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Speaker 1: Welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll 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 everybody, and welcome back to Gardening

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with Ben for another brand new episode here on Monday,

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a new week and a new beginning. Hopefully getting warmer

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now and hopefully getting towards springtime, but no doubt it

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will probably be still be cold. But yeah, we've got

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a big week ahead of us this week with the

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Big Bird Watch coming up this weekend, so we're looking

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forward to that. But first off, let me tell you

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about what we've been getting up to down at the Allotment. Yesterday,

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we were busy, busy, busy, busy, and yeah, we have

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got loads done. So this weekend I've been concentrated on

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tidy my polytunel out. I've still got a lot more

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left to do. I've got a load of wood in

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there what I do need to burn as well at

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some point. I've been having it in there so that

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it'll dry out and hopefully be able to get it

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all burned and done away with. Obviously a norm a

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wood order, I'll save any bit of wood lying around,

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but this is no good. This would it's hold like

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cupboard doors and stuff what I've warped and gone rubbish,

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so we definitely don't need them. So yeah, hopefully we'll

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be having a bonfire pretty soon. Down on the allotment.

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We've got to get that done before March time because

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our allotments you only allowed them from something like November

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to March time, so I'm going to have to make

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sure I get them burned and done away with. But yeah,

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we've been tidying all up inside that You don't realize

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how much compost and soil gets everywhere. I literally filled

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up a box full of compost today so that I'll

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be getting dug into my beds and sorted out. But yeah,

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we got all that done. And what else did we

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get done? We fed the birds again as they'd been

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eating all the birds eat up. The pussy cat was

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waiting for me again as soon as I got there.

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So that's been fed. And we've filmed a few videos

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as well today, so hopefully you'll get to see them

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on YouTube this week. But yeah, we have then gone

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shopping after I went to the allotment and we got

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a load of bird feeders. Yes, I've got about four

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bird feeders already, but I've bought five more to put

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up for this weekend. As obviously I want to get

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involved in the Big Bird Watch, and we'll talk about

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that in another episode of the Big Bird Watch. But

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we've bought five more new feeders. We bought some fat balls,

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We've bought some peanuts, we bought some sultanas. So yeah,

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hopefully we'll get lots of birds down at the allotment

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for the bird watch this weekend. But in's case, I've

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just been tidying up and getting all the plot ready.

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It was pretty cold again this morning, but we was

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wrapped up. I remembered my body warmer today and my hat,

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so we kept warm and got plenty done down at

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the plot. But I'm starting to make plans of some renovations.

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What I want to do down on my plot as

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one of my main paths is starting to sing earn.

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The edging on the bricks are all wonky and everything

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like that, so I want to tidy all them up,

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spruce up my path and make it level again, as

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my dad often walks down to my shed and it's

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a bit uneven and I don't want him to trip

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over his going down into the shed for when he

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goes down and feeds a cat every day. We've also

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watered our plants in the greenhouse today ours Obviously you

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don't need to water them often when they're in the

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greenhouse because there's plenty of moisture at this time of year,

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but we gave them a fresh drink of water as

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my water but will fall up to the top. It's

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in like a location where it'll collect the rain and

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it will fall up to the top, so I thought

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that as well takes them out use it up because

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it'll only fill up again soon. So we've watered our

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sweet peas, our salvia, our geraniums and hollyhock and all

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my other flowers in there what I've got started with,

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given them a good water in today, and hopefully we're

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gonna get some beer full colors this year and some

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new plants because I've never grown hollyhock before, so that's

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a new one for me. And I think I've got

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some delphiniums as well, or we've got some loopings as

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well what we've grown from seed, so we've got plenty

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of color hopefully coming down on the allotment this coming year.

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So we've done that, And my mum asked me today,

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actually if i'd seen the squirrels around much, But I've

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not seen the squirrels at all while I've been there

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last two days. Did they actually go into hibernation at

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this time of year? Like a few weekends ago, I

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saw a lots of them around, but then they've all

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just suddenly disappeared, so I don't know where they've all

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hidden off to. And we've got as bird feeders out

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and those were pretty full today. They're not like being

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attacked like I usually go down and they usually emptied

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after one day, so hopefully the squirrels have moved on

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a bit. But I've also ordered a little finger as

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well to stop squirrel from pinching the seed and the nuts.

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So I'm going to film a little video on that,

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and it's a clever little idea and it saves you're

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having to buy squirrel proof bird feeders, So stay tuned

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for that little video what I'm going to do and

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share with you all. So what's the plans for this weekend?

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This week, well, we've got a As I said the

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other day, I purchased a Bond's Eye tree which has

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got five seeds in it, so I need to sort

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them out. I need to plant all them, film a

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video for that feel to watch and hopefully follow along

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the journey of me growing my Bond's Eye tree for

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the next fifty years. So we've got that plan. And

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I've got two peppers popping through my seeds on my

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window sill. So yes, my peppers have started growing, which

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I'm absolutely estatic about because last year I started them

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around end of March beginning of April and they were

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only just fruity when it got to September. So I've

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started them off airly on my window. So obviously they

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need plenty of light and just be careful they don't

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go leg a and hopefully we've given them a head

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start in growing. And fingers crossed, we get plenty of

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peppers this year and a great produce from them, so

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I've got them growing. We've got as onion seeds growing

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on as wind sol they're coming through with no sign

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of the chilies yet. And yeah, that's about it what

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we've got growing vegetable wise. I'm not going to be

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starting any vegetables off in February. The only thing I'm

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going to be doing over the next few weeks probably

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is start chitting my potatoes, and I'll do a podcast

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on that about chitting or not chitting, that is the question,

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So I'll do a podcast on that Tomorrow's. Not Tomorrow's

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We're going to do a podcast as well on what's

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my seed goal this year? What am I plan on

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growing and planting? So make sure you stay tuned for

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that podcast. We're going to be sharing all the new

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things that we're going to try this year and all

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the usual ones which we try, sharing what we're going

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to be growing down on the allotment, and then obviously

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I'll do a podcast on the Big Bird Watch as well,

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talking about how you can help and how you can

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encourage the birds and the wildlife to your garden, so

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make sure you stay tuned for that episode. So that

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has been our little catch up of what we've got

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up to on our son yesterday down at the allotment,

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and hopefully we will be back down there next weekend

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for the big bird watch. Fingers crossed it doesn't snow.

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I've spent a lot of money, but hopefully we'll get

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plenty of footage and pictures for you all to watch

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on them. I'm even going to try and get a

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robin to land on my hand and have some bird seed. Now,

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that would make a fantastic photo, wouldn't it, So we'll

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give that a try. So until tomorrow's episode, everyone keep smiling,

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keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone, thanks for

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tuning in to today's episode of Gardening with Ben. I

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hope you've enjoyed our chat and picked up some tips

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to help your garden and allotment fride. Don't forget to

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stay connected with me on all social media for even

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more gardening inspiration, updates and behind the scenes content. You

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can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just search

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Gardening with Ben, hit that follow button or subscribe button

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and join our growing community of garden lovers. Until next time,

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everyone remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with

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Ben