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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 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 everyone, and welcome to Tuesday's episode

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of Gardening with Ben. I hope you're all well, and

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I hope that you're enjoying that the weather is starting

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to warm up and hopefully get rid of the last

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bit of snow and ice out there, and then we

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can get back backing those gardens, get them sorted and

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get ready for the springtime. Hopefully we won't get any

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more snow and ice before then, but you never know,

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you can still get it up into February and March time.

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So fingers crossed we won't get another downpour of snow

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this year, but if it does, it does. And this

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is one of the important reasons why I like to

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get my a lotment cleared and tidied at the end

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of October for any bad weather like this, because then

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at least you don't have to worry about doing stuff.

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It's all tidy, it's all ready, and it's ready for

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growing next year. So yeah, that's why I tend to

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get it all cleared and tidy, and then I can

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concentrate on doing any jobs like any building or any

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maintenance in my shed and the polytunnel throughout the winter

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period in these cold and awful times. So that's why

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I love to crack on as soon as the gardening

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season's finished. So today we're going to talk about planting

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onions in anuay. They and when I'm talking about planting onions,

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I'm not talking about planting the little bulb onions that

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come in these like little net bags. I'm talking about

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which are often called sets onion sets. We're talking about

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sewing onion seeds. Now I have to recommend growing onions

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from seed. I did an experiment a bit back where

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I grew onions from seed, and I grew them from set,

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and I grew them at the side of each other,

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so they were like in the same soil and everything,

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and they got the same attention with watering, et cetera,

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the same amount of sunlight. And I have to say

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onions from seed grew better than the ones that grew

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from set. So I have to recommend growing onions from seed.

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And I have sewn all my onion seeds. I stood

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them at the end of December in my shed. I've

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planted them all in the seed trays, and then I

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brought them home to germinate at home because it'll need

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a lot warmer weather from to germinate. So I've got

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on my windows where there's plenty of light so they

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won't grow like a And I put what I do

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when I saw my onions seed, well, for any seeds, really,

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I tend to use a seed tray that's quite deep

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and put a few seeds in each one. Are you

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one of these people that I will just saw every

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seed in the packet, because I am. I'm not one

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that I'll just sew like a certain amount of seeds

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so that it's enough for me. I just end up

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sewing the whole packet. But then once I've sown, and

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what I do is I obviously cover them with compost

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and then I cover them with clean film after I've

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watered them. Now, the reason why I cover all my

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seeds with cling film is that I don't use a

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propagator lid, because that's the extra ity IMP to buy

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to propagate a lid to go on top. What I

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do is I use the cling film after I put

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the water them and that will keep them warm, it

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will keep them moist. You don't have to keep them

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watered until they germany and then when they start to

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pop through, that's when you can take the cling film

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off just let them grow. And that's what I do

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with all my seeds. That's what I've always done when

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growing seeds, use cling film to add the warmth and

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keep the moisturing. And it does it so well and

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so fantastic. So if you're wanting to sow any seeds

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at the moment, if you're itching to sow them, the

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only seeds I would recommend is growing onions at this

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time of year, And you can go into any shop

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or online and have a look for onion seeds. You'll

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be able to see them. And obviously shops like the

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Range or being Q the Range have wool courst seeds

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in there now, So if you're used to buy wilcours

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seeds and miss them, go in the Range. They have

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all the world cost seeds in there. Now they've the

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branding and you will see the onion seeds. I can't

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remember the name of the seeds, but you'll see which

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ones they are. And you can sew them now and

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sew them on a window salt where it's warm. You

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don't want them in a cold greenhouse or cold polytunnel.

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You need them somewhere warm, and they'll start growing pretty fast. Man,

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have all come through now, they're all growing well on

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my window sill, and I will be planting these outside

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when you'd be planting your sets outside, so around the

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end of March beginning of April. So obviously starting them

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off now you can get them to grow bigger and

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better and then plant them outside come March April time. Now,

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obviously I've got growing all in the seed trays. The

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people that grow them for competitions, what they do is

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obviously grow them at the same time they grow start

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them off like end of December. What they will do

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is then split them all out of the seed tray

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and plant them in individual pots and grow them bigger

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that way, and then they'll get them big growing in

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a pot before planting out. So that is why you

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see people get these giant onions. They really do take

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care of them. So obviously, now mne have all grown

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through in the seed tray, this is when you separate

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them all and put them all into individual pots and

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nurture them and grow them and give them food and

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pump them full of stuff to get them to grow big.

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But what I will do is I'll just leave them

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in the seed tray and let them grow because obviously,

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if I'm separating them into separate pots like the people

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that grown for exhibitions, you're disturbing the roots and stuff

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like that, so you have more chance of damaging them.

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So come March April time, that is when I will

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go outside and I'll get the bed rdy and I'll

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plant them all individual into holes and get them growing

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that way. I am going to grow some from set

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again this year, So I'm going to do a comparison

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for your all to follow along and watch, because I

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wasn't sharing much content back then when I used to

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do that, so I will do it again this year.

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I'll grow seed and i'll grow set to show you

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which ones grow better, and I'll plant them outside about

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the same time that you'll be planting potatoes as well.

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I usually plant my potatoes around the end of March

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beginning of April time. I always plant my potatoes on

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Good Friday, even though Good Friday moves every year. I

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plant them out on Good Friday, so we'll be planting

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them out again around that time. So that is when

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I'll be planting my onions out on Good Friday, around

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Good Friday. So yeah, I'm excited to get them out

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in the ground. They'll be one of the first things

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that go outside, on my potatoes and my onions. But

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my potatoes are growing boxes now, so I keep them

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in polytunnel until it gets a bit warm, and then

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I move the boxes outside to give them that kickstart

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in growing. So they're the first things that go outside. Really,

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I don't really plant much stuff else outside and until

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the chance of follow has gone, which is usually around

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May time depending on the weather. But obviously keeping an

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eye on the forecast because that's where the little phrase

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comes from. Never cast a clout until May is out,

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because you can get frost right the way until at

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the end of May. So you have to be careful

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with planted stuff outside. Never be too eager to plant

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stuff outside. It's usually okay down south. It's a lot

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warmer down south, but up north where I am, you

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have to wait until the chance of frost has definitely

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passed before planted stuff outside. So yeah, we're excited to

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get growing, and I'm looking forward to the onions growing.

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Hopefully we'll get some good, big onions. I don't always

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do well with my onions. Sometimes they're really good, sometimes

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they're really bad. But I think this year I need

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to improve the bed of where I'm going to be

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planting them and add some nutrition and some compost, just

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give some extra food into the bed this year. So

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I'm going to really dig in some nutrition this year

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and hopefully we'll get some decent sized onions. Because now

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that I'm living in my new flat, I can actually

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do proper cooking and stuff like that, and I want

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to try and make some recipes and stuff like that.

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I'm desperate to buying a soup maker. I want to

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buy soupmaker for this year, and the reason behind it

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is because obviously with the produce what I grow, I

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can make some nice soups. So I could make like

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a French onion soup from the onions, or if I've

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got potatoes and leaks growing, I can grow do a

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potato and a leak salad. I'll be able to do

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tomato not salad soup. I'll be able to do tomato

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soup or a corse Jet soup. I've tried Corsejet soup

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before and I absolutely love that. So yeah, I want

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to get myself a soup maker. So if anybody on

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here has got a soup maker, send me a message

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of the soupmaker that you've got. I know that you

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can do be like cookers and then you end up

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having to use a potato masher to mash it all

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up and make it smooth, but the potato the actual

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soup makers are a lot better because it does it

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all for you. So that is on my bucket list

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this year, a soupmaker. So yeah, I'm looking forward to

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this year. It's going to be an exciting year of

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growing and hopefully doing plenty of cooking this year because

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that's what I've not done in the past. A lot

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of the stuff I end up giving it away and

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letting people use it, whereas I don't get a chance

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to cook it. But this year, I want to do

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a lot of cooking this year and try cooking my

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own stuff, and I may even make my own rubob

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crumbles this year. I usually give my rubib to my

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mum and she cooks me crumbles and then gives them

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me back. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that. So

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that has been just talking about growing onions from seed.

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So if you're desperate to get out there and get

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growing something good as shops and get a packet of

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onion seed and give them a try. But remember to

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put them on a light window sill where they'll get

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plenty of light. And obviously they need to be in

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warmth from to germinate as well. So let me know

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if you're going to be growing some onions from seed

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and let me know how you get on. So until

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

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keep gardening with Ben. Everyone. Thanks for tuning in to

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today's episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you've enjoyed

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our chat and picked up some tips to help your

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garden and allotment thrive. Don't forget to stay connected with

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me on all social media for even more gardening inspiration,

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updates and behind the scenes content. You can find me

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on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just search gardening with Ben.

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Hit that follow button or subscribe button and join our

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growing community of garden lovers. Until next time, everyone, remember

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keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben.