Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to
a podcast for all things green and growing. I'm Ben,
your allotment guide and here to help you cultivate your
garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned
gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you.
Each episode will dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to
make your garden and allotment thrive from planting, sewing, and growing.
We will share all the tips and add advice. We
will also have regular episodes talking about what we have
been up to on the a lotment. So sit back,
grab a brew and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and
welcome back to Gardening with Ben. I hope you're enjoying
that the podcasts are now back again. Like I said,
I do apologize that we've had a small little break
in between recording these episodes, but yeah, we're back now
now that we're settled into our new place. So, as
I mentioned in yesterday's podcast, today's podcast, we're going to
be talking about all the things that you can plant
in December, whether it be vegetables, whether it be through,
or whether it be flowers. And I know a lot
of the times people like to write down these little
tips and advice, So if you've not got a notepad,
make sure he keeps some notes on what you can
plant this month. Let me know if you're going to
be trying any of them. I always love to hear
back from you. All. You can anytime message me on
Instagram and I will always try and get back to you.
So let's start off talking about what we can grow
in the vegetable garden in December. You can't believe it's
December already. This year has gone absolutely so fast. But
I'm happy that it's gone fast because it's been an
awful year for growing. So fingers crossed. Next year is
going to be a much better one and hopefully we
get some fantastic produce. So what can you sew in
the vegetable garden this month? Well, last a couple of
months ago, we planted all our bulbs for our onions.
But now we need to start thinking about sewing those
onion seeds. Yes, sewing onion seeds. Now. I did a
little experiment quite a few years ago on growing onions
from seed and growing the sets as well, which are
the small little bulb ones, and actually the seed ones
did a lot better than the set variety. So I
may try starting some of these off myself, because I'd
love to try and get some nice, big onions again.
And if we start them off now, they'll get nice
and big in time for July June July time when
we harvest them. So the variety of onion seeds that
you need to start sewing at this time of month
ready for sewing planting out in March April time, or
the Alicia Craig variety of onion seeds. So if you
wanted to sew onion seeds this month, you can sew
Alicia Craig now. You can either start them now or
start them in January, but obviously starting them now you'll
get a head start and hopefully get some massive onions
for next year. So let's get started with some onions everyone.
I'll have to start some off myself and then you
can follow along and see how well my onions get
on this year. Next up is lettuce. Now, if you've
got a polytonal or a greenhouse, you can continue growing
lettuce throughout the winter months. You can't grow it outside
it's too cold. But if you've got a polytonel or
a greenhouse, especially a heated greenhouse, you can carry on
growing lettuce throughout the winter months. Now, the variety of
lettuce that you need to grow this month is winter
gem or Arctic king. But like I said, it needs
to be a nice, warm greenhouse. So if you wanted
to grow lettuce throughout the winter months, sow some winter
gem or Arctic king lettuce. Next up is broad beans. Now,
don't do what I did. Well, you can do what
I did, but I tend to not sew broad beans
into the soil straight outside because squirrels will get them.
Rats and they'll get them, mice will get them. Anything
I'll get them because there's not much growing around at
this time of year, so they're very vulnerable to wildlife
coming along and eating them. So I thought i'd start
mine off in seed trays. However, the squirrels got into
my shed and they ate a lot of them, so
you can never win. But however, I've got a little
plan to get some growing where no wildlife can get
any of them. So stay tuned for that video because
it's quite a good little tip, I'll tell you that.
But if you wanted to grow some broad beans this month,
this month is the month to grow Aquadulus claudia aquadults
Claudia broad beans. Now. Obviously, if you're sewing them now,
they'll be ready to harvest before the black fly even
up here. So if you don't like the black fly
all of them, now is the perfect time to be
picking those sewing those broad beans now. Obviously you can
still sew them in March, but they'll be ready to
harvest when the black flight are around, so it's up
to you. You can obviously try and grow above them,
but now is the time to grow Aquidullus claudia broad beans.
So next on is to fruit. What fruit can we
plant during the winter months. Well, obviously you can actually
plant most fruit trees at this time of year. Now
is the perfect time to be planting those fruit trees,
as it's wetter, it's damper, and the roots take on
the fruit trees. The fruit trees are dormant mainly at
this time year, they won't be growing the fruit. They'll
be concentrating on growing the branches and growing the roots
at this time of year. Hence why it's the best
time of year to grow plant your fruit trees. And
obviously if you're planting them in summertime, they'll be concentrated
on producing the fruit. That's when they usually produce the fruit.
And obviously they'll need water in more. That's why we
plant our fruit trees during the winter months. So any
fruit trees you can plant during December. You can obviously
plant your blueberries as well at this time of year.
If you're planting blueberries, make sure you plant them in
ericacious soil, which is acid soil, to help them flourish.
They prefer ericacious to normal soil. Next up is raspberries.
You can plant your raspberries this time of month, whether
it be summer fruits in raspberries or autumn fruit in raspberries,
whichever variety you want. Now is the perfect time to
be sowing them, planting them, not sowing them planting raspberries.
Next up is strawberry plants. Now, you know I absolutely
love strawberries. Now, obviously you can plant strawberries at this
time of year. The leaves will die off at this
time of the year because it is cold and the
frost will get them, but the plants won't die as
they can withstand cold weather. And make sure they planted out,
keep them well watered, and you should Inferruy be getting
some strawberries on him next year if you plant them now.
So if you're wanting strawberries, ask around, because they won't
have them in Greek garden centers. Friends, family who've got
cuttings off over strawberry plants. Ask around and see if
anyone's got an eight that you can plant at this
time of year. Rhubarb Now, if you wanted to start
some rhubarb off, now, it's the time to plant your
rhubarb crowns, as the dormant and the wet conditions in
December help the crowns to establish strong roads. However, don't
try and harvest them in the first year. You need
to set let us settle in, establish the crown in
the ground, and then you harvest it on the second year.
Don't be tempted to harvest it in the first year,
even if there's rhubarb on it, just let it grow
and pick it the year after. And obviously you can
plant your gooseberries as well at this time year. So
any fruit trees and bushes is the perfect time to
plant them during December month. Next up is flowers. Now,
what flowers can be plant in desamber? You might think
it's too cold to be planting flowers, but now is
the perfect time to be growing geraniums now. If you
want in some geraniums to flower next year in summer,
now is the time to be sowing geranium seeds indoors.
Place them in a warm, sunny window sill and they'll
be ready to bloom for a next standard period once
spring arrives. By sewing them like you can enjoy a
beautiful geranium for longer in your garden and containers. Now
I have grown geraniums from seeds, and they are actually
really easy to grow and obviously saved you a lot
of money because draining plants are quite expensive. I've dug
up all my training plants from last year and I've
put them inside the shed so that the frost doesn't
get them in the snow, and hopefully i can plant
them out again next year. So you can't actually keep
them going year after year if you look after them.
You can plant some spring bulbs still at this time
of year in garden centers, your officers see them selling
them off at this time of year. You can plant
your tulips, you can plant your daffodils, you can plant
your snow drops high sims. There's still plenty of times
to be planting your spring flowers. I've known people plant
them in sept in January and they still manage to
get some blooms on them. So if you see an
on offer, buy them and plant them and it'll encourage
the bees when they wake up from hibernation to come
around and help with pollination. Next up our hellabores known
as the Christmas Those elabows are a winter garden essential.
These hardy perennials thrive in cool temperature and can planted
in December to bring delicate blooms to your garden through
late winter and early spring. They are elegant flowers in
shades of white, pink, and purple, add a soft, enchanting
touch to any winter landscape. So if she wanted to
add some color to your garden, add some hellabores as
well as that, you can also plant your cyclemen with
the dainty flowers in attractive foliage. Cyclemen make a wonderful
addition to a winter garden. They're thriving the cool temperatures
and can be planted in sheltered outdoor spaces or kept
in those as a houseplant. Cyclemen blooms in shades of pink, red,
and white and will add a charming touch to your
garden throughout winter. If you wanted to add some other
winter color, you can obviously plant winter pansies, and you
can also plant your primroses at this time year, so
there's still plenty of flowers that you can plant during
this month to add lots of color to your garden
because there's not much color around in your garden at
this time of year. So hopefully those will give you
some ideas on what plants you can plant in the garden.
So if you're listening to this podcast, make sure you
do get in touch and let me know what you're
going to play planting this month. I'm definitely going to
be a plant of onion seeds, so make sure you
stay tuned for that YouTube video, and if you want
to follow along, feel free to follow along while I
plant mine and let's see who does the best onions.
I know it probably won't be me, I'm very honest,
but yeah, I hope you've enjoyed this episode today and
I hope you've got some useful information from it. Tomorrow's episode,
we'll're talking about all the jobs which need to be
done in the garden and allotment this month to keep
your gardens looking absolutely fantastic and encouraging them for next year.
So until next time, everyone, remember keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening. We bet everyone. Thank you for joining
me on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope
you have found some useful tips and inspiration for your
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