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 allotment 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 everybody, and welcome back to Gardening with Ben.
Sorry about the two day absence in the podcast, but
we are here with a brand new podcast. We have
been so busy this weekend getting bits done down at
the Allotment and recording you content, and also I'm sorting
out all my content for February. So yeah, it has
been a busy weekend, so hence the reason why we've
not had any podcasts over the weekend. But yes, it
was the big bird weekend, the weekend that I had
been waiting for all week. I've never shut up about
it about you're figuring on the podcast, will you please
shut up about the Big Bird Watch? Well, unfortunately this
episode is about that. But yes, we had the Big
bird Watch. I'd bought lots of seed, I'd bought peanuts,
I'd bought sultanas, i'd bought fat balls, I'd foot bought
s it blocks. Yes, I spent a load on bird
seed and did it pull off? Well? Possibly, as obviously
we're feeding the birds. It's good to put it out
every day. And obviously my bird feeders hadn't been filled
up for quite a few days since the last time
I'd been there, so the birds didn't know to automatically
come down to the bird feeders straight away. But we
managed to get some birds down there after a while.
And what birds did we see, you'll be wondering, Well,
we saw absolutely loads of robins. Yes, there were all
different robins that weren't the same one that just kept
coming back because they were all different shapes and sizes.
But I absolutely love seeing the robbins down there. They
absolutely loved it. We saw a few blue its, not many,
not many blue t its. We also saw the blackbird, blackbird,
came down quite a bit because I put stanas out
and blackbirds obviously love the fruit, so we saw a
few blackbirds. We also saw a few pigeons. Obviously woodpigeons.
They're always around the woodpigeons. They're greedy little beggars. But
we're feeding them, that's the main thing. And what else
did we see that was all the birds that we
actually saw. Obviously you don't get as many varieties at
this time of year because a lot of other hibernating
or they're hiding away keeping warm. And it has been
bad weather this weekend. Obviously we had the storm on
Friday and then we had a lot of rain on Sunday.
So yeah, it hasn't been the best of weekends for
recording it. But I'm happy I did it, and I'm
happy that I've invested in some new bird feeders and
lots more bird feed so that'll keep us going for
a few more months. And at this time of year
when we need to be feeding the birds because soon
they'll be getting ready for the mating season, and it
helps fatten the males up and gets the energy up
ready for laying eggs. Well. Obviously mating and the females
laying the eggs in the bird houses in around March
April time possibly, so that is why we need to
keep feeding them, so hopefully keep my bird feeders filled
up ready for around that time. So what else did
we get up to down at the allotment at the weekend. Well,
we didn't get up to too much to be honest,
as it was absolutely bitterly cold, so cold, and it
was so icy when I went down on Sunday, so
I see it's my car skidded everywhere going onto the
allotment site. But we went down for a few hours.
I didn't necessarily do any work down there, but I
just enjoy being out of the flat and in the
fresh air for a bit and just being with nature.
And we are hopefully going to be putting out a
few videos this week. I've recorded a few YouTube videos,
so make sure you stay tuned for them on YouTube.
If you don't follow me on YouTube, go ahead across
and listen find me gardening with Ben and you'll be
able to see all my videos on there. We've filmed
about four videos for this week, so I'm looking forward
to them. We've also started putting out new content on
our face Book. If you don't follow me on Facebook,
head over to my Facebook page. I'm starting to share
more informational posts. Obviously, it's nice to keep seeing photos
of me and all my produce and my vegetables and
what I've been getting up to. But I've started sharing
more informational posts because I've got a lot of newbies
on my allotment and I want to start sharing tips
and advice and why gardening is good and encourage more
people to get into gardening. And that's what I'm planning
on doing over the next year, is trying to be
more foot informative. That's if I can get it out
with everybody. Obviously, we've got this podcasts where I talk
about everything and what I'm getting up to. But I've
started putting more posts on Facebook. So if you see
one of my posts, feel free to like it and
leave a comment. Comments do push my posts out, So
please do just comment on it, even if it's just
a few words, as it helps push it out. And
obviously I've started replying now to all comments. That's my
nightly job. What I do. I go through all my
comments and update them. Well. It's good to keep up
to date with them. Obviously I used to read them
all before, but I am now replying to them as
that obviously helps push it out as well, and i
just want people to see that I'm actually active and
reading them and keeping up to date with everybody. So
we're doing that. And I've also filmed a video on
my melon seeds what I'm going to be growing this year,
as I ordered absolutely loads of varieties of melons off
Amazon and they've all come now, and so I've filmed
a little video for that, so make sure you stay
tuned for this week, so that'll drop on YouTube this week,
all the varieties that I'm going to be growing. And
also I've put up a tour video of my allotments,
so you because see how well things are growing at
the moment and how things aren't growing. What's failing. There
is something failing. If you watch the video, you'll see
what's not doing very well. But yeah, we do have
us ups and downs, and like I always say, I'm
an honest gardener, I share with you what's working and
what's not working. I've also been out and bought the
Grow your Own magazine and the Kitchen Garden magazine this week,
which is the February edition. I should have probably bought
it a bit early because the March edition might be
out soon. But when I were doing my weekly shop,
I noticed that both magazines are now putting ten seed
packets in a magazine. And yes, I often just buy
it for the seeds, but I will share with you
in an episode what seeds we have got in the magazines,
So make sure you stay tuned for that, because they
don't show you what's in the seed packets until you
obviously open the magazine up, so I'll be sharing with
you what seeds we're getting in with them. And the
reason why I do like to get the magazines is
because they have seeds in on what you probably wouldn't
buy in the garden center or from the shops, and
sometimes you think, oh, just give them a try. I
might as well. I'm not gonna waste them, So you
end up sewing them and they could be a different
variety of a seed that you've never tried before, and
sometimes they crop better than the ones that you often
see regularly. That is how I came to try purple cauliflower,
because I got a three packet of seeds and the
purple cauliflower did better than the white cauliflower, so hence
why I've continued to grow the purple cauliflower every single
year now. So yeah, I'll be sharing them with you.
And what else have we been up to? That's it,
really what we've been up to. So yeah, I'm just
getting into creating lots and lots more content for everybody
because we're growing every single day. We're getting new followers
and I do appreciate it. So if you are new
to this podcast, do give us a follow and step Today.
Towards the end of the week, we're going to be
doing our February podcasts where we talk about what seeds
we can sell in February and what jobs need doing
in the garden and allotment in February. So that is
a vital podcast which I know everybody loves to listen to,
so make sure you stay tuned for that. So happy Monday, everybody.
I hope you all have a fantastic week. Hopefully lots
more podcasts have come this week, So until next time, everyone,
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep Guardening with Ben. 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
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next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep
garden Him with Ben