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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 allotment adventures to

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wildlife friendly gardening. I'm here to help you grow your

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passion and read the rewards. So grab your gloves, roll

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up your sleeves, and let's get started on this year's

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gardening journey. Hey everybody, and welcome back to Gardening with

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Ben for your Thursday's episode. The weekend is nearly here, Thankfully,

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soon it'll be Friday, and soon we'll be thinking about

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spending the whole weekend down at our allotments and fingers crossed.

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It's a lot brighter than it was last weekend. Wow,

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did we get some torrential rain. It absolutely bounced it

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down on Sunday worse than it was on Saturday. Who

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says there's a host pipe band in Yorkshire With the

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amount of rain that we had, but the host pipe

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ban will probably be on until winter, knowing our luck.

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But yeah, hopefully we do get some more rain. And

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I don't mind if it rains in the week because

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obviously I'm not down at the allotment. But hopefully we

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do get sunshine for the weekend. That is what I'm

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wanting because I need to do some work outside now.

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That's the only thing. With all this rain that we have,

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the weeds certainly start to grow back. And one of

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the weekend jobs that I like to do is go

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around weeding in between every planet and digging it over

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so that if it does rain, the water can get

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into the soil. Pretty years, I do that once a

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week on all my beds to keep the weeds down

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as well, and it keeps it manageable and it keeps

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it easy. It only takes like five minutes to do

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each bed. If you do it every week, you get

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it all tided and keep on top of it. If

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I only could say that about keeping the binder weed down, though,

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that is one thing I can't keep on top of. Well.

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Today's episode, we're going to talk about sharing your allotment

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with people and how I mean about that is build

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a community of friends with your allotment neighbors and people

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online as well. I've made so many friends online through

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doing social media and sharing tips and advice what I

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learn with other people, and they give me tips and

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advice all the time as well, and that is where

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I get all my information from from other people. Obviously,

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I learned stuff myself through trial and ever and mostly errors,

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but I learn new things every time. And if I

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learn something good, that is when I share it with

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you all, and I really jump and shout about it

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because I know it actually works. If only we could

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find something to keep the slugs off, then I'd be

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jumping and shouting about that, that is for sure. But yeah,

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it's good to share tips and advice for one another

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and encourage one another as well. Never put anybody down

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for how they're doing stuff, as it might work for

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the person that's trying it. You never know, and if

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it's successful, then you may even be doing it in

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the end. But yeah, never put anybody down, as it's

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their passion that they're enjoying it and they're reaping the

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rewards from it. And that's one thing I've never done.

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I've never put anybody down about the methods that they

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do in gardening. I've always encouraged other people and another

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thing to do is share your seeds and your plants

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with other people. As I get loads and loads of

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seeds free women the madgaisines too many to handle and

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I've literally got a bag full, and I'll always for

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sharing seeds with my dad or with a people if

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they need a packet of seeds, I'll always share it

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with somebody. And yeah, share the seeds rather than waste

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them as well. And therese loads of seed swaps around

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as well. If you look online on Facebook in particular,

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the people do seed swaps as well. So if you've

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got loads of seeds that you're never going to use,

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swap them with someone else and you might get something

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useful back which you might want to try and grow

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as well. And the same goes for with your plants

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as well. From the allotment. I'm one of these that

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if I'm sawing my seeds, I won't just sow as

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few seeds. I'll sew the whole packet. Even if there's

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two thousand cauliflower seeds in a packet, I will sew

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the lot. Why I need two thousand plants. I don't know,

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but then they all end up dying and you only

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plant about twelve of them out of the two thousand.

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So give them away, give them to other people around

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the allotments, or if you're going in your garden, give

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them to a neighbor or to a friend. Never waste

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anything that you grow. It's always useful to pass it on.

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And that is one thing that I always do with

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my strawberry runners. Strawberries are sending out their runners now.

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This is when they send out all the baby plants.

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They've finished fruiting and it's now time to send out

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the baby plants. If you're not going to use them,

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don't waste them. Don't chuck them away, Pot them up,

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or stick them in the soil while they're still connected

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to the mother plant. Let them route once the root.

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Snip the umbilical cord off it. That's what I call

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it anywhere, the umbilical cord, because it is connected to

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the mother plant. Once it's rooted. Snip it off and

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then you can either use it for yourself, filling gaps,

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filling spaces, replace old plants, because you're meant to rotate

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your plants every three to four years. That is something

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they say, as they don't fruit when they get older,

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replace old plants. But if not, pass it on to

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a plot neighbor. Look out for somebody new that's joined

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your allotment recently. I'm sure most of my strawberries all

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over the allotment site because I've passed them on to

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my neighbor. My neighbors passed them on to his neighbor.

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They're all over the place. It's good to see and

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pass plants on as well, and strawberry plants cost a

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lot of money, so yeah, pass on the rewards what

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you've got from your allotment and let others enjoy it

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as well. And then the final thing is to share

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your vegetables. That is one thing you should do. And

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when I'm down at my plot, my neighbor often shouts over,

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just try some of these strawberries, these alpine strawberries that

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I've grown, and I'm like, yeah, I'll try them, because

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I've never tried alpine strawberries. I've always just grown the

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normal strawberries. And they're actually really nice. Actually I don't

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know if i'll actually grow myself very tiny, but yeah,

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they're really nice. Then like you'll pass something back, whether

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it be rhubarbs, some apple or anything. Yet, if you've

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got any spare vegetables, share it out, don't waste it,

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or if you've got nobody to pass it on to,

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I have a look at a food bank and see

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if you can pass them on to them. That there's

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plenty in Sheffield wire where they accept excess vegetables and

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everything like that, So have a look around and see

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if anyone can use them, or even a soup kitchen

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or something. So obviously grow enough stuff for yourself, and

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if you've got any leftovers, do the right thing and

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share it with other people and let other people enjoy it.

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And you never know that one person that you might

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give a strawberry plant to might decide to get an

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allotment or maybe start growing their own fruit and vegetables,

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and you've planted that seed there for them to start

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learning how to nurture and care for plants and obviously

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get food from it as well. So yeah, that has

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been our little episode today about sharing and enjoying other

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people down at the allotment and getting to know one another.

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So if you're not following us on social media, make

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sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and if

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you're not following this podcast, do get a bit of

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follow click the bell as well if you're listening on Spotify,

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and then it'll notify you when new podcasts come up.

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So until next time, everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep shining,

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and keep gardening with Bet. Everyone. Thanks for tuning in

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to today's episode of Gardening with Ben. I hope you've

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enjoyed our chat and picked up some tips to help

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your garden and allotment thrive. Don't forget to stay connected

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with me on all social media for even more gardening inspiration,

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updates and behind the scenes content. You can find me

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on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just search Gardening with Ben,

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hit that follow button or subscribe button and join our

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growing community our garden lovers. Until next time, everyone, remember,

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