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Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll 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 allotment adventures to

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

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

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

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gardening journey. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening with

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Ben for your Friday's episode. The weekend is finally here,

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Thank goodness. It's time to enjoy the weekend. It's time

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to get back in the gardens, and it's time to

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enjoy being out in the fresh air again. If you've

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been stuck inside all week, it's a savior when you

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can spend time back in your garden, back enjoying what

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you're doing. And I know I certainly do. I love

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being back outside. I've being stuck inside all week. I

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do love to be out in the garden, even if

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I'm not doing anything. I just love to sit there

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and enjoy being out in the fresh air. Now, I

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do pop down to my allotment a couple of times

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in the week, which I have done this week. And

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while I've been down there this week, I've popped into

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my polytunnel. I've checked that the water irrigation system still working,

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which it is, thankfully. We're having to fill the wheel

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have been back up every few days, but it's keeping

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them wet, it's keeping them moist, and yeah, it's saved

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water in them. And I've noticed that I've got a

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sudden increase of tomatoes growing on my tomatoes plants. Whether

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it's because I pinched the tops off them and they're

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now starting to concentrate on growing the tomatoes maybe, or

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it's down to the irrigation system. It's either one. Whatever

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I've done, it made Martin Marts grow, So hopefully we'll

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keep them fruiting all the way up to October, which

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would be absolutely amazing. And I had a look at

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my melon plants as well down there, and this small

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little melon up we're there at the weekend. It's starting

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to swell up pretty fast, so it's growing quite fast

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in the polytunnel, which is absolutely amazing. Now I still

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don't know what variety of these are. It's looking like

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there could be possibly a watermelon because of the shape

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of them. They're not like a ball shape, they're like

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long and oval, so I'm guessing there could be watermelon.

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So we'll have to wait and see and see what

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we actually have grown down at the allotment. The thing

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it's crossed it is a watermelon because I've never grown

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watermelons before, so that will be a for me. And

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if I get one off out of all the plants

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that I've got, I will be absolutely amazed. So make

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sure you stay tuned to see how well our watermelons

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are doing. I keep sharing updates on my Instagram and

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on my Facebook, so make sure you're following them. What

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else have we been up to. We've checked on us

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pumpkins today and yes they are swelling as well. All

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this rain that we've had this week has done the

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pumpkins absolutely fantastic and one of them is starting to

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go or enjoy ready, so that's a good sign that

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it is ripening. We just needed to grow a bit bigger.

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It's about the size of a small football. At the moment,

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it's not the size of a big football, but a

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smallish football, so we do need it to expand and

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grow a lot more and hopefully get a lot bigger.

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We've also been out and bought August edition of Grow

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your Own magazine. I've not opened it yet. I need

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to a grand reveal, show what seeds are inside, and

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see if we can use any of these far sowing

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this month. We've also been to Moison's, where I always

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have a sneaky look at all the reduced plants, and

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never buy plants at full price. That is one rule

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that I stick to. I always buy them when they're reduced,

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and most often supermarkets will reduce plants because they don't

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keep on top of watering. And today I have bought

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some large caners, canners or however you say. I'm not

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very good at pronouncing things, but yeah, we bought two

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large canners. They were meant to be eight pound each,

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but these were reduced to two pound, so I thought,

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bar again, I'm getting them. So I've got them. No

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idea what I need to do with them, because I'm

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not good with flowers. But we'll have a read up

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and we'll keep you updated on what we need to

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do with them and how will they grow, and if

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anybody else grows them out there, send me a message

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on Instagram and let me know how to grow them,

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because I would like to know. And hopefully I think

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they do have flowers on them, so yeah, we'll see

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if we can actually get them growing and get some

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great beauty on them. So we've done that. What health

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have we done this week down at the allotment. We've

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not done much. Else, We've done some harvesting. We've been

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harvesting our tomatoes, of course on a regular basis every

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time I go down to the allotment this mar to

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marts pic but I'm not complaining because they only last

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me a couple of days and then I'm back down

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to the allotment and harvesting some more. So they keep

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me going and just the right amount of tomatoes for me,

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not too many, not too or less, and I can

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just keep on top of eating them all, which is

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absolutely amazing. So that is basically what we have been

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up to down at the allotment this week. Obviously, in

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tomorrow's podcast, we're going to talk about our plans for

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the allotment for the weekend, planning on doing and what

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we're gonna hopefully get done. Oh that's another thing. Yes,

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I've got to tell you this. I've also purchased a

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new microphone for doing my videos with as well. It's

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one of the DGI mics, which is apparently one of

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the best ones that you can get for filming videos.

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It's got noise reduction on it as well, so then

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when I'm doing my videos in my polytunnel and you

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can hear screaming and shouting from the park or the

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wind and the rain, you won't hear none of that anymore.

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So it'll be nice and clear and hopefully produce better videos. So,

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as I always say, everything that goes from these podcasts

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and from my videos goes back into my creation of

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doing stuff for you guys, So thank you for those

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that do listen to the podcast and everything. So it

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all goes back to giving you more content, which I

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absolutely love. If I could do this full time, I

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certainly would do. So it makes sure if you listen

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to these podcasts a million times a day and then

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I'll be able to retire. But yeah, I do love

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it so much and yeah, like I said, tomorrow's podcast,

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we'll be talking about everything that we're hoping to get

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done down at the plot. Hopefully we're going to have

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a busy weekend down at the plot. This weekend, I've

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got a lot of things planned and hopefully film a

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lot of videos for you for Facebook and Instagram and

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sharing more tips and advice with you will and obviously

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recording more podcasts for the week ahead. I hope you've

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enjoyed all this week's podcast. We have managed to get

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one out every single day for you, so we'll try

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again next week. So until next time, everyone, remember keep smiling,

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keep shining, and keep gardening. We bet everyone, thanks for

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

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

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to help your garden and a lotment tried. Don't forget

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to stay connected with me on all social media for

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even more gardening inspiration, updates and behind the scenes content.

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You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just

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search Gardening with Ben, hit that follow button or subscribe

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button and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until

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

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gardening with Ben