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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 everyone, and welcome back to Gardening

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with Ben. After a short little break from these podcasts,

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but we are back now back with new episodes for

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you to listen to. And wow, has it been chelly

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this week? Have you had the snow where you are? Well,

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it's early last week and it's stuck around where I am.

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It's still here, the temperatures not visien above zero this week.

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It's been absolutely baltic. We just need it to warm

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up and to get rid of all this snow and ice.

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What's left around where we are. If you've not listened

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to my previous podcast, go and listen to that one,

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because that one's talking about all the things that we

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can sew in January, obviously depending on the weather. But

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today's episode we're going to be talking all about what

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you can do in the garden in January, obviously depending

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on the weather as well. But these are the sort

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of tasks that you can get completed, tick them off,

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and then you can move on to doing all your

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other little jobs around the garden and everything like that.

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And I just want to say a big welcome to

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all the new listeners out there as we are pushing

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this podcast out a lot more at the moment, so

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hopefully we're getting a lot more people listening. And if

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you're not following this podcast, click the follow button and

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

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So yeah, today we're going to be talking about all

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the jobs which you can do in the garden in January,

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depending on the weather. Like we've got a lot of

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our jobs completed or read ache before this Baltic weather came.

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But some of these jobs we will be doing ourselves

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and ticking them off as we go along. And in

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these podcasts we talk about my gardening journey, what I'm doing,

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what I'm getting up to, what I'm sewing, and what

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we are getting completed down on the allotment every time

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we go. So first off, we're going to talk about

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what we can do in the vegetable garden this month.

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Obviously we've not got many vegetables growing at this time

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of year, but we've got a few things. What can

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be grown. First off is peas. If you grow in

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some early peas, cover the round to warm it up

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before sewing, unless you are sewing them in pots beforehand.

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And I've grown my peas in the ground many and

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many years and I've had good crops. But now we've

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got loads of squirrels living where we are down on

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our allotment. Not that I don't like them. I love

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seeing the squirrels down there, but obviously they're a pest

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and they'll dig up all their food and eat them more.

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And obviously because he's not much food around at the moment,

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they'll pinch a lot of them, like the rats and

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the mice well. So sometimes it's better to grow stuff

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in pots, get them strong enough, and then plant them

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out when they're big enough, and then they won't get

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disturbed as much. Parsnips. If you've grown parsnips last year,

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now is the perfect time to be digging them up.

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This cold weather, the frozen ground, the snow on the

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ground gives them a better taste, So always wait until

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we've had a frost before digging up your parsnips potatoes.

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If you're growing these in the greenhouse or polytonl which

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you can do through the winter periods. You can't go

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them outside because it's too cold, but you can grow

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in the greenhouse and polytynel. Make sure they're kept warm

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with a heater or use a fleece to protect them

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from the cold nights in January. Now it needs a

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lot of power to keep it warm. At the moment

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it's absolutely Baltic out there. But yeah, we grow as

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as we're ready for harvesting at Christmas time. We've not

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got any potatoes growing at this time of year. What

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jobs can you do in your fruit garden this month? Now?

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This is perfect time to be doing all your pruning

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of your fruit trees. While the plants are dormant, while

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they're not growing the buds, and while they are hibernating

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for the winter. So like your apple trees, your black currants,

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your gooseberries, your pear trees, your red currants, make sure

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you prune them all shape them all up, make sure

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there's plenty of room for the air to get around

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and get ready. But don't prune plug anything that's got

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a stone inside. So for example, your plums, your cherries,

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your aprilcots, your peachers. Don't prune them at this time

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of year. You're meant to prune them around middle of springtime,

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end of springtime, as they can get silver leaf if

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you prune them at this time of year. They don't

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cope well with being pruned in the winter time. Rubib plants,

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if you're wanting to grow early rhubob, why not try

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forcing it to get early crops. I also like to

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sprinkle chicken palett of manure around the crowns to help

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feed it for the year ahead, but obviously don't put

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it on the crowns because it can burn them as well.

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My rubob up to the other week was growing really well.

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It was growing already and it shouldn't be growing yet.

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It shouldn't be waking up until the March time. But

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it were growing, but it'll all be dead again out

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with all this cold weather. It will have gone back

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to sleep and it'll start growing again in March time.

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So general fruit garden jobs, check the steaks, support whires

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you use in your garden. Replace any that you need to.

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If any fruit tree or bush has had to, cut

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it all down below soil level or get it out

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if possible, carry it on planting fruit trees and bushes

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this month as long as the ground is workable to

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do it. What jobs need doing in the flower garden

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at this time of year, well, again there's not many

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flowers growing at this time of year. But the sort

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of jobs that you can do are pansas. Any flowers

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that have died. These can be deheaded to encourage new growth. Roses.

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If you've not pruned your roses yet, this can still

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be done this month while the rose bush is dormant.

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So that is all the jobs which need doing in January.

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There's not many jobs. Obviously through the months will get

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more and more jobs that need doing every single month

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down at the allotment, and we talk about this every

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single month. We talk about what to do with that

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month coming up. So one of the main things that

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I like to do during the winter period is to

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make sure I feed the birds as like this sort

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of whether the ground is rock hard, they can't get

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the worms out. There's not many berries around, everything's hidden

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by snow or frost. There's not much around, so make

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sure you do keep feeding your birds on a regular basis. Now,

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I've got some bird feeders and the squirrels eat loads

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out of them unfortunately, so I'm going to be investing

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in some new squirrel proof bird feeders over the coming months,

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so watch out for me sharing posts on that. But

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obviously they're quite a bit more expensive because they've made

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out of metal and they've got metal frame around them

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to stop the squirrels from being able to get to them,

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so hopefully, obviously it's quite a bit of money expensed

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to buy, but it's a good investment because the seed

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won't be going down as fast so in the long

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run and hopefully fingers crossed the last forever, well the

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last a long time. So we're going to be doing that.

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And it's a Big bird watch coming up pretty soon

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as well, so if you've not checked that out, check

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it out online the Big Bird Watch and help see

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how many birds are coming to your gardens and your

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allotments and add them up and send them in. And

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it's to help calculate what birds we've got and how

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many speciess we've got out there. So it's all good

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fun and good fun to do with the family as well.

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So if you've not got a bird feeder in your garden,

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you don't have to go out and buy the loads

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of bird feeders or stuff like that. Buy one, get

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some seed up and feed them birds and encourage your bluete.

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It's your robins, your blackbirds. Encourage them to your garden.

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But obviously they can attract rats and mice and stuff

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like that, so don't put them anywhere where you don't

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want to attract vermin to your plot. Mad Head puts

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a little like finger underneath it where it catches any

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seed that drops, so then it stops ats and mice

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from being attracted to him, So have a look around

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for one of those as well. So yeah, that is

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it for today's episode. A bit of a short and

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sweet one, but that is all the jobs which need

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doing in January this month. Tomorrow we're going to be

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giving you an update on how things are growing at home. Obviously,

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I'm growing things at home at the moment, I'm trying

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to give it a head start. I'm not growing loads

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of things. I'm growing a few things. So make sure

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he's tuning tomorrow's episode find out what I'm growing at home,

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and get a little sneak preview. But yeah, I hope

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you've enjoyed today's podcast. Again, if you're new to this podcast,

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make sure you click the follow button. Make sure you

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click the bell and you'll get notified when the podcast

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come up. This one's later than usual in the day,

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but they usually come up around seven o'clock in the morning,

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so you've got plenty of time to listen to them

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on the way to work or when you're having your

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morning brew or walking your dog or down at the garden.

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So we'll hopefully see you all tomorrow in tomorrow's podcast. Everyone,

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remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone,

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thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben.

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I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some

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tips to help your garden and allotment pride. Don't forget

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to stay connected with me on all social media for

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even more gardening inspiration updates, and behind the scenes content.

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You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just

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search gardening with Ben. Hit that follow button or subscribe

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button and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until

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next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep

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gardening with Ben.