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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 five 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 alltment. So sit back, grab

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a brew and enjoy today's episode.

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Speaker 2: Hey everyone, and welcome to Gardening with Ben for another

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podcast episode the day before New Year's Eve, the day

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before we get ready for starting all the fresh in

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twenty twenty five. It's soon getting close to that fresh

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start and ready to get ready for that new growing season. Well,

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we're back here with another podcast. This podcast is talking

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about everything that we got up to at the Allotment

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yesterday as we had a very busy day. It was

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extremely busy down at the Allotment yesterday and you probably think, well,

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it's winter, you can't be doing that much. But I am.

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I never stopped working. I'm always grafting when I'm down

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at the allotment, and I absolutely love it because obviously

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I worked ninety five Monday to Friday, so it's good

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to get out of the flat, get good to get

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out in the fresh air and enjoy being down at

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the allotment. So what have we been doing this weekend? Well,

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we finished tidy in all my shed up, as it

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was an absolute pig start. I didn't realize how much

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compost I must have read in buckets old compost. So

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I've been shifting all that out, putting it into all

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my beds outside, getting all that out of my shed,

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and I think I scooped to put out a bucket

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off at carpet. I did tell you I'm not a

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very tidy gardener. But yeah, it's all clean and tidy

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out and ready for next year's growing season. So next

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weekend's job we'll be starting in tidying up the polytunnel,

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which is probably worse than my shed. That is a

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dumping ground. I just shove stuff in there out of

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the way, So that is going to take a lot

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of work and a lot of clearing, but we'll crack

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on and hopefully it get it done over two weekends.

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I think that'll take two weekends to get that all

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clean and tidy, and then that'll be another job ticked

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off my bucket list of what I want to get done.

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So as we do these jobs, we tick them off

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and then we know that we've got them all done.

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So I have to I've done my polytunnel, then I'll

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possibly start back outside again, start getting all my beds ready,

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dig them over again, because I've digged them all over.

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I've cleared them all, but we might do another dig

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over over them all and get rid of any weeds

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and roots that are growing in them, just to keep

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on top of it. It's good to keep doing them

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every month or so so that nothing gets growing in them.

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And one job that I want to do is I

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want to paint up all my beds and everything and

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get all them many, but we won't be able to

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do that possibly until springtime when we get in the

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drier days and hopefully the paint will dry with ease.

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So we've done that, We've tied it all the shed up.

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It's all looking good. There's still quite a few repairs

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that I need to do to the shed. We need

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to get some perspects and get the roof fixed and

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a side panel fixed as well, So that's a job

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on the list as well. So the next thing what

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we did we recorded some videos. We recorded our yearly

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round up video, which I'm going to do a podcast

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version of as well, So make sure you stay tuned

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for that video which will be dropping on New Year's Eve,

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and you'll also be able to see my new fantastic

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potting bedge which I've completed and the final outcome of

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it all and how well it actually looks, and you

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will be amazed by it, trust me. But yeah, I'm

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definitely building it up alto for you all. So yeah,

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we've filmed that video. We have also started sowing sub seeds. Yes,

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I've started, and I'm eager to go, but not too eager.

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I've only sown the ones which will need to be

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sown now to get them ahead start. So I've sown

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all my onions. We've sown them and we will be

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planting them out in the ground hopefully in April if

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they all grow. Fingers crossed they do grow, because the

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reason why I'm growing them early is to give them

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that head start and hopefully get some giant sized onions.

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So we're starting them off now and then hopefully be

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planting them out come April time. We have planted some chilies. Yes,

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I've not done chili's for a few years, so we're

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going to give chilis a try again this year. There's

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ten seeds in it, so hopefully the old Germany we'll

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see fingers crossed and again I've done that. The reason

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why with my peppers, because I've also started my peppers off,

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which is one hundred and fifty seeds, but we've not

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sown all them is that I planted them around March

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April time the seeds last year, and they were only

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just fruiting come September time. So I'm starting them off

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now to get the plants established and hopefully speed them

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up and get them growing in advance ready for fruiting earlier,

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because then we'll get more produce often, which is what

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we want. So yeah, we've sown as onions, are peppers

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and as chilies. I still need to sew my auber jeanes,

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which I'm looking at the packet right now because I

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forgot to take it to the allotment. But yeah, I've

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still got as auber jeans to plant. We're not going

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to plant as tomatoes. I know us smart packets. You'll see,

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say January February time. We don't start smartered off till

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March time. They soon catch up smart plants. That is

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one thing that does catch up. Yes, again, you can

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start them off earlier, but make sure they don't get legate.

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They'll need to be in a heated place to get

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them started, and plenty of light. And yeah, obviously you'll

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get more fruit of them and more season from them.

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But we don't start as till about March time, as

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we still get plenty of them, which is what we want.

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So yeah, we've done that. What else have we done.

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We've fed the birds, We've made sure the birds were fed.

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We've fed Missus puttycat. She always looks at me and things,

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so I'll feed. I'll feed her when I get there.

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And she's always waiting on the path to be fed.

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And as soon as I walked down, she'll follow and

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she'll wait outside the shed until I fill the bowl up.

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I fill the bowl up, I go and sit in

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the corner of the shed and have a coffee, just

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to get started and warmed up. She'll come in and

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eat it all. She eats it pretty fast, so she's

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usually quite hungry. We feed her every day, like, and

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obviously there'll be rats and birds around for to catch,

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so she eats it up quite fast, and then like,

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she'll pop back into the shed a few more times,

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thinking as he filled it up again, yet, as he

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filled it up again, yet, and I'm like, no, I'm

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not doing it more than once. You'll get enough food

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from this. So yeah, we fed the cat, and wow,

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obviously I've filled my bird feeders up, and I know

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we've got squirrels down at the allotment, but yesterday I

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saw four squirrels in my fruit tree, all having the

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bird feeder, and I'm like, what mind you? I don't

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mind the squirrels, the good little pets. They do cause

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a bit of damage with like the bulbs and stuff

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like that, but I don't mind seeing the squirrels down there.

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It's good to see wildlife down at the allotment, and

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I do encourage it, which some people wouldn't, and some

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people had posed against it. But I don't mind seeing

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all the wildlife down there. It's great to see. And

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it's one thing that I always want to see more

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of so hopefully we get different wildlife down there this year.

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So yeah, we've had a very very busy day. And

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because obviously I've started my onions, my peppers and my

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chilies off, I've brought them home because they all need

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heat to germinate, especially the chilies and the peppers. They'll

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need about twenty five degrees to get them germinated. So

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it's nice and toasted in my flat. And obviously I've

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got a windows on now, so I'm going to put

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them on the windows, so we're gonna put cling film

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over them, and we are hope like going to get

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them to Germany and I'll take them back down to

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the Ortument around March time, once wh've got growing and

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once we've got established. But yeah, we're being busy with that.

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And I've started sharing little stories on instagrams is now

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and on Facebook stories, So if you follow me on

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Instagram or Facebook, make sure you check my stories out.

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I'm sharing like little diaries of what I'm getting up

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to in the day for you all to watch and

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or to enjoy and see a bit more of in

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the Life of Gardening with Ben. But let me know

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if you're liking the little stories and hopefully I'll keep

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it up as you know what I'm like, I'll start

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something and then I'll stop it. But now hopefully if

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more people watch the videos and enjoy them, I hope

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that they do. So tomorrow's episode we're going to talk

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about all the success and all the failures of our

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allotment of twenty twenty four, so make sure you stay

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tuned for that. That's the last episode of the year

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coming tomorrow, and then the month and then the first

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of January, we will be talking about what we're planning

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on doing for the twenty twenty five and then the

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episode after that'll it what to start sewing in January

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and what jobs need doing in the guard in January.

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So make sure you stay tuned for those episodes coming up.

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If you don't follow me on Spotify, give me a

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follow and you'll get notified when new podcasts come up.

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

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and keep Guardening with Ben.

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Speaker 3: Everyone, thank you for joining me on this episode of

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Gardening with Ben. I hope you have found some useful

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tips and instgiration for your own gardening and a lotment journey.

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If you have enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to

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follow and subscribe to the podcast so you'll never miss

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a new episode. And if you have a moment, I'd

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love for you to leave a review and share the

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podcast with fellow of gardening enthusiasts. Your support helps us

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grow this community and continue bringing you great content.

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Speaker 1: You can also follow us on social media on every

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platform for Paul Gardening with Ben for daily gardening tips

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and Mondays. Happy gardening, and until next time, remember keep smiling,

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keep shining, and keep gardening with them.