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Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben, your go to podcast for

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all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether

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you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious

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about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the

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right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,

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inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make

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your outdoor space bloom with life. From a lotment adventures

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to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow

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your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,

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roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this

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year's gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome to Gardening with

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Ben for your Wednesday episode of the week. So today's episode,

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we're going to talk about looking after those tomato plants

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and trying to keep them alive until September two time,

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as there's obviously ways and means of encouraging them to

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keep growing and stay alive and keep fruiting as much

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as possible, because that's what you want, you don't. You

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want to get your money's worth from them plants, because yeah,

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they're not cheap to set up. Obviously, all the compost

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and the feed. They're quite expensive to run. Obviously, you

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get your money's worth if you get a decent crop

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off them, which is what you want. And obviously homegrown

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tomatoes tastes as a load better than shop ball ond And obviously,

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as you know, I've been looking after my tomatoes quite

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a bit at the moment. I tend to give them

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a look after every single week. Every single week, I

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spend about ten to fifteen minutes on the plants, just

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sorting them out, tidying them up and making sure they're

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looking the best possible as themselves. And if you do

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this on a weekly basis, you will keep on top

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of it and it's easy to look after. And I

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mean when you're looking after them, I mean tips like

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I give them food once a week. I take off

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any shoots what are growing in between the leaves called suckers.

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I also take off any lower leaves towards a bottom

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of the planet. I still keep some higher up, as

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obviously they do need some leaves on them, but I

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always take the lower leaf ones off that are growing,

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and any odd part of the tomato plants that are growing.

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Sometimes they can grow a bit out everywhere and from

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the base, so take off any extra plants that are

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growing from it. And yeah, I pick off any ripe tomatoes,

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but I always leave a couple of red ones around

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because obviously having the red ones there will help ripen

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the other ones because when they start to go red,

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that's when all the others start to go red as well.

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So keeping some red ones on the plant helps produce

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the scent what it sends out and ripens the other

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ones off. Now, tips to help encourage the plants to

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stay fruiting all the way up to September possibly October

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is through the soil health and the nutrition. And this

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is through maintain steady feeding with a balanced fertilizer and

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then switch to a high potassium tomato booster from late summer,

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a bit like tomato feed. And I always give mind

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some chicken pellets or some fish blood and bone, and

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that will help feed them because a lot of times

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during the big growth of the plant, it will have

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lost a lot of the food from the compost, so

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you have to fill in that food and keep the

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plants well fed. Some people often feed them about twice

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a week to once a week, so doing that really

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does help keep the plant hung less hungry than it

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actually is, so that's one little tip for you. Also

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top dress with well rotted compost or seaweed extract every

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three to four weeks. Seaweed has been proven to be

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a fantastic thing for feeding plants with. I've never tried

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it myself, but if obviously you've got a beach nearby

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and can get some seaweed, why not give it a

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try and let me know how well you actually get

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on using seaweed. I know it can produce really good plants,

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so I can obviously say you can obviously buy the

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liquid form of seaweed extract, which you can obviously add

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as a food as well, and feed them that way.

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So if you've got any seaweed lying around, have a

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try and let me know how you get on. Watering

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and mulching. Watering and mulching. Tips for tomatoes, water deep plate,

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but infrequently to courage strong roots, aim too, about one

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to five inches per week. So yeah, I tend to

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watch mine every single day at the moment because they

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are heavy drinkers and the compost does dry out pretty

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fast in my polytomal. It obviously depends where you're actually

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growing your tomatoes, whether you're growing them outside or inside.

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And obviously if you're growing them indoors, water them on

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a regular basis, pruning and training, remove the lower leaves

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and yellow in foliage to improve air circulation. Now, that's

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one thing I always keep an eyut for. I always

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keep out an eye out for the yellow leaves. If

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the yellow leaves set in, take them off and remove

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them straight away. Again, pinch off any suckers that pop

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off in the side of the planet. And when you

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say the suckers, they look like a little tomato plant

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what's growing from the side of the smart plant itself.

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So just pinch them off and either try growing. You

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can actually root them by putting them in some water

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and they'll get some roots on them and plant them,

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or you can just chuck them away. But yeah, it's

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probably a bit too late to start mortmat plants off now,

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so any suckers that arrive, I've just chuck them away.

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To be honest. Pests and diseases. Keep an eye out

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for pests and early signs of blight if it's or homeworms,

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but keep an eye out and try and eradicate it

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as soon as you see it. If obviously the sea

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blight growing on them touch wood. I never seem to

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have issues with blight on my martyrs. If it's starting

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to get cooler, when it's starting to get to like

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September October time, and you want to encourage them to

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keep warm, look after them by draping light horticultural fleece

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over the plants, and that will look after them and

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keep them warmer at night. So yeah, and harvest on

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a regular basis. Obviously, if there's a lot of red

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ones on them, take them all off, take them home

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and eat them. Obviously, when they're green and it's getting

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towards the end of the season, it's a struggle to

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get them to go ripen. Sometimes obviously you can use

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banana skins which will help ripen them, or there's other

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methods which I believe you can put them in brown

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paper bags, but I've never seen if that actually works

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or that. People will have to let me know if

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that does work. But yeah, that is the ways of

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keeping your smart plants going for the rest of the year.

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And if you look after them, they will certainly look

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after you because they are good providers and you can

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get fantastic crops from them, and if they're struggling to

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produce tomatoes, if you've got lots of flowers on them

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and no smates of appearing, pollinate them yourself or make

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sure that your greenhouse doors open so that the bees

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can come in and pollinate them. And when I say

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pollinate to yourself is getting like a child's paintbrush what

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they use for a paint set, and just touch each

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of the flowers to pollinate them themselves and hopefully get

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lots more to martes growing. So that is our tips

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and advice on keeping your smart plants going and producing

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as many tomatoes on the planet as possible. I hope

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that you found that useful. If you're new to this

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podcast members, drop us a follow, and feel free to

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leave a review if you're listening on fee on Spotify,

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as reviews will help boost the podcast. So until next time, everyone,

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remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Bet. Everyone.

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Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben.

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I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some

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tips to help your garden and allotment pride. Don't forget

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to stay connected with me on all social media for

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next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep

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gardening with Ben.