Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben, your go to podcast for
all things green and growing in twenty twenty five. Whether
you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just curious
about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in the
right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make
your outdoor space bloom with life. From a lotment adventures
to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow
your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,
roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this
year's gardening journey. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening
with Ben. Yes, we are back. The podcasts are back.
How long has it been now? Blind? May I think
the last episode I've checked is February? And I do
apologize we have been absent. We have been this appeared
and we are now finally back with the podcast until
I stop again, but hopefully we'll carry on doing them
all as I've been getting so many messages asking me
to start these podcasts back up again. So we're back
here doing them. And yeah, this podcast is explaining what
I've been up to where I've been, how things are
getting on and where up to now? So since last podcast,
obviously it's now summer. Since last time, I've been down
at the allotment and we have got absolutely loads of
stuff growing at the moment. It's obviously a host BikeE ban.
But since recording this podcast, we have had a massive
downpour today, So hopefully it's fill in the reservoirs back up,
and hopefully it's watered the plants well. But obviously when
the rain comes, the slugs come along as well, and
they'll be feasting on everything at the moment, So I'll
be prepared for going slug hunting tomorrow and getting all
them slugs away from eating everything. But what have we
got growing on our allotment this year. We've not got
a massive amount of things, but I've got a decent
crop of things, and I'm happy with how things are growing.
We've had our strawberries, they've been really nice this year.
They've done absolutely fantastic. As rhubarb, we've been getting rubib
crumble all the time, absolutely amazing. We've got all those
apples are growing at the moment as cooking apples, as
eating apples as pears. My plum tree I'm not too
sure about. It's got plums on it, but they're just
not swelling up. So hopefully this rain water what's come
today will helpful help them swell up and get to
a decent size, because that's what I obviously want, a
decent sized plum on them. We've also got our tomatoes.
We've got them indoors this year. I thought for the
past few years I've grown them outside because it's been
that dry. I keeping on top of water in them.
I've not managed it, but I have them in the
polytone all this year, even though this year is actually
hotter than it has been for a few years. But
we've kept unwatered. We've kept them going and yeah, we're
getting absolutely loads to tomatoes off this year. They're doing
absolutely fantastic. We've also got peppers growing. We've also got
melons growing this year. Again I've not grown melons for
a few years, but we've got them back growing again
this year. I've talked about what been up to with
them in Manx podcast. And we've also got some carrots growing.
I've never had any look with carrots, but we're growing some.
We're growing them in the polytnel this year, so we'll
see how they actually get on and if we actually
do get some decent carrots this year, so stay tuned
for that. We've also got as potatoes growing outside. Not
as many potatoes this year because I've had a nightmare
with the squirrels. I had them all chitting in my
shed getting them all ready, and the squirrels and messed
them all up, mixed all the varieties up. So I
just ended up finding ones that I could and just
planting them in the soil. So hopefully we will get
some potatoes fingers crossed. We've got lettuce growing, which is
doing amazing. We've got corse jets growing. We've got sweet
corn growing, and this year's sweet corn is the best
it's ever grown. It's not been as tall as it
has been in years, and it's absolutely huge. Itsay as
tall as me and I'm six foot five. It's doing
absolutely amazing. I'm so happy with it this year. Hopefully
we'll get some great cops from it. We've also got
our beet rooting. We've got some radishes in, we've got
some broccoli in. We've got some squashing which are doing
absolutely fantastic. You've seen the photos of how well they're doing.
The absolutely amazing. We've also got some pumpkins growing. I'm
really happy with my pumpkins. We've got some decent pumpkins
coming on our plant, so hopefully I'll get some decent
ones for winter this year and for Halloween. We've also
got an Atlantic pumpkin variety. I planted them a bit
too late, so I'm not expecting huge ones on them
because they're the Atlantic giant ones. They're the ones that
do grow really big. But hopefully if we get a
decent sized one, I'll be happy with it. We've also
got some we've said peppers we've got Yeah, I think
that's about it, to be honest. We have got other stuff,
but I've forgotten what I've planted, but hopefully we'll get
plenty of stuff growing down at the lotman And this
year I have got a stunning display of sunflowers. They
are absolutely gorgeous. I've got the yellow ones, I've got
the red ones, and i've got the black ones, and
they all look absolutely stunning. I'm so happy with how
well the sun flowers will come out this year. I
used to plant them on the edge of my plot,
but then when they flowered, they'd always be pointing at
my neighbor's plot. So I've ended up planting them in
the middle of my plot this year, and the absolutely
gorgeous I'm able to get plenty OFSELFI is with them.
If I'm surprised you're not all getting fed up with
the photos of them, that's if you follow me on
Instagram and Facebook, as I'm just sharing loads and loads
of pictures with them at the moment, and that leads
me onto my Facebook as recently I've hit twenty five
thousand followers. I've been running my Facebook page now for
eight years and I hit twenty five thousand followers. It's
doing absolutely amazing at the moment, I'm so happy with
how well it's coming along and how well it's turned
out is absolutely amazing. And since hitting twenty five thousand followers,
I've been monetized as well, which is absolutely amazing. Obviously
you only earn a few penn of it, but I
get them for my videos, for my pictures, for people
watching my stories on Facebook. So if you don't watch
my stories on Facebook, do watch them as that does
well as well. So yeah, I'm happy about that. It'll
all go towards my seeds obviously, and keeping the allotment
going and producing all the content that I'm doing for you.
And as you've probably seen, i've been doing absolutely loves
content these days. I love doing it. I love doing content.
But the only thing we're doing all the content is
it takes up time and you don't end up doing
much on the allotment. But I'm happy with how well
it's all coming along. So yeah, it's been a very
good year so far down at the allotment, and I'm
expecting good rewards from the plot this year, and I'm
imagining we'll get some decent crops from it. Like I said,
I've got lots of sweet cornes come, I've got lots
of pumpkins to come. Well, somebody getting onto the fruit season.
All the blackberries are just starting to come out, and
all the raspberries, and yeah, I'm going to have a
bumper crop apples. I've got absolutely loads of apples on
my trees, so we're going to get a bumper crop
of them. And overall, I'm pretty happy with how well
my plot's coming on this year. We've only I only
get down there twice a week. Now. I used to
be able to get down there four times every four
days because I used to work four on four off.
But I only get time to go down at weekends. Now.
I'll pop down some evenings to give my plants to water,
but I don't have much time to spend down there
to do any actual gardening in the week. So yeah,
it's stiff to say. I'm pretty happy with how well
it's doing this year and how well it's all growing.
So hopefully we'll get things growing and hopefully it will
get a decent crop off stuff. And if you're not
following me on Facebook, do give me a follow on
there and on Instagram. And I'm sharing the loads and
loads of content with you all, and if you can.
If you can't, don't worry it, but just give it
a like, give it a comment, and if you feel
like you want to share it, feel free to share
it because obviously that pushes it out loads. But yeah,
thank you. I just want to say thank you so
much for all the support that you do give mate,
and all the messages you send me and the compliments.
There's never any negativity on my posts and it's just
a great gardening community that I've built over these eight years,
and hopefully, like I said, these podcasts will be back
out regularly again. So if you're not got your notifications
on for the podcast, give it a follow and turn
it on and hopefully you'll be enjoying lots more episodes.
And if this is a new first podcast that you've
listened to of mine, you've got four hundred and odd
podcasts to listen to, so you better catch up. But yeah,
thank you so much everybody for listening to today's podcast.
And again I do apologize for not being around and
being hidden away, but if you're following my other social
media you'll see that I've still been busy. So until
next time, everyone, remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
gardening with everyone. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode
of Gardening with Ben. I hope you've enjoyed our chat
and picked up some tips to help your garden and
allotment pride. Don't forget to stay connected with me on
all social media for even more gardening inspiration, updates and
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garden lovers. Until next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining,
and keep gardening With Ben