis. Whether you're a seasoned
green form or just starting to get your

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hands dirty, join us as we
plot out the perfect garden or allotment,

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one plant at a time. Let's
turn those garden dreams into reality. Grab

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your gloves or grab your coffee.
It's time to grow with Gardening with Ben.

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So welcome to this brand new episode. It's been a few days since

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his last one, but we're going
to be putting out some more episodes for

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you to listen to. Yes,
this podcast is backup of Runny and we're

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going to keep the regular episodes coming
to you and lots of you have been

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listening, so thank you for everybody
that's been listening, so hopefully these podcasts

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will start to take off again.
So it's Saturday, and today is the

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day when we start to make our
plans for the allotment. And as it's

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the weekend, it's a good time
to get your notebooks out or get your

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to do lists out and make a
plan. And this is one thing that

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I always do when I'm going to
the allotment. Either the time before I

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go to the plot, I have
a look around, I think I need

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to do that, I need to
do that, I need to do that,

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And the only way I get them
completed is by making a plan.

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And this has worked so well for
me over the years. And the plan

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is on my plot is to get
all finished and ready for April May time,

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so it's all cleared, all weed
free, all the beds have been

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built, and it's all looking spectacular
and sorted and hopefully all painted, and

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all the paths sorted, all the
beds ready for planting out come the end

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of May June time when the weather
starts to get warmer. But every time

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that I go to the plot,
I always make a list of the jobs

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I'm gonna do, even if it's
just like sorting out my seed trays,

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washing my seed trays, sweeping a
path, clearing the weeds in a certain

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area, or pruning my roses back. Each job then you can tick it

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off and you feel like you've accomplished
it. But never set yourself too many

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jobs that you won't ever get to
the end of it. Set yourself possibly

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four or five different jobs to do
while you're down at the plot, and

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that way you hope that you can
get them all achieved and get sorted.

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And that's one thing that I always
do at my allotment is that when I

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go down there, I think I'm
going to clear that area, or I'm

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going to sort out that area and
get that weeded, or I'm going to

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weed four four beds and get them
tided ready for next year. And you

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might think why am I weeding all
my beds now? Because they'll all grown

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back by me. But once you've
weeded them all and got all the main

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roots out, it's good to easy
to keep on top of that, and

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then you can just keep holding it
and keep them down. As long as

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you've got those main big roots out, they won't grow back as fast.

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And if you just keep holding it
every week, then they'll never take hold

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and the big roots won't grow again. So it's easy to keep on top

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of and keep it maintained. So
I say myself, but I never keep

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my plot weed free. I can
tell you these things, but I never

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always doing myself. So I do
try, but I always do actually make

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a list of the jobs that I
need doing. And that is why I've

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accomplished so much down at my allotment
over this wind period so far. Like

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I've got my shed rebuilt, I've
got all my fruit try area prune,

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I've got it all wood chipped.
I've wood chipped all my top area of

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my plot, which looks absolutely fantastic
now. And over this weekend my plan

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is to get some beds rebuilt,
paths relaid, and hopefully straightened up.

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Because when you look at my plot. My paths aren't straight whatsoever. They're

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not in line. So I'm going
to try and get them as straight as

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I can. They won't be straight, but they'll be straighter than what they

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are now. But yeah, I
want to get it looking a bit more

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better this year. So that's the
plan. And we've got lots of wood

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to use, so we've got plenty
of work that we can be doing,

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and I just wanted to look absolutely
spectacular my plot. I want it to

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be a sure stopping plot this year
because I do feel like I've let a

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lot of you down last year with
my plot. It wasn't up to scratch.

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I didn't grow much, I didn't
do no podcasts, so I had

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not much to show last year on
my plot. But I want to show

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you how putting in the hard work
you can get great results. And that's

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what A plan on doing on the
plot this year to make make up for

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it and putting so much time and
effort into it that I do want to

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have a good crop and a good
outcome to show you and fingers crossed,

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we are on the right track and
it's coming together pretty well and pretty fast.

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Touch wood. We've not had any
snow here where I'm in Sheffield.

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We've been getting from rain, but
it's not been heavy rain that I can't

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actually do any work, so I
am getting plenty done. I have seen

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snow forecast possibly for next week,
so we may not get some stuff done

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next week, but we are back
at work on Monday, so hopefully Saturday

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and Sunday we're going to crack on, get lots of work done and hopefully

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have some good results to show for
it. So that's what I'm tending to

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do. I'm writing my list here
on Friday night because it's Friday when I'm

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recording this podcast. I'm writing my
list of all the jobs that I want

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to get done on my plot,
even if it's just like fill the bird

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feeders back up, or sweep a
certain path, or tidy my polytunnel up,

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or water mass seeds, what are
in my polyton on my strawberry plants,

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even if it's just small little jobs
like that, just write them down

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and then you can tick them off
once you've done them. And sometimes when

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I'm like doing this stuff, I
plan on what time I'm going to get

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to other hotment, like say ten
o'clock in the morning, and I'll leave

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at one o'clock and I'll give myself
time timings as well, and I'll spend

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like thirty minutes on one area or
thirty minutes on another area, or ten

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minutes pruning my rose tree rock so
that I know that I can try and

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fit it all in. If I
do it faster than that time, then

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I know that I've got all the
jobs done and it's achieved, and then

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you can possibly do a few more
jobs, or you can have an early

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finish or sit back and actually relax
and enjoy your allotment. And that's how

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I usually get all the jobs done
on my plot by making a list of

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the things that need doing down there. So yeah, that is pretty much

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what we plan on doing this Saturday, making us list getting lots done.

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I won't say the other word getting
lots done, but yeah, hopefully we

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can get lots done this weekend.
So if you're listening to this episode,

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please please please let me know what
you're getting up to a down at the

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allotment this year, not this year, this weekend, this Saturday Sunday.

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I will be putting a post on
my Instagram on Saturday, so comment on

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it. Let me know what you're
getting up to or down at the allotment,

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what your plans are, and yeah, hopefully we'll get absolutely loads done.

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Oh and I'm hoping to plant some
seeds, but that'll be in our

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roundup podcast where I talk about what
I've got up to recently, so you'll

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have to wait and see what seeds
I'm going to be planting hopefully this weekend.

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We've got the seeds ready, we've
got them dried out. They're not

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smort seeds, but we won't tell
you anymore, so you'll have to make

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sure you come back and stay tuned
for the podcast coming up talking about what

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we get what we've been up to
down at the plot. So yeah,

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if you've not hit this follower button
or this subscribe button on this podcast,

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If you've not left a review of
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On Apple and Spotify, you can
leave a review and it does help push

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it out a lot more if you
leave one, because the more reviews,

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the more people it will get to. And there's been loads of people that

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have done it so far, so
thank you to all those that I've done

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it, so we shall see you
next episode. Until then, remember keep

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smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with Ben. Everybody enjoy and that

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wraps up another episode of Gardening with
Ben. Thank you for joining me in

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this journey. Remember, every seed
planted is a step towards a greener world,

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and every day is a chance to
grow something beautiful. Keep nurturing your

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gardens and your souls. Until next
time, I'm gardening with Ben, reminding

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you to let your garden be your
sanctuary. Happy gardening, and see you

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in the next episode. Remember keep
smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening

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with Ben.