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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 Alltment. 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. What happy hump day. We

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are now in the middle of the week. It's nearly

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the weekend. We nearly the weekend. It's nearly time to

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get back to those allotments and gardens. If you're working

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in the week like I am, so yeah, we do

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look forward to them weekends, and I do look forward

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to spending all the time down there at the weekend.

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And it's currently still decent weather. We still haven't had

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a frost that I know of. Yeah, where I am,

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and it's like twelveth November, thirteenth November already, and we've

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not had no frost. And another thing I've noticed is

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we've hardly added well, we've not had any rain for ages.

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I don't know if it's like it where you are,

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but we've not had no rain. They'll be calling on

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a drought before you know it. But yeah, it's bizarre.

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Weather certainly is strange at the moment. How we've not

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had no rain, no frost. It's just dry. And I'm

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needing it to rain, to water my onions and my garlic,

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but it's just not coming. We're having to water cells

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in November. And yeah, it's very bizarre. But yeah, what

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are we talking about today, Well, today's episode is all

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about planning for next season. We are at that time

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of year when we're starting to think about what we

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want to do down at the Allotment Gardens next year.

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And I love this time of year. And obviously, as

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I'm doing my plot at the moment, I'm stripping it

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all back, I'm digging it all over, I'm clearing all

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my beds. I'm providing a blank canvas ready for next year.

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Like obviously, some stuff will stay where they are like

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all my fruit trees, all my fruit bushes, my roobarb

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that'll all stay where it is. But all my beds

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are completely empty and we'll be starting from scratch again

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next year. And what I usually do at this time

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of year, I usually get a piece of paper, draw

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all my beds out and right down where I want

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to go stuff next year, and we'll plan on growing it,

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planting it, sewing it, and yeah, I decide on what

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I want to do, and my allotment gets quite a

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bit of shade on it, so I have to think

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about what's or growing the shade and what won't grow

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in the shade. And when you're planning on what you

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want to grow on your allotment next year, you need

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to look at what's been grown where. You need to

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grow stuff in different places each year, because each vegetable

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uses different nutrients from the grounds, so it's not good

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to grow the same thing in the same place year

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after year. It's good to keep rotating stuff around and

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obviously improving soil as well over the winter period ready

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for planting next year. And that can either be with

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compost mulch, or it can be with a fertilizer. Anything

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to improve it and make it more nutritious ready for

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growing next year and hopefully getting some good crops in.

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So we'll obviously draw as plan well, write down where

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we want stuff to grow, and we'll think about what

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we want to grow next year. And one of the

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ways that I think about what I want to go

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next year is I just have a like think of

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something like say squash, and I'll just google or look

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on Amazon or in a seed catalog at different varieties

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of squash to grow. And I like growing different new

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varieties every single year of different things. And obviously if

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you go to a garden center, you won't get that

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as many varieties. In the garden center or a DIY shop,

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you'll only get your standard varieties that you will see.

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So have a look online, have a look in different

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seed magazines, et cetera, and try and grow something different

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next year. And it's really interesting to do. Whether you're

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eat them or not, it's just the fun of growing them.

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And I've done this for a few years now, and

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one year I did different varieties of squash. One year

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I did different varieties of beans. As his loads of

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different varieties of beans is like purple beans is like

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speckled beans, yellow beans, black beans, red beans. Is all

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different varieties of beans, and it's just good to try

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different varieties and then sometimes experimenting growing different varieties, you

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may find one what's really easy to grow and taste delicious.

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Now I did this as well for growing cauliflower. I

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saw a purple variety of cauliflower. Yes purple, not white,

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but purple. I've never had any look growing white cauliflowers

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very well. I thought, oh, give these purple ones to try.

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It's worth a shot, fill up a space. I'd got

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some seeds and they did absolutely fantastic. The curd on

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them were absolutely brilliant and they tasted absolutely delicious. So yeah,

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it's good to try different varieties because things might actually

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grow better. So always experiment down at the allotment. And

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I might actually try that with carrots next year, because

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obviously I've not had much luck with growing carrots, So

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might actually do my experiment with carrots next year, try

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different varieties of carrots and see which ones I can

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actually get growing. So let me know if you fancy

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doing different experiments in trying different stuff next year. It's

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always good to hear what everybody else is up to

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and there's not many other sort of things that you

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can try with different varieties. Really, I'm not there's not

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an awful lot of different varieties stuff out there. Obviously,

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you get your like different varieties of tomatoes, which is good.

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There's plenty of different varieties of tomatoes coming out there,

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is why. Ones. My dad grew some white tomatoes last

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year and they were delicious and they did fantastic, and

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he grew them outside. They did really well. So there's

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lots of different varieties out there. And what I tend

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to do as well sometimes is I'll go to the

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supermarket and or to the garden center and I'll just

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write down all the different types of seeds. I think

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I'll try that one this year, I'll try that one

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next year. And I also write a little log as well.

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I create like a little log. I go online and

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I buy a seed catalog, seed diary every year of

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planting diary, and you can write down when you've planted stuff,

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how well it's done, when it germinated, where you planted it,

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and that is very good for you to try as well.

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So yeah, there's plenty of different things out there for

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you to try. When you're growing stuff and it's exciting.

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It's exciting to try different stuff. You can't you don't

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understand how easy it is to grow different types of

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stuff on the allotment, and you don't realize how many

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different varieties of things they actually are out there, because

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if you go to a supermarket, for instance, you'll just

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see your standard vegetables. You won't see any different varieties

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of vegetables because they won't sell them in the supermarket

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because people won't buy them. It's like if you were

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to go to a supermarket and you had a white

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Beat route, for instance, people wouldn't buy a white Beat

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route because they think, wow, that's strange. I'm not buying

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that it might taste funny. They'll only buy what the

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nose gonna taste nice if you get bade. So that's

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the reason why it's best to grow these things at

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a different varieties because you'll never actually try them unless

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you grow yourself, because they'll not sell them in supermarkets anywhere.

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So it's always good to try different varieties of stuff.

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So if you are listening to this podcast, do get involved.

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Send me a message, let me know what different types

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of varieties of vegetables that you have tried growing and

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what you plan on try and growing as well. And

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I might give melons another girl next year, as I've

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not grown them for a few years now, and I

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grew some cantlope melons in my polytunnel. Wouldn't be able

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to grow them outdoors because it's not hot enough, but

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I grew them in my polytunnel and they did absolutely

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fantastic and I had some really nice, delicious melons on them,

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and I didn't think I'm able to grown in this country,

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to be honest, But as it's starting to get warmer

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sometimes some summers, I thought i'd give them a try,

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and yeah, they did really well. So I might give

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cantilope melons another girl next year. And yeah, they're absolutely

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delicious and each plank got a few melons on them,

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so they did absolutely fantastic. I've never tried growing watermelon.

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I don't think watermelon would grow very well here, to

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be honest, but it's not something that I might give

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a try. But I'm going to look out and try

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and see what different types of varieties stuff are out there,

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and see about trying some new stuff as well, so

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I might get myself a seed catalog from one of

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these companies. There's plenty of companies out there that gives

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seed catalogs out and you can have a look through

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them and then see all the different varieties they are

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that are in there. Obviously you can look on the website,

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but sometimes it's easier to navigate through a magazine rather

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than through somebody's website. I often find and then you

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can circle them and think, all have that one, I'll

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have that one, and then you can go online and

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buy them once you like circled them and found which

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ones that you want to grow. So it is all

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good fun trying different varieties of produce out there. So

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if you are listening to this podcast and you are

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just a standard grower, you just grow standard stuff. You've

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never tried experimenting growing different types of stuff. Have a

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go next year. Let me know how you get on.

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I'd love to hear how you're growing and what you

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are growing, and I love to hear from you all

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as well. So yeah, and I hope you're enjoying all

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these podcasts. They have been coming out on a daily

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basis now, which is fantastic. So I'm having to find

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different topics to talk about every single day, which can

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be hard sometimes, but I'm getting there. I probably cover

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a few things quite a few times, but I am

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having a little chat with you on talking on different

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topics every day. If you have got any topics that

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you'd like me to talk about, please do drop me

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a message and give me some suggestions. I don't know

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anything about no Dig gardening, so don't ask about no

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Dig gardening because it's not something that I actually do.

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But yeah, if there is anything out there that you'd

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like me to chat about on a podcast, please don't

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let me know. Also, on my YouTube channel and my

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Instagram channel, I've been posting daily questions as well. Thank

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you for everybody that's got involved in the questions. Yesterday's

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question was do you use gardening gloves or do you not?

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Do you like to get your hands moockey and get

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them dirty or do you like to wear the gardening

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gloves and keep them clean. I'm certainly one for keeping

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getting my hands money. I never wear gardening gloves. I'll

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only wear gardening gloves if I'm messing around with brambles

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or nettles. But yeah, I'll never wear gardening gloves down

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at the allotment. So that was yesterday's daily question. So

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if you aren't following me on Instagram or on YouTube,

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give me a follower and get involved in the daily questions.

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I'd love to hear from your and your answers, and

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I'll talk about the daily questions on my podcast as well,

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as it's obviously a little space for as well and

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extends it, so we'll ask the daily question in the

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podcasts as well. So I hope that you're enjoying these podcasts,

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remember to give it a like, give it a follow up,

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and leave a review as well, because it helps push

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it out to everybody. So until next time, everyone, remember

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

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thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening

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with Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips

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and integration for your own gardening and a lot then journey.

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

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and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a

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

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for you to leave a review and share the podcast

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with fellow gardening enthusiasts. Your support helps us grow this

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community and continue bringing you great content. We can also

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follow us on social media on every platform or Gardening

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with Ben for daily gardening tips and then days, happy

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gardening and until next time remember keep smiling, keep shining,

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and keep gardening with Ben