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 ad 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. In today's episode, we're
going to talk about everything that we have got up
to down at our allotment over the weekend, giving you
an insight into what we've been doing. Well, if you
don't follow me on YouTube, you would have not seen
that I've done absolutely loads this weekend, So make sure
you go across and follow my YouTube channel and you
can see it all in live action what I've been
getting up to. Plus, I've shared a weekly to of
my plot so that you can see what's growing and
what's not growing well. This weekend has been absolutely busy, busy, busy,
busy down there at the allotment this weekend, and it's
been actually a decent weekend. It was that fine rain
what does really wet you, But we managed to get
lots done anyway down there, which I'm impressed with. Again,
like I always say, is that I write a list
of the jobs that I want to do while I'm
at the allotment, and I tick them off as I
get them done, so I never give myself too much
to do. I just give myself enough to be able
to complete the tasks. So this weekend was about finishing
off all my lot beds, getting them all dug over,
as I wanted to get that out of the way
so that I can concentrate on doing the tougher areas
and getting them done. But my main part of my
plot was the main bit that I wanted to get
finished because obviously that's where I grow on my fruit
and veg throughout the year. And once I've done that,
then at least I know that's completed. Yes, the weeds
will grow back, Yes the roots will grow back, and
all the bind weed will grow back through the soil.
But it's all dug over now, and if we get
any frosts, it'll break down the soil, it'll break down
any weeds water in there, and it'll help get the
soil ready for next year. And we can just keep
holding it every weekend now to keep it weed free.
Speaker 2: Fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: That's the plan anyway. Come back springtime and you'll see
it all like a jungle again. But yeah, we've got
it all weeded now and dug over. So the next
main plant will be to get all my paths sorted
as that's the next important job of my allotment, and
then it'll be a case of repairing all my beds,
getting them all painted and looking fresh ready for next year.
But obviously I can't paint them until it's dryer weather
because it'll just wash off again, so there's no point
painting up through the winter. I'll paint them again in
the springtime to make them look fresh for the year ahead.
That's the plant anywhere. But we've got all that to
do then. We've also been clearing out all the bind
weed what's been growing along all my fence now. The
reason why they call it bind weed because it is
an absolute bind. If you've ever dug up bind weed,
it just comes out like spaghetti, and if you pull
a long piece out, it makes your day. If it snaps,
you like no, because you've got to find the piece
what is connected to. When you're digging up bind weed,
you have to get out every single bit of route
or it will grow back, and it can grow back
even worse. So the more you get out, the better
chance of getting on top of the bind we'd I'll
never get on top of it, I know that for sure,
because if you've got membrane down for paths, it grows
all underneath the membrane and everything like that. It grows
under all the paving stones. So you can't get out
unless you absolutely rip all your allotment apart and start
from scratch and dig every bit of soil over, which
I take forever. But as long as it's not getting
into my beds, digging them over and clearing them every year,
I'm keeping on top of it.
Speaker 2: That's the plan.
Speaker 1: So we've got that to do. What else have we done?
Speaker 2: We've been.
Speaker 1: Also we've been obviously feeding mister pussy cat. If you're
not aware, we do have a pussy cat living on
my allotment, which is good. It's absolutely bulliant. It had
kittens the other week, but the kittens must have wandered
off now or fox must have got them or something
like that, because I've not seen them around for a bit.
Speaker 2: The mother cat is still.
Speaker 1: Around, which is really good, and we're feeding on a
daily basis as well, so that she's got enough food
and energy to keep her going. But obviously having a
cat around on the allotment, it gets all the rats
and all the mice, which is brilliant. It keeps on
top of them, which is what we want. It won't
catch the squirrels, unfortunately, they're too fast for the cat.
But the rats haven't been an issue at all whatsoever
this year. I've not seen any signs of rats on
my allotment, which is absolutely perfect. And it's so nice
because as soon as I drive onto the allotment, it
must be able to hear what my car sounds like.
And it sat waiting at my gate, and then it
runs through, and then it waits for me on my
strawberry patch while I've going to my shed. Give it
some food and then it will sneak in and eat
it all. And yeah, we've been doing that. A lot
of people have said that obviously I need to get
neuted or whatever. But it's a wild cat. It's just
out in the area. It's not my responsibility, and it
seems happy enough with how it's living. And yeah, it's
keeping the population down on the allotment, which is fantastic.
So I'm happy with how all that's going. But then
obviously I'm looking after my birds. Now we're getting lots
of birds down there. I mentioned in one of my
Facebook posts a bit back that I'd seen a sparrow.
Speaker 2: Hawk down near the allotment.
Speaker 1: It literally dived bombed me as all walking on and
I thought, I'm not seen no birds around for ages,
because usually even say see at least robbins around, like
following you every time you're digging around. But there'd be
no robbins around whatsoever, and I started to worry. But
thankfully this weekend I've started to see the birds coming
back to the allotment site, which is fantastic. I've seen
some I think they call them caught it so like
black and white, but I've seen a few of them.
I've seen a few robbins around. I've seen some blackbirds around,
which is good because obviously spiralhawks are birds of prey
and if they've eaten.
Speaker 2: On an allopment or in a garden, you.
Speaker 1: Don't see the birds around for quite a bit until
they because they do know, they do know that there's
a predator around, and they'll stay away. So thankfully I've
started seeing the birds around again. The bird feeders are
getting all eating as soon as I'm putting them out,
And yes, mister squivel is loving the bird feeders, is
going up and down them all and eating all the
nuts and everything on them.
Speaker 2: But on my new one, what I.
Speaker 1: Purchased, what I shared online recently, the one on the pole,
I purchased like a plastic case what goes over it
to stop the squivels and rats crawling up the pole
to get to the bird feed So thankfully the birds.
Speaker 2: Will only get that one, which is good.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think that or what we've been up to,
really it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is
a lot if you get me, because it's kept me busy,
and I'm getting down there at like nine o'clock in
the morning and I'm not leaving till one o'clock. Yeah,
I could stay a few more hours, but it's starting
to turn cold now, starting to turn nippy, so we
have to come home and warm up again. But I'm
only getting two days down there at the moment. Now
that I'm back working normal hours, and yeah, I'm absolutely
loving it, and I'm ticking off all them jobs and
fingers crossed by. I'm giving myself until the end of November.
I want my allotment completely cleared, all the weeds cleared,
all the paths done, all the borders clear. That's what
I'm giving myself to end of November, and then in December,
I'm going to concentrate on giving my shed a real
spruce up, paying all inside it. I want to put
new shelving up, i want to put new flooring down.
I want it's all to make really nice because I'm
going to be filming lots more content inside in my
shed and sharing tips and advice, and I'd love to
have a little shed just to sit in and do
some films and do some potting up and stuff like that.
So I'm going to spruce the whole over my inside
of my shed. Last year I was busy with rebuilding
my shed because it all collapsed but this year I
want to concentrate on the inside of it and sprucing
it all up and making it look nice. And yeah,
I know you don't need to spend money on a shed,
but I don't have a garden, and this is where
I get my enjoyment out of mostly, so I'm going
to end up spending a bit of money on inside,
making it all look nice and fancy for next year,
and hopefully growing lots and lots of spring flowers and
vegetables in it next year. So we'll have to stay
tuned for that. That's what I've been up to down
at the allotment this weekend. Another busy weekend, but yeah,
this podcast will be back again tomorrow with a new
episode at seven o'clock. We might be talking about garlic
and onions, so stay tuned for that. And yeah, I
hope you enjoying it. Make sure you leave a like
on it, leave a comment and leave a review as well.
If you're listening on once that you can do that
on So until next time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening with Ben.
Speaker 2: Everyone, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 1: On this episode of Gardening with Men. I hope you
have found some useful tips and inspiration for.
Speaker 2: Your own gardening, and a lotment journey.
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