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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 i'd 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. Well it's Thursday morning.

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And well, if you're listening straight away it's Thursday morning,

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that it is. But if you're listening later, obviously it's

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maybe not be Thursday, but it is Thursday. And yeah,

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we're getting ever closer to that weekend and I can't wait.

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I'm starting to write my list, starting to think about

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what I'm going to be doing down on the allotment.

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I'm planning my weekend out down there. And one of

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I said, I talked about my daily reel of the

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day what I usually post and yesterdays what went up

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last night? Wow, that is a good one. And the

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question on the reel is do you share your homegrown

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produce with your friends and family? Now, certain stuff, yeah,

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I'll share that endlessly, like man lettuce, my rubarb, my apples,

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everything apart from strawberries and sweet coon, I won't share

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them with anyone, even if it's my mum, even if

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it's my sister. I won't share my strawberries and sweet

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corn with anyone because they are my two favorite things

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that I've grown the allotment, and you can never grow

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enough sweet corn and you can never grow enough strawberries.

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Like I said, I've got two hundred plants on my allotment,

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so I get plenty of strawberries, but I don't share

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them because they're absolutely delicious. And the thing is, like

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strawberries and sweet corn, once you've grown them, they've gone.

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If you get my like you'll eat them pretty much

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straight away and get them all eaten. But yeah, there's

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certain stuff like you will share loads of it with

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family and friends, and sometimes they'll have enough of it

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they'll get fig I hope you don't fetch me any

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more corse yets, because you can certainly have too many

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corsets and people get fed up with them after a while.

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But certain stuff I will keep for myself. I don't

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share some of it out obviously, because it is quite

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expensive in shops and supermarkets, certain stuff. So I'm pretty

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much one for keeping it for myself and enjoying it

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because I've put all the hard work into doing it,

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and yeah, why not enjoy the rewards from the allotment?

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So what are we going to be talking about in

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today's podcast? What's today's podcast theme of the day? So

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today's podcast theme is why should we start an allotment?

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Why should we start growing our own produce? Yes, we've

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not talked about this, actually, this is one topic we've

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not actually talked about. We've talked about like who I

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am and why I got started and everything, but why

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should we start growing our own produce? And yeah, when

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you go to the supermarket, you'll find certain stuff pretty

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cheap to buy, like your tomatoes. You'll get a load

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of tomatoes for a pound or something like that. But yeah,

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loads of stuff are pretty cheap. Certain stuff fair enough,

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they're not cheap like blackberries, your rhubarb, your corjets, your marrows,

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your pumpkins. There's certain stuff out there that are quite expensive,

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and more and more stuff is getting more and more expensive,

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especially like the fruit and vegetables. They're getting quite expensive

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to purchase down, So why should we start growing an allotment?

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Like I got my allotment, and the first things that

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I planted on my allotment was my roubarb plants, which

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I've got sixteen crowns in of rhubarb. I've got my

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plum tree. I've got my apple tree, which is a

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cooking apple tree, and I've got some eating apple trees.

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And yeah, those were the first things that I put in,

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and my raspberries as well, and they pay for my

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allotment in themselves, because cooking apples are so expensive to buy,

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and like I said, rhubarb is so expensive to buy,

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Like you'll go to the supermarket and it they'll be

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like three sticks for two pounds. You think rule Bob's

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one of the easiest things to grow out a lot

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of them, but yeah, it's so expensive to buy. So

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the reasons why you should start an allotment or grow

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in your own in your garden. I believe is that, yes,

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it can be more expensive in some cases. Some cases

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can be more expensive, but some cases it can be

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hell of a lot cheaper. Like for a packet of

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lettice seeds, it will cost you like fifty pence and

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you'll get a thousand seeds in there, most of them

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literally all of them will germinate. Lettuce seeds are easy

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to germinate and they take no trouble in growing whatsoever.

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So you can have so many lettuce from just fifty

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pence and it won't hardly cost you a penny. Maybe

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it'll cost you a bit for the compost and for

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the water. Depends how much you pay for your water

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and stuff like that, but certain stuff it's worth it.

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Like my allotment for a year costs me one hundred

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pounds a year. My allotment costs and that includes water

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as well, So if it didn't include water, it'd probably

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be about sixty pound. But council allotments are a bit

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more money than private allotments. But but yeah, we've got

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we pay about one hundred pounds of it. And like

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I said, out of them plants, what I grow, my roubile,

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my cooking apples, my plums, my raspberries. I make my

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money back on my allotment. I don't sell them. We're

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not allowed to sell produce on the allotment. That is

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one of the rules. You're not allowed to make profit

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from selling stuff on the allotment. So I don't sell

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anything personally. But to have bought that through from the supermarket, wow,

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it had cost me absolutely loads. And with the amount

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of blackberries I've been having off and my raspberries I

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get so much it pays for it over and over again.

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So it does work out a lot cheaper in certain

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aspects certain stuff, and obviously some other stuff might not

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be as cheap, Like if a crop fails and it

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doesn't do very well, you've wasted a lot of money.

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And yeah, I grow my potatoes in boxes, which uses

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a lot of compost, and the compost is a lot

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of money to purchase, and that'll probably be cheaper to

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buy potatoes from the shop than is to grow them

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in boxes. But the taste freshure, the organic, you know

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what you've put into that to grow it. You know

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all the chemicals that have gone in which have been nothing.

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Probably like me, I don't put no chemicals in my

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growing and yeah, they taste absolutely delicious, so much better.

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And obviously growing your own producers, well you are outside

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in the fresh air. Like if I lived in a

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house and I've got my own garden or greenhouse, I'd

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be in there every night just potting up and growing

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stuff like that. But unfortunately I've got a lotment. I

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live in a flat, so I've not got a green

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house or a garden. But I'd love to be in

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my garden all night, just like pottering around and potting

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stuff up and taking cuttings and growing stuff and experimenting

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and streaming all the time while I'm in my garden,

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But unfortunately I can't do that. But there's so much

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benefit out of going in the garden and being in

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the fresh air. And I've talked about it in like

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my mental health podcasts that there it is proven that

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when you putting your hands in the soil and you're

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reaching in and the there's something in it what gives

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you endorphins to make you feel better and more happy

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in being out in the garden. And obviously there's no

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sounds around. All you're hearing is the birds, the planes,

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maybe a bit of traffic or something like that. But

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where my allotment is is absolutely peaceful and there's no

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traffic around. It's absolutely fantastic, and the only noises around

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are the birds, and it's just so nice to switch

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off and be at peace, nothing to disturb you. If

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you want to turn your mobile phone off while you're

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there or put on do not disturb or silence, and

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you've got nothing around you and you've got no worries,

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nobody disturbing you. You're just there enjoying doing what you

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want yourself. So there is so much benefit into growing

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your own produce, and if you aren't growing your own produce,

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I do recommend it. Like people say, oh, I've not

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got much of a garden, I can't grow much in

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my garden because it's not very big. Or I only

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live in a flat with a little balcony. I can't

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grow anything on my balcony. Yes you can. There's so

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many opportunities out there if you've got a small garden

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or if you've got a balcony to grow stuff on

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your balcony. There's so many different methods of growing produce

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and getting the best of it. The only person who

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says they can't grow anything in their flat is made

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because I've not got a balcony. But yeah, there's so

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much benefit to growing and starting an allotment, or starting

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a kitchen garden or starting your no dig bed. But

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if you're thinking about doing it, give it a go.

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I'm always around to share tips and advice and ask

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questions too, So if you've got any questions, feel free

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to drop me a question on Instagram. And I've started

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putting my links to my other social media in the

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description now, so if you're not following me on any

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of the other social media's, please do give me a follow.

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And I post different stuff on different platforms, like I've

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sharing daily questions on YouTube. I'm sharing blogs on YouTube

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and on Facebook. But yeah, I'm sharing so much at

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the moment, and the content just keeps on coming out

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at the moment. I'm just pushing it and pushing it

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and push it. One day I will be famous. One

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day you'll see me on Gardeners World. One can only hope.

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But that is the reason why we should start in

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a lotment. The mental health, the taste of the produce,

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being out in the fresh air, switching off and enjoying

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being at peace, and obviously the fresh produce and the

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delicious taste of it was you have harvested it. So

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if you've enjoyed this podcast, everyone, please do give it

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a like. Please do leave a comment below and let

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me know as well. Send me a message and let

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me know if you share your produce with anybody, or

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you like me, you save all your strawberries and your

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sweet cord, or do you have a favorite one that

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you say what you don't share with anyone? Let me know.

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

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and keep guardening with everyone. Thank you for joining me

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on this episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you

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have found some useful tips and integration for your own

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gardening and a lotment journey. If you have enjoyed today's episode,

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please make sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast

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so you never miss a new episode. And if you

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have a moment, I'd love for you to leave a

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review and share the podcast. But fellow of gardening enthusiasts,

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your support helps us grow this community and continue bringing

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you great content. You can also follow us on social

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media on every platform before Gardening with Ben for daily

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gardening tips and days. Happy gardening, and until next time,

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remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with them.