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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. Yes, we are back. The podcasts are back.

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How long has it been now? Blind? May I think

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the last episode I've checked is February? And I do

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apologize we have been absent. We have been this appeared

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and we are now finally back with the podcast until

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I stop again, but hopefully we'll carry on doing them

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all as I've been getting so many messages asking me

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to start these podcasts back up again. So we're back

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here doing them. And yeah, this podcast is explaining what

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I've been up to where I've been, how things are

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getting on and where up to now? So since last podcast,

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obviously it's now summer. Since last time, I've been down

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at the allotment and we have got absolutely loads of

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stuff growing at the moment. It's obviously a host BikeE ban.

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But since recording this podcast, we have had a massive

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downpour today, So hopefully it's fill in the reservoirs back up,

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and hopefully it's watered the plants well. But obviously when

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the rain comes, the slugs come along as well, and

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they'll be feasting on everything at the moment, So I'll

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be prepared for going slug hunting tomorrow and getting all

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them slugs away from eating everything. But what have we

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got growing on our allotment this year. We've not got

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a massive amount of things, but I've got a decent

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crop of things, and I'm happy with how things are growing.

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We've had our strawberries, they've been really nice this year.

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They've done absolutely fantastic. As rhubarb, we've been getting rubib

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crumble all the time, absolutely amazing. We've got all those

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apples are growing at the moment as cooking apples, as

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eating apples as pears. My plum tree I'm not too

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sure about. It's got plums on it, but they're just

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not swelling up. So hopefully this rain water what's come

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today will helpful help them swell up and get to

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a decent size, because that's what I obviously want, a

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decent sized plum on them. We've also got our tomatoes.

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We've got them indoors this year. I thought for the

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past few years I've grown them outside because it's been

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that dry. I keeping on top of water in them.

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I've not managed it, but I have them in the

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polytone all this year, even though this year is actually

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hotter than it has been for a few years. But

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we've kept unwatered. We've kept them going and yeah, we're

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getting absolutely loads to tomatoes off this year. They're doing

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absolutely fantastic. We've also got peppers growing. We've also got

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melons growing this year. Again I've not grown melons for

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a few years, but we've got them back growing again

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this year. I've talked about what been up to with

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them in Manx podcast. And we've also got some carrots growing.

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I've never had any look with carrots, but we're growing some.

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We're growing them in the polytnel this year, so we'll

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see how they actually get on and if we actually

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do get some decent carrots this year, so stay tuned

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for that. We've also got as potatoes growing outside. Not

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as many potatoes this year because I've had a nightmare

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with the squirrels. I had them all chitting in my

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shed getting them all ready, and the squirrels and messed

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them all up, mixed all the varieties up. So I

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just ended up finding ones that I could and just

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planting them in the soil. So hopefully we will get

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some potatoes fingers crossed. We've got lettuce growing, which is

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doing amazing. We've got corse jets growing. We've got sweet

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corn growing, and this year's sweet corn is the best

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it's ever grown. It's not been as tall as it

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has been in years, and it's absolutely huge. Itsay as

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tall as me and I'm six foot five. It's doing

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absolutely amazing. I'm so happy with it this year. Hopefully

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we'll get some great cops from it. We've also got

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our beet rooting. We've got some radishes in, we've got

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some broccoli in. We've got some squashing which are doing

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absolutely fantastic. You've seen the photos of how well they're doing.

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The absolutely amazing. We've also got some pumpkins growing. I'm

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really happy with my pumpkins. We've got some decent pumpkins

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coming on our plant, so hopefully I'll get some decent

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ones for winter this year and for Halloween. We've also

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got an Atlantic pumpkin variety. I planted them a bit

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too late, so I'm not expecting huge ones on them

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because they're the Atlantic giant ones. They're the ones that

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do grow really big. But hopefully if we get a

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decent sized one, I'll be happy with it. We've also

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got some we've said peppers we've got Yeah, I think

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that's about it, to be honest. We have got other stuff,

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but I've forgotten what I've planted, but hopefully we'll get

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plenty of stuff growing down at the lotman And this

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year I have got a stunning display of sunflowers. They

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are absolutely gorgeous. I've got the yellow ones, I've got

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the red ones, and i've got the black ones, and

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they all look absolutely stunning. I'm so happy with how

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well the sun flowers will come out this year. I

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used to plant them on the edge of my plot,

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but then when they flowered, they'd always be pointing at

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my neighbor's plot. So I've ended up planting them in

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the middle of my plot this year, and the absolutely

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gorgeous I'm able to get plenty OFSELFI is with them.

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If I'm surprised you're not all getting fed up with

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the photos of them, that's if you follow me on

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Instagram and Facebook, as I'm just sharing loads and loads

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of pictures with them at the moment, and that leads

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me onto my Facebook as recently I've hit twenty five

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thousand followers. I've been running my Facebook page now for

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eight years and I hit twenty five thousand followers. It's

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doing absolutely amazing at the moment, I'm so happy with

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how well it's coming along and how well it's turned

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out is absolutely amazing. And since hitting twenty five thousand followers,

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I've been monetized as well, which is absolutely amazing. Obviously

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you only earn a few penn of it, but I

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get them for my videos, for my pictures, for people

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watching my stories on Facebook. So if you don't watch

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my stories on Facebook, do watch them as that does

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well as well. So yeah, I'm happy about that. It'll

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all go towards my seeds obviously, and keeping the allotment

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going and producing all the content that I'm doing for you.

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And as you've probably seen, i've been doing absolutely loves

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content these days. I love doing it. I love doing content.

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But the only thing we're doing all the content is

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it takes up time and you don't end up doing

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much on the allotment. But I'm happy with how well

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it's all coming along. So yeah, it's been a very

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good year so far down at the allotment, and I'm

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expecting good rewards from the plot this year, and I'm

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imagining we'll get some decent crops from it. Like I said,

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I've got lots of sweet cornes come, I've got lots

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of pumpkins to come. Well, somebody getting onto the fruit season.

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All the blackberries are just starting to come out, and

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all the raspberries, and yeah, I'm going to have a

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bumper crop apples. I've got absolutely loads of apples on

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my trees, so we're going to get a bumper crop

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of them. And overall, I'm pretty happy with how well

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my plot's coming on this year. We've only I only

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get down there twice a week. Now. I used to

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be able to get down there four times every four

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days because I used to work four on four off.

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But I only get time to go down at weekends. Now.

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I'll pop down some evenings to give my plants to water,

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but I don't have much time to spend down there

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to do any actual gardening in the week. So yeah,

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it's stiff to say. I'm pretty happy with how well

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it's doing this year and how well it's all growing.

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So hopefully we'll get things growing and hopefully it will

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get a decent crop off stuff. And if you're not

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following me on Facebook, do give me a follow on

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there and on Instagram. And I'm sharing the loads and

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loads of content with you all, and if you can.

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If you can't, don't worry it, but just give it

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a like, give it a comment, and if you feel

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like you want to share it, feel free to share

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it because obviously that pushes it out loads. But yeah,

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thank you. I just want to say thank you so

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much for all the support that you do give mate,

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and all the messages you send me and the compliments.

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There's never any negativity on my posts and it's just

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a great gardening community that I've built over these eight years,

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and hopefully, like I said, these podcasts will be back

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out regularly again. So if you're not got your notifications

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on for the podcast, give it a follow and turn

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it on and hopefully you'll be enjoying lots more episodes.

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And if this is a new first podcast that you've

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listened to of mine, you've got four hundred and odd

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podcasts to listen to, so you better catch up. But yeah,

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thank you so much everybody for listening to today's podcast.

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And again I do apologize for not being around and

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being hidden away, but if you're following my other social

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media you'll see that I've still been busy. So until

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

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gardening with everyone. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode

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of Gardening with Ben. I hope you've enjoyed our chat

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and picked up some tips to help your garden and

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allotment pride. Don't forget to stay connected with me on

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all social media for even more gardening inspiration, updates and

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behind the scenes content. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram,

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and YouTube. Just search Gardening with Ben, hit that follow

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button or subscribe button and join our growing community of

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garden lovers. Until next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining,

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and keep gardening With Ben