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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to

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a podcast for all things green and growing. I'm Ben,

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your allotment guide and here to help you cultivate your

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garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned

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gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you.

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Each episode will dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to

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make your garden and allotment thrive from planting, sewing, and growing.

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We will share all the tips and ad advice. We

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will also have regular episodes talking about what we have

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been up to on the a lotment. So sit back,

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grab a brew and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and

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welcome back to Gardening with Ben. In today's episode, we're

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going to talk about everything that we have got up

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to down at our allotment over the weekend, giving you

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an insight into what we've been doing. Well, if you

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don't follow me on YouTube, you would have not seen

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that I've done absolutely loads this weekend, So make sure

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you go across and follow my YouTube channel and you

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can see it all in live action what I've been

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getting up to. Plus, I've shared a weekly to of

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my plot so that you can see what's growing and

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what's not growing well. This weekend has been absolutely busy, busy, busy,

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busy down there at the allotment this weekend, and it's

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been actually a decent weekend. It was that fine rain

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what does really wet you, But we managed to get

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lots done anyway down there, which I'm impressed with. Again,

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like I always say, is that I write a list

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of the jobs that I want to do while I'm

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at the allotment, and I tick them off as I

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get them done, so I never give myself too much

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to do. I just give myself enough to be able

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to complete the tasks. So this weekend was about finishing

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off all my lot beds, getting them all dug over,

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as I wanted to get that out of the way

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so that I can concentrate on doing the tougher areas

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and getting them done. But my main part of my

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plot was the main bit that I wanted to get

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finished because obviously that's where I grow on my fruit

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and veg throughout the year. And once I've done that,

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then at least I know that's completed. Yes, the weeds

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will grow back, Yes the roots will grow back, and

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all the bind weed will grow back through the soil.

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But it's all dug over now, and if we get

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any frosts, it'll break down the soil, it'll break down

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any weeds water in there, and it'll help get the

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soil ready for next year. And we can just keep

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holding it every weekend now to keep it weed free.

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Speaker 2: Fingers crossed.

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Speaker 1: That's the plan anyway. Come back springtime and you'll see

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it all like a jungle again. But yeah, we've got

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it all weeded now and dug over. So the next

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main plant will be to get all my paths sorted

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as that's the next important job of my allotment, and

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then it'll be a case of repairing all my beds,

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getting them all painted and looking fresh ready for next year.

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But obviously I can't paint them until it's dryer weather

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because it'll just wash off again, so there's no point

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painting up through the winter. I'll paint them again in

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the springtime to make them look fresh for the year ahead.

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That's the plant anywhere. But we've got all that to

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do then. We've also been clearing out all the bind

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weed what's been growing along all my fence now. The

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reason why they call it bind weed because it is

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an absolute bind. If you've ever dug up bind weed,

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it just comes out like spaghetti, and if you pull

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a long piece out, it makes your day. If it snaps,

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you like no, because you've got to find the piece

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what is connected to. When you're digging up bind weed,

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you have to get out every single bit of route

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or it will grow back, and it can grow back

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even worse. So the more you get out, the better

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chance of getting on top of the bind we'd I'll

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never get on top of it, I know that for sure,

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because if you've got membrane down for paths, it grows

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all underneath the membrane and everything like that. It grows

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under all the paving stones. So you can't get out

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unless you absolutely rip all your allotment apart and start

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from scratch and dig every bit of soil over, which

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I take forever. But as long as it's not getting

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into my beds, digging them over and clearing them every year,

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I'm keeping on top of it.

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Speaker 2: That's the plan.

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Speaker 1: So we've got that to do. What else have we done?

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Speaker 2: We've been.

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Speaker 1: Also we've been obviously feeding mister pussy cat. If you're

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not aware, we do have a pussy cat living on

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my allotment, which is good. It's absolutely bulliant. It had

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kittens the other week, but the kittens must have wandered

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off now or fox must have got them or something

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like that, because I've not seen them around for a bit.

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Speaker 2: The mother cat is still.

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Speaker 1: Around, which is really good, and we're feeding on a

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daily basis as well, so that she's got enough food

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and energy to keep her going. But obviously having a

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cat around on the allotment, it gets all the rats

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and all the mice, which is brilliant. It keeps on

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top of them, which is what we want. It won't

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catch the squirrels, unfortunately, they're too fast for the cat.

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But the rats haven't been an issue at all whatsoever

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this year. I've not seen any signs of rats on

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my allotment, which is absolutely perfect. And it's so nice

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because as soon as I drive onto the allotment, it

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must be able to hear what my car sounds like.

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And it sat waiting at my gate, and then it

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runs through, and then it waits for me on my

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strawberry patch while I've going to my shed. Give it

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some food and then it will sneak in and eat

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it all. And yeah, we've been doing that. A lot

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of people have said that obviously I need to get

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neuted or whatever. But it's a wild cat. It's just

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out in the area. It's not my responsibility, and it

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seems happy enough with how it's living. And yeah, it's

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keeping the population down on the allotment, which is fantastic.

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So I'm happy with how all that's going. But then

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obviously I'm looking after my birds. Now we're getting lots

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of birds down there. I mentioned in one of my

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Facebook posts a bit back that I'd seen a sparrow.

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Speaker 2: Hawk down near the allotment.

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Speaker 1: It literally dived bombed me as all walking on and

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I thought, I'm not seen no birds around for ages,

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because usually even say see at least robbins around, like

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following you every time you're digging around. But there'd be

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no robbins around whatsoever, and I started to worry. But

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thankfully this weekend I've started to see the birds coming

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back to the allotment site, which is fantastic. I've seen

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some I think they call them caught it so like

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black and white, but I've seen a few of them.

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I've seen a few robbins around. I've seen some blackbirds around,

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which is good because obviously spiralhawks are birds of prey

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and if they've eaten.

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Speaker 2: On an allopment or in a garden, you.

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Speaker 1: Don't see the birds around for quite a bit until

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they because they do know, they do know that there's

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a predator around, and they'll stay away. So thankfully I've

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started seeing the birds around again. The bird feeders are

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getting all eating as soon as I'm putting them out,

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And yes, mister squivel is loving the bird feeders, is

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going up and down them all and eating all the

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nuts and everything on them.

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Speaker 2: But on my new one, what I.

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Speaker 1: Purchased, what I shared online recently, the one on the pole,

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I purchased like a plastic case what goes over it

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to stop the squivels and rats crawling up the pole

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to get to the bird feed So thankfully the birds.

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Speaker 2: Will only get that one, which is good.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, I think that or what we've been up to,

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really it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is

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a lot if you get me, because it's kept me busy,

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and I'm getting down there at like nine o'clock in

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the morning and I'm not leaving till one o'clock. Yeah,

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I could stay a few more hours, but it's starting

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to turn cold now, starting to turn nippy, so we

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have to come home and warm up again. But I'm

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only getting two days down there at the moment. Now

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that I'm back working normal hours, and yeah, I'm absolutely

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loving it, and I'm ticking off all them jobs and

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fingers crossed by. I'm giving myself until the end of November.

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I want my allotment completely cleared, all the weeds cleared,

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all the paths done, all the borders clear. That's what

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I'm giving myself to end of November, and then in December,

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I'm going to concentrate on giving my shed a real

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spruce up, paying all inside it. I want to put

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new shelving up, i want to put new flooring down.

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I want it's all to make really nice because I'm

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going to be filming lots more content inside in my

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shed and sharing tips and advice, and I'd love to

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have a little shed just to sit in and do

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some films and do some potting up and stuff like that.

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So I'm going to spruce the whole over my inside

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of my shed. Last year I was busy with rebuilding

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my shed because it all collapsed but this year I

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want to concentrate on the inside of it and sprucing

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it all up and making it look nice. And yeah,

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I know you don't need to spend money on a shed,

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but I don't have a garden, and this is where

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I get my enjoyment out of mostly, so I'm going

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to end up spending a bit of money on inside,

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making it all look nice and fancy for next year,

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and hopefully growing lots and lots of spring flowers and

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vegetables in it next year. So we'll have to stay

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tuned for that. That's what I've been up to down

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at the allotment this weekend. Another busy weekend, but yeah,

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this podcast will be back again tomorrow with a new

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episode at seven o'clock. We might be talking about garlic

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and onions, so stay tuned for that. And yeah, I

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hope you enjoying it. Make sure you leave a like

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on it, leave a comment and leave a review as well.

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If you're listening on once that you can do that

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on So until next time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining,

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and keep gardening with Ben.

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Speaker 2: Everyone, thank you for joining me.

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Speaker 1: On this episode of Gardening with Men. I hope you

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have found some useful tips and inspiration for.

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Speaker 2: Your own gardening, and a lotment journey.

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Speaker 1: If you've enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow

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and subscribe to the podcast so.

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Speaker 2: You never miss a new episode.

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Speaker 1: And if you have a moment, I'd love for you

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to leave a review and share the podcast with fellow

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gardening use you ass Your support helps us grow this

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community and continue bringing you great content. We can also

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follow us on social media on every platform, or Gardening

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with Ben for daily gardening tips and the days Happy gardening,

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

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keep gardening with Ben