Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to
a podcast for all things green and growing. I'm Ben,
your allotment guide and here to help you cultivate your
garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned
gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you.
Each episode will dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to
make your garden and allotment thrive from planting, sewing, and growing.
We will share all the tips and add advice. We
will also have regular episodes talking about what we have
been up to on the a Lotment. So sit back,
grab a brew, and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and
welcome back to Gardening with Ben. Well, first, I want
to apologize for no podcast yesterday. I thought I deserve
a day off, so I did. I had a day
off from the podcast. I'm back, and there wouldn't have
been much to talk about down at my allotment because
I did a lot.
Speaker 2: But I didn't do a lot, if you get me.
Speaker 1: But we have had a busy weekend down at the allotment,
so we're going to talk about what we've been getting
up to down at the plot this weekend.
Speaker 2: Well, it's absolutely windy here at the moment. It's been
windy all weekend.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've had this where you are,
but it has still got me to the plot and
I have done a load. Now. If you've seen my
Instagram post or my Facebook post, you'll have seen my
new bench, my new potting bench. I said I was
going to do it, and I did it, and wow,
I am in so much pain. The first day, on
the Saturday, I was doing it all by a handsaw
and saw in all the pieces of woods and everything
like that, and my hand was absolutely killing by the
end of it, and I thought, I can't do this anymore.
My Dad's got a battery powered saw, so I asked
him if I could borrow it, and I borrowed that
on the Sunday and I wish, I so wish i'd
used that on the first day because I've got it
all done in a day. It just breezed through it,
breeze throughout wood, chopped it up. I'd finished it within
like a few in about half an hour of going
down to the plot. And it looks absolutely fantastic. To say,
I'm not a builder, I'm rubbish with would everything usually
falls apart. I'm happy with how it looks, and it
looks fantastic.
Speaker 2: It doesn't look superb.
Speaker 1: It's not like gold standard, but it will do the
job of what I need it to do, and hopefully
it'll last few years to come. Now, this new potting
bench is going to be used for obviously doing all
my plotting up and stuff like that. But I'm going
to start doing obviously more videos down in the shed
and in the aortment showing me potting up, talking about
my seeds, talking about different topics down there, and yeah,
just more videos from inside of the shed to come
next year. Obviously you get your podcasts every day apart
from when I have a day off, but I want
to start doing a few more videos for you to
watch as well. We was good with the videos last month,
but we seem to have tailed off a bit because
there's not much to do down at the plot at
the moment with video wise. But hopefully beginning of next
year we'll have lots more videos coming out on a
regular basis. And yeah, I've got a few more ideas
for my shed, which I've ordered a couple of things
and I'm not gonna tell you what they are because
I want it to be a surprise to you all,
and I want you to see how good they actually look. Well,
hopefully they do, and hopefully they fit perfectly, so we'll
have to stay tuned for that. But it's all about
my video quality. But yeah, I'm excited for these and
they're gonna look good. Fingers crossed. So we've got that done.
And what else have we been up to recently? Well,
not being up too much else. Down at the plot,
we've done some shed repairs. Obviously, the winds caused some
damage to my shed. As per usual, it's blown some
of the plastic off the roofing, so I had to
climb up today and screw some pieces back on and
some new pieces on and hopefully it's temporarily, but hopefully
it'll have lasted for the rest of the day because
it's been really bad wind here in Sheffield for the
rest of the day. I certainly don't know what it's
like where you've been, but yeah, I'm dreading going back
to the allotment. I'll probably be back at the allotment
on Boxing day because I've got nothing else planned in
my boring life.
Speaker 2: But yeah, i'll be back.
Speaker 1: Down at the allotment on Boxing Day, and I need
to go out and buy some paint. That's on my
to do list tomorrow to get some paint to start
painting it. Because once it's all painted, then I can
had the final touches, which is all part of the plan,
and you'll be able to see what it But I'm
thinking of having it painted red, red and black. Not
that my Sheffield United a Sheffield Wednesday fan, but I
thought red and black might look nice in there, So
I'm going to get some red and black paint and
see what it.
Speaker 2: Comes out like.
Speaker 1: It's going to need a couple of coats because it's
quite old wood and it's some pieces have been stained
in the past and painted and stuff like that, so
it's going to need a couple of coats to make
sure it's all covered and it's all looking smart. And
obviously the paint all add a water proofing to it
and hopefully it make it last a bit longer, as
I do get a lot of drips in my shed.
They drip everywhere, but hopefully it'll make it last for
a while.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm excited next year. I'm excited for all
these little projects that I'm going.
Speaker 1: To get started and coming up soon, we'll be planting
all our onions, which I've been talking about recently. I'm
going to be sewing all my onions. I'm going to
be sewing my peppers, and I'm going to be sewing
my jeans. So we need to get some compost as well.
So when I go and get some pain, I'll remember
to get some compost and then we can start sowing
the seeds as well. And yeah, my peppers and my aubergines,
I'm gonna grow them at home, get them started, because
peppers need about twenty five degrees to germinate. They need
a lot of heat to get them to Germany it.
And obviously my shed is unheated. I could have a
heater in there, but I don't want to. I wouldn't
risk wanted to leave it on in the shed when
I'm not down at the allotment. If I if I
got the shed at home or the greenhouse at home,
i'd certainly have a heated greenhouse. But obviously we've been
in allotment. I'm not having a heater in there. So
I'll be bringing home my peppers and my aubergines to
grow on my window sell as this flat's got a
window sell in it now, so I can have stuff
on my window sell. It's not a big one, it's
very tot tiny, but I can start my peppers and
my Aubertines off at home. But the things that you've
got to be careful with is that you've got to
be careful. They don't get too likely because of the
light and stuff like that, so you have to keep
turning them around and making sure they're get an adequate.
Speaker 2: Light when they grow in.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, it's not been too busy in doing work
down there, but we've got a lot achieved, and I'm
happy with what I've got achieved. It's another job ticked off,
and the next jobs down in the shed will be
to basically tidy it all up and give it all
a LICKU paint and put some new shelving up. I
want to put some more shelving up, Tidy all my
pops up, tidy all my trays out, all my seed trays,
and yeah, give it a really good tide. I get
ready for the springtime and try and get organized. I'm
not very organized at all, but the more organized I
can be, the better. Give me that head start ready
for next year down at the allotment, so hopefully fingers
Crossed will be back with another podcast tomorrow. I know
you'll be definitely getting one on Christmas Day as I
want to be recording that soon, so make sure he's
tuning on Christmas Day for your Christmas Day episode from
Gardening with Ben. That's gonna be a little treat for
you all. For those that haven't got anything to do,
but they can listen to me on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2: So until next.
Speaker 1: Time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening
with Bed.
Speaker 2: Everyone.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening
with Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips
and instegiration for.
Speaker 2: Your own gardening and a lot then journey.
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to
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Speaker 2: Tips and Mondays.
Speaker 1: Happy gardening, and until next time, remember keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening with Ben