1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to a podcast

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,080
for all things green and growing in twenty twenty five.

3
00:00:08,599 --> 00:00:12,160
Whether you're a seasoned gardener, a budding enthusiast, or just

4
00:00:12,279 --> 00:00:16,559
curious about cultivating your own slice of nature, you're in

5
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,039
the right place. Join me Ben as we explore practical tips,

6
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,760
inspiring stories, and the latest trends in gardening to make

7
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,480
your outdoor space bloom with life, from a lotment adventures

8
00:00:29,559 --> 00:00:32,840
to wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow

9
00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,520
your passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves,

10
00:00:36,679 --> 00:00:39,399
roll up your sleeves, and let's get started on this

11
00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:47,280
year's gardening journey. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Gardening

12
00:00:47,799 --> 00:00:52,560
with Ben. It's Wednesday, already halfway through the week, and

13
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,920
we nearly getting towards that Big Bird Watch weekend. I'm

14
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,000
excited for it. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Figures crossed.

15
00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,679
We get lots and lots of birds down at our

16
00:01:02,759 --> 00:01:05,640
lotment at the weekend, but that will be talked about

17
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:07,560
in tomorrow's episode. We're going to talk about the Big

18
00:01:07,599 --> 00:01:10,319
Bird Watching tomorrow's episode, so make sure you come back

19
00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,200
for tomorrow's episode. To listening on that one. Today we're

20
00:01:15,239 --> 00:01:19,920
going to talk about what our seed goals are this year,

21
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,200
what our plant goals, what we're hoping to grow, what

22
00:01:23,239 --> 00:01:26,719
we're hoping to gain from our allotment this year down

23
00:01:26,879 --> 00:01:30,319
at the allotment, and what I'm going to put into

24
00:01:30,359 --> 00:01:33,280
it and hopefully what I will return out of it.

25
00:01:33,879 --> 00:01:38,200
So this year, we're going to concentrate on growing all

26
00:01:38,239 --> 00:01:40,799
the usual things which I always grow up, which are

27
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:50,799
sweet corn, peas, iceberg, lettuce, beet roots, spring onions, runner beans,

28
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:58,319
peas if I've not said peace, or tomatoes, cucumbers. So

29
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,480
those are the main ones. What we could go own

30
00:02:00,519 --> 00:02:03,959
potatoes and garlic and onions. So those are the main

31
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,879
ones which we're going to grow, all the usual staple

32
00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,800
vegetables which you grow down at your allotment, and I'm

33
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,479
going to concentrate on trying some new things as well.

34
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,199
This year. We're going to try some new varieties of produce.

35
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:24,199
We'll look for some different varieties, unusual varieties of vegetables.

36
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,400
We're going to try lots of different types of pumpkins,

37
00:02:27,879 --> 00:02:32,159
possibly different types of squash, different varieties of cause jets,

38
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,000
so that we can see which ones do the best

39
00:02:35,159 --> 00:02:38,719
and hopefully try and grow them ones year after year.

40
00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,280
I'm also going to try and grow a huge pumpkin

41
00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,000
this year. Now, I've never actually focused on growing a

42
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,520
massive pumpkin. I've just let them grow and let the

43
00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,000
rain water them as and when and I get a

44
00:02:51,039 --> 00:02:53,759
decent sized one, just a smallish one, just the size

45
00:02:53,759 --> 00:02:55,599
for me. But I want to try and grow a

46
00:02:55,599 --> 00:02:59,000
big one this year. And when you try to grow

47
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,719
a big one, you just have to focus on one

48
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,479
or two growing on the planet rather than having multiple

49
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,080
growing on it. Because the more pumpkins you have grown

50
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,360
on the plant, the less chance of it being a

51
00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,039
big one you will get because it's putting its energy

52
00:03:15,039 --> 00:03:17,919
into growing them all. And obviously if we're growing a

53
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,879
big pumpkin, we'll have to feed it regularly. We'll have

54
00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,560
to water it every other day, may sometimes every day

55
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,479
if it's hot. So hopefully we'll get a decent sized pumpkins.

56
00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:30,840
So I'm looking forward to trying that this year. Down

57
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,360
at the allotment, we're also, like I said, we're going

58
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,639
to try different varieties of squash, because there's plenty of

59
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,840
different varieties out there. There's button up squash, there's trombone

60
00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:49,560
I think it's cold. There's urky I can't remember the

61
00:03:49,639 --> 00:03:52,680
name of it, but yeah, there's plenty of varieties out there.

62
00:03:52,719 --> 00:03:55,719
There's a Turkish one as well, so there's lots of

63
00:03:55,759 --> 00:03:58,560
different varieties of squashed out there to grow. And now

64
00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:00,719
that I've got my proper cooker, I've got my cook

65
00:04:00,719 --> 00:04:03,560
a top, I've got my air fright, I can try

66
00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:06,560
and cook some different recipes. So that is what I

67
00:04:06,599 --> 00:04:08,800
want to try and do, try and grow some fresh

68
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,319
stuff to eat this year and hopefully get some fantastic

69
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:14,840
crops from And I mentioned it before that I'm hoping

70
00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:19,240
to get a soup maker this year so that I

71
00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:22,560
can make my own soups as well, so I want

72
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,360
to try that. I'm going to try and grow leaks.

73
00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,879
I've never actually focused on growing leaks. I'd have been

74
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:29,920
in the ground, but I've not bothered with them. I've

75
00:04:29,959 --> 00:04:32,120
just left them after a bit and I come bothered

76
00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:33,759
with them. But I'm going to try and grow some

77
00:04:33,879 --> 00:04:35,720
leaks this year so that we can have some leak

78
00:04:35,759 --> 00:04:38,759
and potato soup, which have been nice. We're going to

79
00:04:38,879 --> 00:04:45,920
try and grow some possibly different colored beetroots, different colored carrots,

80
00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,120
different colored radishes because there's loads of different colors and

81
00:04:50,199 --> 00:04:53,360
vegetables out there. They don't necessarily just come as your

82
00:04:53,439 --> 00:04:57,800
standard vegetable color ours. Obviously you won't know about them

83
00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,879
because they won't sell different colored in the supermarket. They'll

84
00:05:01,879 --> 00:05:05,480
only say tell the standard variety because people won't buy them.

85
00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:12,759
If you saw a black radish or a purple cauliflower,

86
00:05:13,079 --> 00:05:15,680
which there is a purple cauliflower out there which I've

87
00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,879
grown many at times, which does really well, so people

88
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,800
won't possibly buy them. So you can actually buy these

89
00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,879
seeds and just be careful way by them from if

90
00:05:24,879 --> 00:05:28,040
you saw someone Amazon or eBay that dodge, you don't

91
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,519
necessarily buy them. Always buy them from a reptile place

92
00:05:31,759 --> 00:05:34,000
as long as you know that they're real or a

93
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,160
proper company, and you'll know that they're actually real seeds

94
00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,759
and you're not being conned. So we're going to try

95
00:05:40,879 --> 00:05:44,360
and grow lots of different varieties out there. We're also

96
00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:47,480
going to focus on growing lots of different varieties of

97
00:05:47,519 --> 00:05:51,759
flowers this year, as I'm getting so well into growing flowers.

98
00:05:51,759 --> 00:05:55,399
I absolutely love it now. And we have got absolutely

99
00:05:55,519 --> 00:05:58,199
loads of different varieties of poppies. We've bought about fifteen

100
00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,879
varieties are literally just on Amazon and clicked every variety

101
00:06:01,879 --> 00:06:04,839
of poppy and ordered it. I'm not going to throw

102
00:06:04,879 --> 00:06:07,879
the seeds straight into the ground, as knowing me, I'll

103
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,160
dig them up, thinking that the weeds and stuff like that.

104
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,839
Not that I weed often, but knowing me, I'll probably

105
00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:15,560
dig them up. So I'm going to start them all

106
00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,720
off in seed trasts so that I know what varieties

107
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,680
are what, and plant them out where I want them

108
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,040
to grow. And obviously ones soup grown and the seedheads

109
00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,399
are on the top, they'll burst and they'll land the

110
00:06:26,439 --> 00:06:30,120
seeds in the beds and they will come back year

111
00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,600
after year and hopefully get more poppies growing. We're going

112
00:06:34,639 --> 00:06:37,439
to grow different varieties of sweet peas as well. I've

113
00:06:37,439 --> 00:06:40,000
looked Amazon at them. There's loads of different varieties of

114
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,800
sweet peas. We're also going to grow different varieties of sunflower.

115
00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,040
You get your normal yellow ones or you extremely tall ones,

116
00:06:48,079 --> 00:06:51,519
which are the Russian ones, but there's like red varieties,

117
00:06:51,519 --> 00:06:53,720
there's a black variety of some flower. There's a teddy

118
00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:58,279
bear sunflower which is all fluffy and looks fantastic. So

119
00:06:58,319 --> 00:07:00,839
there's lots of different varieties there. So we're going to

120
00:07:00,879 --> 00:07:03,680
try and grow some different varieties of flowers down at

121
00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,360
the allotment. I just want it to be bright, colorful

122
00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,279
and attractive. I've all the borders filled with flowers and

123
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:15,000
make it look absolutely gorgeous. And I'm going to the gardeners.

124
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,040
We're live again this year. We've got tickets booked for that.

125
00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,680
We'll be going on the Saturday. And I'm going to

126
00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,879
buy some more salvia plants this year. I'm gonna take

127
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,319
some money for a lot more varieties of salvia, because

128
00:07:28,319 --> 00:07:31,759
we purchased three last year and the best one was

129
00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,360
the black current smelling one, which absolutely gorgeous. I took

130
00:07:36,399 --> 00:07:39,040
loads of cuttings off that. So hopefully we'll get some

131
00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,240
more salvia plants growing next year down at the allotment.

132
00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:46,079
Fingers crossed, and I'm still looking forward to this year

133
00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,639
down at the plot. It's going to be absolutely astonishing.

134
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,560
Like I said, I'm only there twice a week now,

135
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,120
not like it used to be like four on four

136
00:07:54,199 --> 00:07:56,240
off with my old job, where I could spend four

137
00:07:56,279 --> 00:07:58,560
days down there. But we're going to try and focus

138
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,800
and get it all done within two days every weekend

139
00:08:02,279 --> 00:08:05,160
and get as much done as possible. So I hope

140
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,639
that you're looking forward to this journey if you new

141
00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,800
to these podcasts, because I'm getting five hundred new followers

142
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,319
a day on Facebook at the moment. It's absolutely amazing.

143
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,800
One of my posts gone viral and I'm getting absolutely

144
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,600
a lot to follow us from it. So thank you

145
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,160
if you're new to this podcast, and thank you for

146
00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,680
following me. I do love the community that we've built

147
00:08:24,759 --> 00:08:29,399
up and hopefully it will continue to grow. So tomorrow

148
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,759
we'll be back with our big bird Watch podcast where

149
00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:35,159
we're talking about what we're going to do for the

150
00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:38,039
birds this year, and I hope that you're all going

151
00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,799
to try and get involved, even if it's just popping

152
00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:44,960
out and getting some bird seed. But yeah, we will

153
00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,519
see you all tomorrow. So until next time, everyone, remember

154
00:08:48,919 --> 00:08:54,960
keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone,

155
00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,799
thanks for tuning into today's episode of Gardening with Ben.

156
00:09:01,159 --> 00:09:03,440
I hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some

157
00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,919
tips to help your garden and allotment thrive. Don't forget

158
00:09:07,919 --> 00:09:11,519
to stay connected with me on all social media for

159
00:09:11,639 --> 00:09:16,440
even more gardening inspiration, updates and behind the scenes content.

160
00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:20,200
You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just

161
00:09:20,279 --> 00:09:24,240
search Gardening with Ben. Hit that follow button or subscribe

162
00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,720
button and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until

163
00:09:28,799 --> 00:09:33,159
next time, everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep

164
00:09:33,159 --> 00:09:34,159
gardening with Ben.