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Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben, your 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 everybody, and welcome to Gardening with Ben.

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Today is Saturday. The weekend is here. Hiphip, hooray. The

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weekend is here. And hopefully we'll get some sunshine this

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weekend because last weekend, as you remember, we had them

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downfalls of rain. Wow did we get some rain last week.

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I've not had to water all week outside. It's been

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absolutely fantastic. But I missed out on being outside in

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the garden because I couldn't do anything because of how

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much rain we were getting last weekend. I was stuck

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inside the polytunel. But I got loads of jobs done

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inside the polytonel last weekend, so I was so happy.

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I got on my tomatoes sorted, I got my peppers sorted,

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I got my melons tied up. I gave everything a

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good watering and a good feeding. I also set up

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my irrigation system last week. If you've not seen that video,

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go over onto my Facebook on my Instagram and check

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out how I set up my irrigation and that has

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been a godsend this week. It's worked fantastic and hopefully

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it continues to work all the way up to October,

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keeping the watered, keeping them hydrated, and hopefully getting a

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lot of food, because that's one thing I always do.

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I start off good with watering and then come towards

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the end of the year, I can't be bothered anymore

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and I give up. So hopefully all this irrigation system

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will work and we'll keep getting tomatoes all the way

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through to the end of the year. So the question

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is what are we doing at our allotment this weekend?

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That is the big question I always have. What am

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I actually going to do this weekend? And what am

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I going to tackle this week? So I think this

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week's job is going to be going around my strawberry

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beds and looking at all the runners, because at this

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time of year, all the strawberry plants start sending out

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all the little babies. And if you've never seen this before,

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what it does is like you've got your mother plant,

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which is a strawberry plant, and then it will send

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shoots out from the side of it, and on them shoots,

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you'll get two to three plants coming and growing. And

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it's fantastic it because strawberry plants are expensive to buy,

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and if you're getting three plants per sue, you're absolutely

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doing fantastic. And what you can do with them three

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plants is you don't just chop them off straight away.

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What you need to do is pin them down into

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the soil while they're connected onto this I call it

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an umbilical cord. While it's connected to that, push it

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down into some soil, peg it down so that it

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takes root and the mother plant is still feeding it

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and giving it what it needs. And once the roots

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start to appear on the bottom, that is when you

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can snip it off and it'll survive for itself and

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it will get growing and then obviously you'll keep it

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growing and then if you're going it in a pot,

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then you can plant it out. I usually plant them

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out around March time. I keep them watered in my

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polytomol all through winter, and then I plant them out

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about March time. But if not, if you're growing them

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straight into the ground, then you can just plant them

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straight into the ground and they will survive throughout the winter.

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And it's sometimes good just to put some frost proof

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netting over over them, just to give them that extra protection.

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But they are strong plants and more often than not

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they can survive throughout the winter. So that is one

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thing I'm going to be doing. It's sorting out almost

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strawberry plants. I've got about two hundred strawberry plants in

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Some of them failed this year, so I need to

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replace the ones that have died or not grown. And

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there's some gaps in some areas, and I'm just going

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to fill my bed full of strawberry plants. Honestly, I

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can never have enough strawberry plants. I've got so many

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strawberry plants and I could just have them. If I could,

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i'd have them all the way down the sides of

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the plots off the ground in like either guttering or

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in tubs off the ground so that they hanger over

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the edge and the sugs don't get them. Obviously, I

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need to let them from the birds. But I see

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so many new farms that are getting started where this

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growing strawberries off the ground in guttering and stuff like that.

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Now they're getting fantastic produce. So I'd love to give

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that a trif I could. Maybe one year I'll try

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and set it up, but for now they're staying in

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the ground and we're planting more and more plants, so

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I'll definitely be filming a video on that. And also

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I just need to tidy up all my beds. Really,

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that's one job that I do every single weekend. All

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my beds I will weed every week. I don't weed

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them in the week so don't get a chance for

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being at work, but every week I will go around

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and weed my beds in between all the vegetables and

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dig the compost over so that if it does rain,

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it'll go into the ground pretty easy, and even if

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you're watering, it'll go into the ground easier if you've

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dug it all over and that's what I do every

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single week. If you keep on top of it, you

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can It'll only take five minutes to do a bed

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each week, and it's fantastic. Keeping on the top of

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the weed is brilliant. It's when you go away on

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holiday for a few weeks and you come back and

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it's like jungle, and then it's hard to get back

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on top of it. So if you manage to keep

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on top of it and do it once a week,

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you will keep your allotment pretty much weed free. And

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another job that I need to do is trim back

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all the bind weed is growing mental. Obviously, all the

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rain that we've had has made it grow so much

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this past week, so I need to go around and

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start snipping back the bind weed. I'll never get rid

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of it, that is one thing for sure, and it

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keeps me a bit. It keeps me on my toes

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and keeps me going. But yeah, that's one job that

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I'm going to be doing. And then possibly next weekend

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what you'll need to keep it eyeut for is I'll

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possibly be planting my Christmas potatoes. Yes, the word Christmas

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is coming and I usually plant them at the beginning

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of August. In my polytunnel in boxes and then keep

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the watered and they'll usually be ready around middle to

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end of December, around Christmas time, so you gain fresh

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vegetables on your table for Christmas Day. So if you

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wanted to plant Christmas potatoes, get online get ordering your

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see potatoes you can find online. They call them Christmas potatoes.

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They even branded them in garden centers as Christmas potatoes.

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Now they're that popular and they're trying to sell them,

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so they brand them up as Christmas potatoes. So have

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a look around. Get ready to get them planted in August.

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Don't plant them outside. If you plant them outside, plant

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them in boxes and have the boxes outside, but then

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move them into your polytunnel or your greenhouse around September

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October time when it starts to get colder, as that

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will kill the plants off if we get a cold frost,

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So keep them in the polytunnel. It's a lot easier

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and you don't have to move them once they're in there,

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because they do get pretty heavier once they're filled with

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compost and filled with water obviously as well, but make

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sure you've got plenty of draining in the bottom of

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your boxes. So that they do drain away and they

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don't make all the potatoes goy and rotten. So that's

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the job that I'll be doing the week after. But

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I should be saving all this for my podcast next week.

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Not telling you all now what I'm doing. They meant

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to keep it as a surprise. But yeah, hopefully we're

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going to have a busy Saturday down at the allotment

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today and hopefully tomorrow we'll be sharing with you everything

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that we've got up to down at the Allotment, as

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that's what I like to do. On the Sunday, You'll

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hear what I've done on the Saturday, and on the

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Monday you'll hear what I've done on the Sunday, if

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that makes sense. But yeah, I hope that you've all

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had a fantastic week at work, and I hope that

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you all do manage to spend some time in your

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gardens this weekend. Try and make the most of it,

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Try and get some fresh air, try and get your

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hands dirty, and enjoy being out in the garden everyone.

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

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and keep gardening with bet everyone. Thanks for tuning in

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

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enjoyed our chat and picked up some tips to help

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your garden and allotment ride. Don't forget to stay connected

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with 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.