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.
Speaker 2: We will share all the tips and add advice.
Speaker 1: We will also have regular episodes talking about what we
have been up to on the Alltment. So sit back,
grab a brew and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and
welcome back to Gardening with Ben. Well, the weekend's here. Yes,
the weekend has finally come. That means I will be
going down to the allotment today to get lots more
jobs done, which I can't wait do. The week has
been a long time coming. It seems to go forever
now now that I'm only off at weekends, and now
that I'm only spending two days there a week, But
it builds the excitement of getting back there to see
what's happening and see what's growing and what's not growing.
So Yeah, I hope that you've enjoyed all the podcasts
this week and found something useful for them. Like I said,
we're getting these podcasts out every single day in our
for you to listen to, so plenty to catch up on.
Whether you're catching up today on all the episodes or
whether you listen every day, I hope that you do
enjoy them, and yeah, keep liking them, keep sharing them,
and keep leaving comments on them.
Speaker 2: So what are we going to be talking about today?
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to be talking about all the jobs
which we're going to be doing down at the Allotment
this weekend. Fingers crossed we can get plenty done. And yeah,
these next couple of next few episodes, we'll be talking
about all the things that's happening, what we've been getting
up to while we've being at the Allotment. As obviously
it's the weekend and then usually in the week we'll
talk about different topics. So what's our plan for this weekend? Well,
I said that we weren't that we've not had any
frost yet, but the temperatures are going to dip this
weekend to zero so I've seen, so it's looking like
the frost may well and truly be on its way.
So if you have anything that you want to protect
or look after, make sure you either dig them up
and bring them into the greenhouse or polytunnel, or make
sure that you fleece them at night, because the frost
will particularly kill them. And that's the reason why obviously
I managed to get the drainiums in on time and
in my shed ready to protect them throughout the winter period.
Fingers crossed, we can keep them alive. It's an unheated greenhouse,
but fingers crossed, we can keep it warmish to keep
the geraniums alive and then we can replant them out
next year at the allotment. So what will our jobs
be this weekend? Well, I know what the first job
will be when I get down to the allotment, and
that will be filling my bird feeders up. Like my obviously,
I only do them at weekends, and as soon as
I've gone down there, they're all empty, whether it's being
the birds, whether it's been the squirrels, whether it's been
anything else that's got them. I saw some magpies on
them other day. But yeah, I'll be filling all my
bird feeders up, and I won a prize today on Instagram.
I entered the competition you know where you like and
share and tag people on them and stuff like that.
So I've won some bird supplies bird feeders supplies, so
hopefully we'll be getting them next week. So I'm looking
forward to receiving that prize and seeing exactly what I've got.
And it says it's a surprise, so we'll have to
see exactly what it is that we're gonna win. Fingers
crossed it'll be pretty good, but I know it probably
will be because I know the company that I've won
it from. So yeah, hopefully we'll be getting some nice
delights for our allotment to hang up and show off.
And obviously I'll put it into a video feel all
to watch. And yeah, we've been putting lots more videos
on their few to watch at the moment. And everybody's
getting involved in my daily real question, which I'm really
happy about as I do it to get everybody else
involved in my posts what I put on Facebook, Instagram
and YouTube so that people can comment on them and
I can see what people like and do, because sometimes
it just feels like I'm waffling on but I like
to hear what other people are getting up to in
the garden as well, so yeah, we'd be filling the
bird feeders up, that's the main thing. We may even
have a bonfire down there this weekend. As like I said,
it's getting colder now, so it's nice to have a
bonfire burning so that you get a bit of a
warm breeze blowing up over. And obviously if you've got
a bonfire burning, you can just keep chucking in like
the odd pieces of wood and stuff like that, bits
of scrap what you've got laving left around from your woodpile,
or anything that's rotten or obviously I put in my
phones as well my brambles because they won't compost very well,
so certain stuff will put in there to burn and
get rid of. And it's always nice to have a bonfire. Yes,
you do come home stinking a smoke, but you can't
beat the good smell of a bonfire while you're down
at the allotment. I'm sure you'll all agree with me
on that one. So yeah, we have got lots to
burn and get rid of over this winter period.
Speaker 2: We've not got loads this year.
Speaker 1: We had a massive clear out last year, but we've
still got quite a bit that we need to get
rid of and burn while we can, because we're only
allowed to have bonfires on the allotment between November and
April I think it is. So you've got to make
the most of it. Try and get rid of anything
that's burnable as much as can while you're at it.
But obviously make sure you're careful because you might have
wildlife nesting in woodpiles and stuff like that, so make
sure you check it over before you do burn anything
in particularly, so we'll be doing that and our next
main job. Like I say, I use the weekend, I
write myself a list of tasks that I want to
get done, tasks that I want to get completed, and
tick them off as I do them as I go
along throughout the weekend. I don't set myself massive tasks
that I know that I'm not going to complete. I
set myself small tasks so that I know that I'm
going to do them. So this weekend will be a
job of tidying around where my fruit trees are as
that is where all my rhubob grows as well.
Speaker 2: And like I said quite.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, I spent a lot of money
on this area. I membraned it all to stop the
weeds from I went through. I paved it all for
my paths so that it's easier to walk on. I
replanted all my bubarb through holes so that no weed
to grow through, but unfortunately certain ones do and the
ones that seem to grow through other brambles. The brambles
grew everywhere, unfortunately, and they always mightnage to find a
way out there. And what I usually do at this
time here, I trimmed back all the brambles.
Speaker 2: I'm not able to dig them out.
Speaker 1: Because they're awkward to dig out where they are, so
I usually trim them right back to the ground and
pull them all out. And I'll be covering in phones
and spikes and stuff like that, and I'll be screaming
blue murder all the way while I'm doing it.
Speaker 2: Even though I've got gloves on. I'm sure I'll still.
Speaker 1: Get spiked to death from the brambles. But we'll be
chopping all them out, and usually it lasts about a year.
I usually trim it all back and they usually haven't
grown back fully until the winter time. So I do
this on a yearly basis this little job, and once
I've cleared it, it seems to stay clear and particularly
good throughout the year. So I want to clear all that,
and I want to clear all the leaves what are
falling down around the fruit trees, because they can spread
diseases if you're not careful, and if there's any rotted fruit,
definitely they can spread diseases. So I want to make
sure it's all clear and fresh around there and cleared,
and I might even if I do get any more
spring bolts, I'll be planting some down the side of
the fruit trees because I've not got any doubt on
that side. That's the only area possibly that I've not
got any growing. So we're going to be keeping his
eyes out for when they start to reduce them at
the end of the month. Last year they reduced loads
of tulips in the B and Q, and we got
loads last year, So I'm going to keep my eyes
peeled for when they start to reduce them and hopefully
fill that area where they're not.
Speaker 2: I haven't got anything growing at the moment.
Speaker 1: I'll still be waiting a few weeks for all the
leaves to drop off my fruit trees, Like I showed
on my tour video the other day the apple tree
cooking apple tree is still full of leaves. They're not
dying off yet, but now that it's started to get
colder at night, they might have started dropping off now.
So once they're fully clear, what we'll be doing is
we'll be giving them a winter wash over the winter period.
And it doesn't mean scrubbing them down and washing them down. No,
there's like a formula what you can buy online like
an Amazon, and you just spray over the trees and
it protects them from winter moths and stuff like that.
They like to nest in the trees at this time,
so it's just spraying them down to stop any bugs
that would attack your food when they start to getting
ready and stuff like that. And you can also buy
a sticky roll to roe to put round it and
pop all around your tree to stop anything from crawling up.
Speaker 2: And I do this every year.
Speaker 1: So I'll be taking my old ones off, putting fresh
ones on to protect hims from stopping anything from crawling
up the tree from eating it. Obviously that'll stop like
ants and stuff like that just crawling up and getting them. Obviously,
you can't protect all your fruit. You know, they will
get attached from like wasps and stuff like that. They'll
eat them and bury themselves in. It's the wood lice
that I have the main trouble with on my apples.
Wood Lies seem to love apples for some reason, and
they just bury themselves in the core and eat themselves,
eat the way into them. So I'm going to have
to look at them and try and work out a
plan to stop the wood lice from crawling up. So
we're going to be clearing all around the fruit trees
getting all that done. And one of the other jobs
what we'll hopefully do is carry on clearing some more
paths as I do have bit every week and my
paths tidying that up. So we'll be clearing some more
of the paths, getting them tidied up. All the beds
are completely clear out, they're absolutely weed free. No old
vegetables are growing in there. They're all completely clear. All
we've got to do for them is just keep holing
them and digging them over every few weeks to stop
any more weeds from growing them and obviously any roots
taking place, because there is a lot of bind weed
on my allotment. So we need to keep pulling them
bind weed roots out while we can during the winter months.
And obviously the cold and frost will kill off the
band weed roots if we dig it over, so we
need to get as much out as possible while we can.
That'll hopefully push back the growth of the bind weed
on my allotment. And what else are we planning on
during this weekend? I have nothing that needs potting up.
I might have some other plants in my shed what
needs potting up, like my.
Speaker 2: What are they called?
Speaker 1: I can't think of the names, but yeah, I've got
a few more flowers that might need potting up. We
did a salvia last weekend. We repotted all that up.
We potted all as geraniums up. But yeah, I might
put some more flowers up this weekend up my allotment.
But obviously I'll be filming lots of content at the
allotment this weekend. Try and record six videos to pop
out next week on my YouTube channel, as I tend
to do a lot of the recording at the weekend,
like six episodes of the weekend, so that I can
publish them every day in the week so that you've
always got something to watch and keep.
Speaker 2: Your eyes peeled on.
Speaker 1: So hopefully we'll get lots of stuff done at the
Allotment this week while we can while the weather's still decent.
Like I said, we've still not had any rain yet.
It's still not come. Maybe I need to start singing
to get some man to come. So we'll have to
water our onions and we'll have to water our garlic
this weekend as well because we've not had no rain
or weekend or week should I say so, We're going
to have to do some water in this weekend. So yeah,
that is everything that I'm going to be getting up
to down at the Allotment this weekend. So make sure
you stay tuned for tomorrow's episode and you'll be able
to find out what I've done at the Allotment today
and sharing with you everything that I've successfully done and
hopefully cracked on with got on with it because knowing me,
I'll get down to the Allotment and I'll find another
job to do. So make sure you stay tuned to
see what jobs I have actually done at the Allotment.
Speaker 2: So if you have.
Speaker 1: Enjoyed this episode, make sure you do leave a like
on it. Feel free to share it as well, the
more people that listen the better. And if you're not following, mate,
give me a follow. So until next time, everyone, remember,
keep smiling, keep shining, and keep guardening with Bed.
Speaker 2: Everyone.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me on this of Gardening with Ben.
I hope you have found some useful tips and the
instepiration for your own gardening and a lotment journey. If
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