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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 for another brand new episode.

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Well it's currently the weekend. It's Sunday morning, and we

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have been down to the allotment. Yes I did I

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do any work? Yes I did. I did absolutely loads

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down there. I can just hear the ice cream vent

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in the background to be cold for ice cream. But

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we had been so busy down there at the allotment

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to day. It was an absolute gorgeous day to day, cold,

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very cold, but it was a sunny day and we

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got absolutely loads of stuff done down there. So what

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did we get done today? Well, we've fed missus pussy Cat.

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She here at the allotment waiting for me as soon

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as I got there, so I went and fed her.

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She's looking well, looking healthy, and yeah, she pops to

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see me every time we go down to the allotment.

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And then we fed the birds. We've filled the bird

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tears up. That is, we've done the main things, feeding

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all the wildlife down there. It costs a fortune looking

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after all the wildlife, but we've fed and there will

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be happy that there's some food around. Because it was

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frosty this morning. It was I say, so the birds

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will be struggling to get the bird the worms out

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of the ground, so hopefully we can keep them coming

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down to the allotment eating all the insects and eating

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all the bird seed as well. So we did that,

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and then one of my main jobs what I wanted

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to get done today was sort out around my strawberry beds.

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My strawberry beds are the pride and joy of my allotment.

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If I could have strawberries all over my plot, I

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certainly would do. That is one thing that I would

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get done. So we've been tidying up around all the paths,

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sorting out some of the old planters. What we're around,

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clearing all that up, sweeping all the paths down. We

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can actually get round the strawberry beds now, which is

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a lot better. We don't have to clamber over any

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pots and plant pots and anything like that. Got it

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all tidy, so that is one job done. And I've

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also been tidying back or tying back my BlackBerry canes

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because they've grown absolutely wild this year all over the place.

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And yeah, I've grown down the side of my plot,

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which is perfect. They can trail along my fence and

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everything like that, but I have to time back to

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the fence because they're little runners shoot out everywhere. So

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we've been tying all them back and sorting them all

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out and making sure that they're on my side of plot,

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because I always said to my neighbor, if they're on

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your side, help yourself to run. But yeah, I'm tied

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them to my side, to my side of the plot,

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and making sure that they grow on my side because

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absolutely gorgeous. They fall paonless blackberries, but they get absolutely

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loads of blackberries on them, and they're massive. They're a

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lot bigger than the standard BlackBerry. So I'm really happy

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with this faonless variety that I purchased, and the variety

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is that I purchased I think they were from Morrison's

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Garden Center that I originally bought these from. Doing absolutely fantastic.

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So we've got all them growing down the side of

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the plot and they do brilliant and obviously we've been

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trimming back any old BlackBerry canes off them where the

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signs of all blackberries what we're on them from, like

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the little shoots that are coming off them. We've snipped

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all them back, tiding them all up, and they're all

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look looking pretty good. We've also been doing a bit

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of tidying up. We've always got tidying up down down

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at the allotment to do. I'm a messy gardener. I've

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always admitted that. But yeah, we've been tidying up and

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clearing away. And one thing I've not had to do today,

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I've not had to do any weeding because I've weeded

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all my beds. Now they all are pretty empty and

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they're all just sat there waiting to be planted, ready

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for next year, and hopefully we're going to get a

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lot of stuff growing, and if you listened to yesterday's podcast,

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I were talking about all the popping seeds that have

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got grow, what a purchase, what I'm going to try

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for next year. I'm also going to try different varieties

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of geraniums, and I'm also going to try different varieties

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of sweet peas possibly and possibly sunflowers as well. So

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hopefully we're going to attract lots and lots of bees

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to the allotment, and hopefully a lot of fragrance as well,

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because the sweet peas will smell absolutely amazing. We've obviously

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got some sweet peas growing. We've sowed all them last year,

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well this year around October time, and they're still alive

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in the shed. I had to check on them today.

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They're looking healthy. They're still alive. The cold not kill

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them because, like I say, my greenhouse isn't heated, so

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I'm fingers crossing that they stay alive ready for next year.

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We've started them off early because they say that it

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makes them stronger, and we've trimmed them back so that

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they bush out. The flowers might not possibly have be

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as big, but they'll get more flowers on them, so

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hopefully this works. As I've not grown them from this

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time of the year before. Usually I planted around March

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April time, and sometimes they struggle when you plant them out.

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They're not hard hardened off enough and they seems struggling

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and a lot dye and stuff like that. So I'm

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starting them off now ready for next year to hopefully

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have a successful sweet pea harvest. And if all these

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sweet peas grow, it's going to look absolutely phenomenal on

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my allotment. I've got absolutely loads in my shed growing.

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My geraniums are still alive in the shed as well.

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They're doing well. We dug all them up out of

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the ground and we put them in the greenhouse to

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keep them alive in the greenhouse over the winter, because

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that's what you can do if you've got geranium dig

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them up, move them into a greenhouse, move them out

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of the cold, and you may be able to keep

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them alive throughout winter, and then plant them out again

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next spring time once the frost has gone, because if

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you leave them outside, the frost will kill them, and yeah,

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you'll have to buy new ones next year. So we're

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just trying to serve a bit of money and keep them,

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keep them alive. But like I said, I'm hopefully going

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to grow some drainums myself next year. I've grown them

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from seed before and they did absolutely fantastic, really amazing

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results from them. First time I ever grew and we

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managed to grow some from seed, and they took a

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bit longer to get flowering stage, but they did flower

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eventually and they looked absolutely amazing. So if you want

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to save some money, try growing some drainums from seed

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yourself next year. Obviously, if you start them off earlier,

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if you've got a warm greenhouse, you will get flowers

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on them pretty earlier then, like I did towards middle

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end of summer. So hopefully we'll have lots of flowers

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next year. But yeah, I'm just getting excited now for

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stuff to grow, and I may look at growing some

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different freighters to cucumbers as well. We have such a

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good success of growing cucumbers outdoors last year my market

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more variety. I planted them all outside. I've got loads

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of spare plants, and I thought, I'm not wasting money

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on spending it on loads of composts to put them

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in pots in a polyton or where they'll just dry

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out and die. I'll just plant them outside and see

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how they go and say it wasn't a very nice summer.

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They did absolutely amazing. It must have been a perfect

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season for them because we had got absolutely loads off them.

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So I might look at different for itis to grow

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next year. There's like a lemon variety in an apple

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variety as well, so I might look at trying to

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grow them, seeing how we get on with them. But yeah,

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I'm hoping for great, big harvest next year. Like I said,

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I'm working nine to five Monday to Friday now, so

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I don't get a chance to go down in the

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week like I used to. I used to work for

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on four off, so I used to spend four days

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down at the allotment at a time. So hopefully we

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can still get a good harvest on two days a week.

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Like I don't live too far away from my plot,

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so in the summer months, I will pop down at

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night down to the allotment just to check on it,

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give it a water and see how it is. So

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hopefully I'm thinking that we're going to do well next year.

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We've got a good start on it all. My plot's cleared,

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it's all tidy. We're going to now start working on

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inside our shed pretty soon, getting all that ready ready

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for next year. And yeah, I've got a lot of

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faith in how well we're going to do next year,

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and I hope you do too. And like I always say,

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start off early, get your garden ready, get your allotment

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ready for the season ahead. Like I could just sit

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back now with blacks until March time because I don't

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need to particularly do much down there, but I'm finding

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little jobs to do and getting it all ready because

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I cracked on after the season and I cleared it all.

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I got it all tired. I dug up all the

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old plans, clear them all away, and got it all ready,

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so I don't have to do anything throughout the winter

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period if I don't want to. But I'm going to

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keep on going down because I need to keep creating

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content for all you guys, and I need something to

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talk about while I'm down at the allotment. So yeah,

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I hope that you all enjoying these podcasts. They have

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been coming on every single day. And if you've got

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any friends that like gardening or allotmentton make sure you

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share them the link to my podcast because we're getting

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more and more people listen every single day. I want

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it to be really successful next year. I want it

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to really take off. Like we're getting over one hundred

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people listen every single day at the moment, which is

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phenomenal for person that's not a professional gardener. I just

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talk about what I'm getting up between my garden and

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sharing my tips and advice with you all, and I

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think that's absolutely brilliant. But shall we see I can

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get two hundred people listening to day, that would be phenomenal.

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And yeah, everything I make from these podcasts goes back

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towards my allotment. And you know how much seeds costing

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some cost quite a bit of money, so it all

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goes towards seeds and compost and keeping you all entertained

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and enjoying this podcast. So until next time, everyone, remember

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keep smiling, keep shining, and keep Guardening with Ben. Everyone

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will be back tomorrow with our episode talking about what

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we've been up to on the plot today, so make

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sure you stay tuned for that until next time, everyone,

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I'll see you off later. 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 inspiration 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 and if you have

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

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and share the podcast with fellow of gardening enthusiasts. Your

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support helps us grow this community and continue bringing you

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great content. You can also follow us on social media

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on every platform for all gardening with Ben for daily

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

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