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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 add 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 allotment. So sit back, grab

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

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back to Gardening with Ben. Well. I hope that you're

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excited for the weekend, because it's nearly here, it's Thursday already.

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We're certainly excited for our weekend. And yeah, in today's podcast,

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we're going to talk about how to transform your allotment

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in a month. And yes, that can be a big topic,

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but we can try and condense it into about ten minutes,

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because that's how long we'd like to keep us podcasts.

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We don't like them too long, that is for sure.

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We just like it's a nice short little episode. I

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hope you're enjoying all these topics that we're talking about

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at the moment. We found a new way to find

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new topics to talk about, and yeah, I'm talking about

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different ones every single day, but today we're going to

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be talking about how to transform your allotment within one month. Now,

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December is the perfect time to transform your allotment if

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you're planning on doing a lot of work on it,

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or if you've got a new allotment, It's an ideal

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time and perfect time to get started and get cracking

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with the plot. As obviously, like last the other weekend

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we had the store, so it was unfortunate that we

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couldn't do anything on the allotment that weekend. But this

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weekend it was eleven degrees. It was decent weather, ideal

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perfect gardening weather. You won't think of a sort of

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weather at this time of year. It weren't raining, it

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were decent, it were good. But yeah, hopefully we will

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get plenty more done this month. And the way that

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you can like transform your allotment within a month is

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break it down into manageable sizes and into manageable tasks

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as well. What I do is that I've got, Like

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I've got my fruit area, and I've got my strawberry patch,

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and I've got all my growing beds. Now i've got

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twenty one growing beds, eighteen or twenty one growing beds.

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So what I do is I divide them beds up

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per weekend if yet me and I tick them off

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once I've done and cleared them and tidy them and

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worked them, so then you can think I've done all

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that work. I've cleared them all, and they're all ready

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for the new year, ready for springtime, ready for growing.

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All you're producing. And I like to break things down

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into manageable pieces, because if I try and do everything

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in one day or one weekend, it becomes too much

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of a chore and it certainly ties me out. Like

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I'll go down to my allotment at eight o'clock in

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the morning and I'll come home at one o'clock in

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the afternoon. I don't spend all day down there yet

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Obviously when it gets to summer, I'll possibly be down

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there much longer and earlier, as I do love it

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when it's sunny in the morning, like you can wake

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up and go to I've been down at the allotment

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at six o'clock in the morning and stayed till about

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four o'clock. It's certainly better when we've got the longer

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days to get work done. And it's about thinking what

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tasks you've got to do on your allotment and what

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jobs you've got to do. And it helps with me

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doing these podcasts at the beginning of each month and

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I'll say, all these tasks need doing this month, all

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these jobs need doing this month, tick them off as

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you complete them and do them, and then obviously you

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can do your other tasks as well. If you're not

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listening to that podcast, it's usually the beginning of the month,

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right the first or the second, and you can find

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out all the jobs which need doing at your allotment

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and garden in December, and I'll do the same in January.

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I do it every single month and talk about what

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you can plan as well and what you can start sewing,

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and also what jobs need doing, so I talk about

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all them and then as I've completed them tasks, then

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I'll move on and do other tasks around my allotment.

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And I have got like a long scale job list

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like wishers. What I'd love to wish to do, and

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then I've got the jobs which are sufficient enough just

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to get my plot looking tidy, earn decent, ready for

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the year ahead. And on that job list, I've got

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that I want to build an actual fruit frame around

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my plot, because at the moment it's just all my

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logan berries are tied up to poles, the same with

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my grapes are tied onto poles and stuff like that.

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But I want to put some wooden beams in and

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drill holes from them and put wires through them and

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connect them all up that way, and yeah, knowing my luck,

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they'll probably fall down again, but and smash something, knowing

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my lup. But that is what I plan on doing.

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It's the same with my shed that I thought. I'm

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getting all my allotment tided and cleared first, and then

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I can concentrate for the next few months doing work

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inside my shed, doing all the improvements and sorting out

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all the shelving and getting all that done. That'll be

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most of December and January's jobs. It's not a crucial

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job which needs doing. It's just a luxury job if

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you get me of what needs doing. So if you're

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wanting to transform your allotment. Within a month, write down

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all the jobs which need doing on your plot, and

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just divide it up by the two days. If you

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only get weekends off like me, like Saturday Sunday, divide

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it up. That's like eight days. Divide it up into

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eight days of what needs doing, and you'll certainly succeed

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and get it done. And this is going to be

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my problem throughout the year now because i used to

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work for and far off and now I've only got

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two days to cram four days worth for working too,

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if you get me, so, I'm going to be pushing

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myself to try and get these jobs done. And obviously

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now I'm creating more and more content with videos, et cetera.

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That takes up long enough just to record videos. But

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I do love doing these videos and I love recording

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them for you, and obviously the welcoming that I get

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from them everybody in jo So if you're wanting to

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transform your allotment, make that list, tick them off as

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you do them, and sure enough you will have more

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and more things to add onto your list as you're

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going along, and why you're going around the plot, you'll

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find different things that you're doing or if it's bad

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winter weather, and if we get storm, you'll certainly have

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more things to add onto your list because we certainly

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get some storm damage. And yeah, it's not always brilliant

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down there, but the list of an allotment is always

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ongoing and there's always jobs to be done. And if

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you don't think you're going to be able to get

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your allotment dug over or cleared in time, ready for

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when all the weeds start growing and everything, just have

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a look online on Facebook, Marketplace or something like that

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and try and buy some top holing just to cover

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it over our black membrane, because membrane is better than

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top holing because it does like the water through and

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it keeps it oyster as well, and it's just suppressed

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as the weeds from growing back. If you get me, so,

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have a look around, cover it over, and just uncover

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it when you're ready for using it. Like I wish,

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to be honest that I'd got a piece of black

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membran the size of every single bed and then i'd

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just cover every bed over in the winter and take

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it off in maytime when it's time to plant out,

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and they'd be perfectly ready. If you get me, So

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that might be one thing that I might invest in

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the future because it is expensive black membrane, it's not

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the cheapest anymore. But yeah, it's about working them jobs,

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one job at a time, and dividing them up and

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getting it sorted and getting it done and making the

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most of it. Whenever you've got decent weather, and I

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always say, like, obviously not today, because I've done my plot.

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If it's decent weather, work outside in your allotment. If

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it's bad weather, there's always jobs to be done in

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your shed, in your greenhouse, there's always jobs to be

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done there as well. So I hope that you managed

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to transform your allotments within a month. Let me know

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if it encourages you, if it motivates you to get

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you started and get your cracking for the year ahead.

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And next year is going to be a challenge, but

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we're going to smash it. We're going to smash it together.

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And I'm going to obviously keep sharing my allotment journey

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with you all here on the podcast and on my Instagram.

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I share lots of photos of what I'm getting up to,

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and obviously in my weekly tour video what I do

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on YouTube as well for you to see my progress

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throughout the year. One thing that I might think of

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doing next year is standing in the same spot every

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weekend and taking a photo of the plot week after

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week and then compile it all at the end of

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the year to show what transformation is over a year

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of my plot. So I might actually try that next year.

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So stay tuned for that video and we'll see how

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we get on. So until next time, remember, keep smiling,

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keep shining, and keep gardening with everyone. Thank you for

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joining me on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I

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hope you have found some useful tips and inspiration for

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your own gardening and a lotment journey. If you have

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enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to follow and subscribe

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to the podcast so you never miss a new episode.

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

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to leave a review and share the podcast. But fellow

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gardening enthusiasts, your support helps us grow this community and

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continue bringing you great content. You can also follow us

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on social media on every platform for all Gardening with

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Ben for daily gardening tips and to 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