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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Gardening with Ben. You'll go to

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a podcast for all things green and growing. I'm Ben,

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your allotment guide and here to help you cultivate your

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garden and your passion for plants. Whether you're a seasoned

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gardener or just starting out, this podcast is for you.

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Each episode will dig into tips, tricks, and techniques to

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make your garden and allotment thrive from planting, sewing, and growing.

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We will share all the tips and i'd advice. We

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will also have regular episodes talking about what we have

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been up to on the Allotment. So sit back, grab

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a brew and enjoy today's episode. Hey everyone, and welcome

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back to Gardening with Ben for another brand new episode.

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Well we said we'd be back today to let you

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know how we got on with the storm damage of

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storm data down at the allotment. Well, our dreading absolutely

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going down there. Like I drove down there and I

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could see on different plots issues what had happened from

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the storm, like people's polytunnels and stuff ripped. Thinking, no,

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what's going to be happening online. So I got down

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and got to my shed and had a look at it,

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and one of my pieces of perspects had come off

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the front, so that's easily replaceable. I've got some spare

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perspects to stick on it. And also a piece of

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the roof had come off as well, which is in

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an easy position because I can just lean over and

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fasten a new piece on. Thankfully it's not right in

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the middle or I wouldn't be able to get up

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to replace it. But yeah, not much damage done to

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the shed, thankfully. And then I went on to obviously

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check my polytunnel, and my polytunnel was still all stuck

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together with tape. I thought, how the hell that managed

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to stay together, because every year I end up like

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putting new tape on it, et cetera, et cetera. The

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water washes it off eventually and loosens it up, and

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then obviously it comes unstuck and it just needs to

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be sticking again with fresh tape. But yeah, it's still

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in one piece, which I'm absolutely surprised that. But thankfully,

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not much damage done to my plot that I know

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of well, that I've seen so far, so hopefully we'll

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get them pieces replaced and fixed over the coming weeks

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when it's a bit nicer down at the allotment. Well,

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what did I do down at the allotment today, Well,

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I did absolutely nothing. Basically, I did nothing down there.

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I just went to inspect it and then I came

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home again. I thought, I can't be bothered going do

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it staying at the plot today. It was cold, it

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was absolutely chucking it down, and yeah, I just didn't

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fancy being down at the plot today, so I thought

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I'll come home and I have a chilled day. So

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basically this weekend I've hardly done anything down at my plot.

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I've just put some plastic on my shelving to stop

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the rain from rotting it as my shed does drip

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all over the place, so I've put some plastic down

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to protect the shelving and hopefully stop it from rotting.

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So hopefully figures crossed come next week we will be

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able to get back in the mood for gardening and

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get some work done. So it's been a bit of

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a lazy weekend this weekend. We all deserve a weekend

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off every now and then, don't mind. So then I

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did actually go to Morrison's on the way home as

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I needed a few bits and I ended up picking

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up a poise setter. I could never say the word properly.

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But we picked up one of those as obviously that

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is a Christmas plan and you can never seem to

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keep the leaves on them, can you. I don't know

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if you can, but let me know any tips if

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you managed to be able to keep the leaves on

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them pretty well. And we also picked up a red

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amarillus as I like to grow one of these every

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single year in my flat because the flowers on them

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look absolutely fantastic when they come up. I may even

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pick a few high hims up soonish. We'll have to

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have a look into them, because obviously they add a

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dice smell into your flat as well, so I might

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pick up a few of them and get them growing

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as well in the flat, just to add a bit

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of color and a bit of fragrance to my flat

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and make it smell fresh, Not that it doesn't smell

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fresh already, but yeah, you can understand what I mean. So, yeah,

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it's been a bit of a waste of a weekend,

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a bit of a wash out altogether. We do have

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some of those weekends, but like I said, I'm pretty

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ahead of schedule for getting my plot ready for next

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year or my bed to Doug over. It's just a

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case of tiding it up and basically sorting out my

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shed and polytic ready for next year. So we've got

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about until May time when we're out in the actual allotment,

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so we've got plenty of time to get all ready.

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But March time is when we'll start sewing all our

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seeds as well. And talking off seed growing, well, I

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wanted to start some onions off. I've been talking about

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these for a few episodes. I want to start some

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onion seeds off. So I went and had a look

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at what gardening magazines are out at the moment, because

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I used to get my gardening magazines all the time,

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the Grow your Own and the Kitchen Garden magazine, but

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they went down hull a bit recently. The Grow your

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Own magazine you don't get as many seed packets in

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as you used to used to get ten packets in altogether,

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and I think the same for the Kitchen Garden magazine.

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But you don't get as many seed packets in now,

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so it's not as worth it to buy them. I

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were only buying them for the seeds mainly, but I

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saw the Kitchen Garden magazine had got onion seeds in them.

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So I went and got the Kitchen Guarden magazine. I've

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not opened the magazine up yet. Actually there's other seeds

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in there, so I'll have to have a look what's

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in there. And I had a look at the Grower

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your Own magazine, but there were just herbs in there,

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so atre a bit pointless real life, so I weren't

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just buying it for the seeds this time. So we've

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got the Kitchen Guarden magazine, so I've got some seeds

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in there. So I've got my onion seeds. So hopefully

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over the next couple of weeks I might be starting

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my onion seeds off and getting them started, as I

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once did an experiment where I grew onions from seed

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and also from set to see which ones do better. Obviously,

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you started seeds off around December January time, you started

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sets off around March April time, and the seeds actually

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did better than the sets. So I might do an

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experiment again this year and do see which ones do

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best out of both, just to show you all how

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well each of them do, to be honest. So we're

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going to start some seeds off, and I need to

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start looking into getting my pepper seeds and my chili

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seed and my opportune seeds as well for next year.

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As those they're going to be the next vegetables that

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we're starting off down at the allotment. I want to

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start them off pretty early and get them growing and established,

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because the quicker you getting them going, the quicker. Obviously

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they'll start fruiting next year. The bigger the plants will

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be et cetera. So hopefully we get some decent produce

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off them next year. So that's our plan for the

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coming weeks. But there's not much else that we'll be

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doing down at the allotment coming up obviously, Like I said,

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I want to start painting inside the shed, freshen it

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all up. Obviously, I've got some repairs to do on

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it now. Hopefully we don't get any more big storms

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that we've had like we have this weekend down there.

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But I saw mister pussy Cat or missus pussy Cat

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this morning, gave her food, gave hers some treats, and yeah,

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she absolutely loved it. So hopefully we can start planning

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our allotment next week and start thinking about what see

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I'm going to be growing. I'm going to be starting

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off all my Amazon shopping basket, start popping in all

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the seeds that I want to grow next year, and

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hopefully starts growing. But I'm excited for next year. I'm

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excited to try some new things as well. I want

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to look at some new varieties on what I'm going

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to be growing down at the allotment. I'm always up

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for trying new things and different ideas down at the allotment.

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But yeah, basically storm Dre didn't do much damage overall,

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which is what I wanted. It's just that fought of

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not being at your allotment. Obviously, if you've got a

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garden where you do all your gardening, you can look

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out of your window and see what it's like. But

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when you've got an allotment and it's not at home,

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you have to like travel there to see what it

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actually looks like. So I can feel a pain of

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a lot of people. And I've seen like a lot

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of posts online of people's greenhouses and pop ups that

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have been damming and bent and broken, and I've seen

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it trending on Google, like I look often like gardening

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trends and stuff like that on Google, and today's trending

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topic is greenhouse glass repercement. So quite a lot of

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people have obviously got greenhouse glass, and that is one

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thing that I do recommend on moving away from if

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you've got a greenhouse, is to replace them with the

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perspex panels. My dad's greenhouse used to be glass, and

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he replaced it all with perspects sheeting rather than glass.

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The perspects can blow out, but obviously it'll stay in

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one piece if it blows out, rather than the glass

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blowing out and it's smashing and having to replace it.

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But my dad's made his greenhouse so solid that none

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of the plastic perspects blows out. Is like screwed pieces

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of wood behind it so that they don't pop out.

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And yeah, we're obviously we're inspected mine this morning and

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my dad came down just to have a look, because

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my dad will be the one that helps me repair it.

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He's the one who's got all the DIY skills. And

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he checked his greenhouse and it's still solid, still still

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in one piece, still fantastic. But yeah, he knows what

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he's doing, and he's the man who gives me all

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the tips and advice. It's good to learn from somebody.

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And my dad's my inspiration of my gardening. So I

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hope you've enjoyed today's episode. We'll be back with more

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episodes every single day this week. So if you're new

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to this podcast, please do give it a follow. Click

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the belt and you'll get notified when new podcasts come up.

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They get uploaded about half six in the morning. We

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schedule them nice and early so that you can listen

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to him on the way to the work, or while

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you're walking the dog or having your morning brew, or

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while you're at the allotment, or you can catch up

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at the end of the week. It's up to you.

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But thank you for everybody that does support me and

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listens to these podcasts, and it does reflecting. I can

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see how many people listen to these podcasts and it

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does make me smile every time when we get nice

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comments and nice viewing figures as well. So until next time, everyone, remember,

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keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with Ben. Everyone,

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thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening

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with Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips

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and instegiration for your own gardening and a lot more journey.

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If you have enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to

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follow and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss

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a new episode, and if you have a moment, I'd

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love for you to leave a review and share the

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podcast with fellow gardening enthusiasts. Your support helps us grow

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this community and continue bringing you great content. We can

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also follow us on social media on every platform. Before

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gardening with Ben for daily gardening tips and web days,

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

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keep gardening with them.