Up next in 10
🎙️ A Snowy January Stroll: Exploring the Allotment Garden ❄️🌱
2K views
Jan 19, 2025
🎙️ A Snowy January Stroll: Exploring the Allotment Garden! Snow may have covered the plot, but there’s still beauty (and work!) to be found. 🌨️🌱 Join me on a peaceful walk through the allotment as I share what’s visible beneath the frost, which crops are hanging on, and how I’m planning for the season ahead. Have you taken a wintry walk around your garden lately? #GardeningWithBen #SnowyAllotment #WinterGarden #JanuaryWalk #AllotmentLife #GrowYourOwn #GardeningPodcast #UKGardener
View Video Transcript
0:00
at Kroger Pharmacy care is what's most
0:02
convenient for you care is being here
0:04
when you need us for open evenings and
0:06
weekends care is helping you save more
0:08
most insurance plans and discount cards
0:10
are accepted at your local Kroger
0:11
Pharmacy care is saving you Time by
0:14
managing your prescriptions online you
0:15
can request refills check order status
0:17
and more care is convenience that works
0:20
for everyone Kroger Health a world of
0:22
care is in store services and
0:24
availability vary by location age and
0:25
other restrictions May apply for
0:26
coverage consult your health insurance
0:28
company visit the pharmacy or our site
0:29
for details
0:31
hear that that's the beginning of a
0:34
journey powered by the confidence that
0:36
comes from driving a vehicle so reliable
0:38
it's backed by a 10-year 100,000 Mi
0:41
limited powertrain
0:42
warranty where your journey ends
0:46
well that's up to you visit your local
0:49
Kia dealer today Kia movement that
0:52
inspires see retailer for warranty
0:55
details always drive safely limited
0:57
inventory available
1:00
welcome to gardening with Ben your go-to
1:03
podcast for all things green and growing
1:06
in
1:07
2025 whether you are a seasoned Gardener
1:10
a budding Enthusiast or just curious
1:13
about cultivating your own slice of
1:15
nature you're in the right place join me
1:18
Ben as we explore practical tips
1:21
inspiring stories and the latest trends
1:24
in gardening to make your outdoor space
1:26
Bloom with life from allotment
1:29
Adventures to the wildlife friendly
1:30
gardening I'm here to help you grow your
1:33
passion and reap the rewards so grab
1:36
your gloves roll up your sleeves and
1:38
let's get started on this year's
1:40
gardening
1:42
Journey hey everyone and welcome back to
1:46
gardening with Ben for another brand new
1:49
episode I hope you're all well on this
1:52
Monday morning and hopefully the snow
1:55
will start to fall and fingers crossed
1:58
disappear soon because what's left is
2:00
all that ice and it's awful when it's
2:02
ice it it's it's lovely when it's first
2:05
come down when you can crunch your feet
2:07
in it and stuff like that but when
2:09
you've had the snow now for about a week
2:12
and it's all that ice it's awful to walk
2:15
on like all the main roads are clear and
2:17
stuff like that but all the Pavements
2:18
are so awful to walk on it's absolutely
2:22
awful but hopefully it will all go soon
2:26
but yeah we went down on our allotment
2:28
on Sunday obviously it's Sunday today
2:30
when I've recorded this but we've been
2:31
down to our allotment and I didn't even
2:34
drive onto the site because my dad goes
2:36
down every single day to make sure the
2:38
cat's being fed down there and it says
2:41
don't even drive on the site so I didn't
2:42
I like parked away on the road and
2:45
walked onto the alotment
2:47
side what you're hearing is Hardy fiber
2:50
cement siding living up to its
2:51
reputation as the siding that helps
2:53
resist weather damage no matter what
2:55
Mother Nature throws its way James Hardy
2:58
knows how important a reputation is
3:00
especially when you're a home builder
3:02
that's why Hardy products would stand
3:03
the elements better than wood based s
3:06
with styles to match their strength
3:07
because when home builders work with us
3:09
we deliver our best so they can look
3:11
their best protect your reputation with
3:14
exterior products by James
3:16
Hardy and it was really really bad I
3:19
wasn't expecting to see as much snow as
3:23
I'd imagined it was just as if it had
3:25
been laid all the snow it was just a
3:28
blanket of snow it were beautiful down
3:31
there absolutely beautiful and when
3:34
snow's been Fallen it just feels like so
3:37
quiet so peaceful so calm it's
3:40
absolutely gorgeous so I've posted lots
3:43
of photos on Instagram and on Facebook
3:46
of those if you've not already seen them
3:48
go and have a look at them absolutely
3:50
gorgeous and my main job today was
3:53
obviously to go and feed the cat the cat
3:55
was waiting for me waiting for its food
3:58
we do make sure it's fed every single
4:00
day even though it's a wild cat and it
4:02
can probably fend for itself we do like
4:05
to give it some food to keep it going
4:06
and just make sure it's okay and the
4:10
other main reason for going down to the
4:11
allotment today was to feed the birds
4:14
that is one thing that I wanted to do um
4:18
obviously I've not fed him since last
4:20
week uh my dad don't fe uh fill up the
4:22
bird feeders like um he just manages to
4:25
feed the cat so I filled up all the bird
4:28
feeders on my allotment today
4:30
got them all filled up with seed but we
4:33
do need to get some uh new bird feeders
4:35
that have got uh that I can put peanuts
4:37
in because if I just put them in normal
4:39
ones at the moment the squirrel will
4:41
take them all so uh I need to get some
4:44
squirrel
4:45
proof uh peanut feeders that is one one
4:49
of the things that are in my Amazon cart
4:51
at the moment so we need to get some
4:53
squirrel prooof bird feeders for the
4:56
peanuts and hopefully in time I'll get a
4:59
few more different varieties of seeds
5:01
because I do want to get some um
5:04
different varieties of birds down there
5:06
obviously there's not many varieties of
5:07
birds around at the moment because
5:09
obviously it's winter time you'll just
5:10
see a lot your blue tits and your
5:12
Robbins I don't see any green finches
5:14
and stuff like that at the moment so
5:17
when it gets a bit warmer we'll be
5:18
starting to put out some different
5:19
varieties of bird seed hopefully attract
5:22
some different varieties of birds down
5:23
there and have them all in squirrel
5:26
prooof feeders so that the seed will
5:28
actually last a bit instead of it all
5:30
being gone in a day uh they certainly
5:32
are expensive feeding the birds but it's
5:35
something I absolutely love to do and
5:37
obviously feeding the bird attracts them
5:40
to the plot and they all the insects all
5:42
the Slugs and stuff like that as well so
5:44
attracting the birds to the alotment is
5:46
a successful thing to do and while I was
5:50
down there at the alotment I just went
5:51
for a little walk around to see how
5:54
things are looking and see how things
5:56
are getting on and I had to look at my
6:00
geraniums I had a look at my sweet peas
6:02
the rolls still alive fingers crossed
6:05
they'll stay alive for much longer and
6:07
we'll Ste them through to the springtime
6:09
I've only planted up my geraniums from
6:11
out of my allotment because I want to
6:13
save some money for next year well this
6:15
year now um what you can do with
6:18
geraniums is that when it's before the
6:21
cold weather comes before the frost and
6:23
the snow and stuff like that you can dig
6:25
them up and move them into a shed or
6:27
into a greenhouse or on a window soul
6:30
and keep them alive throughout the
6:32
winter period and then you can plant
6:34
them back outside again once chance of
6:36
frosters pass and you'll get flowers on
6:39
them again and you can obviously take
6:41
cuting from them as well and start new
6:43
plants off so it's a way of saving money
6:46
and having stronger bigger plants for
6:48
next year and get more flowers on them
6:51
so that's what we've done we've dug them
6:53
all up and hopefully we'll get some
6:56
great flowers on them this year and
6:58
obviously my swe peas you can start them
7:01
off in October which I did and it makes
7:05
the plants stronger it makes the plants
7:08
being front and flower earlier and what
7:13
I've done is I've trimmed them all back
7:15
and to about 6 in and when they start
7:18
growing when it gets a bit warmer
7:20
they'll Bush out rather than just being
7:22
a
7:23
one stem plant so we'll get more flowers
7:27
on them a lot more flowers on them
7:28
because he'll Bush out we there probably
7:30
won't be as big of flowers but there'll
7:32
be lots more flowers if you get me so
7:35
hopefully we'll have some fantastic
7:37
displays down at the allotment this year
7:39
that's what I'm wanting some fantastic
7:41
sweet pee displays because my mom loves
7:44
them my Auntie loves them and the thing
7:46
is with sweet peas is that the more you
7:48
keep cutting the flowers off the more
7:50
they'll keep flowering throughout the
7:52
summertime and you can have flowers up
7:54
to October on on your sweet peas as soon
7:57
as you start letting them go to seed
8:00
if you don't pick the flowers then it'll
8:01
think it's dying off and in it's dormant
8:04
time and then it'll stop flowering so
8:06
you are encouraged to keep picking the
8:09
flowers on Sweet Peas for them to keep
8:11
blooming so that's why one of the
8:13
reasons why we grow sweet peas they
8:15
won't last long in a vs they'll last
8:17
about three 3 or 4 days but obviously
8:19
you'll be picking them off every few
8:21
days so hopefully you'll get absolutely
8:24
loads of free flowers and they smell
8:27
absolutely amazing sweet pece absolutely
8:29
gorgeous so it's worthwhile growing
8:32
sweet peas if you haven't tried growing
8:35
sweet peas before and they're pretty
8:36
easy to grow once they started growing
8:39
as well just um make sure that they're
8:41
big enough before they put them out so
8:43
that they can withstand like birds and
8:45
slugs and stuff like that just make sure
8:47
you protect them and you'll get some
8:49
fantastic crops from the sweet peas and
8:52
that is what we want really some
8:53
fantastic crops growing so yeah I'm
8:56
looking forward to some beautiful
8:58
displays next year down at the the
8:59
allotment and I had a look around I we
9:01
walking around my plot today just
9:03
checking and looking at the bulbs I can
9:05
see a few bulbs popping through not many
9:08
hopefully there is a lot of bulbs in
9:10
there cuz we have planted loads this
9:11
year so hopefully the squirrel didn't
9:13
get them all and hopefully we get some
9:15
beautiful spring bulb and spring flower
9:18
displays as well down at the alotment I
9:20
know quite a few people have been
9:21
commenting on my post saying that
9:23
they've got loads of bulbs popping
9:24
through and everything like that so
9:26
hopefully we'll get some beautiful
9:28
pictures I love to plant bulbs and
9:31
flowers and stuff like that so that I
9:32
can get some great pictures as well as
9:35
obviously making the allotment look
9:37
absolutely gorgeous as well CU if you're
9:39
just growing vegetables there's no color
9:41
in vegetables so you need the flowers to
9:43
make some color down there and to make
9:46
it more attractive and obviously attract
9:48
the bees to help pollinate the fruit and
9:49
the flat uh vegetables as well so
9:52
another reason for planting flowers down
9:54
there so yeah it's been a nice day down
9:57
at the alotment today I did spend too
10:00
long down there spent about an hour down
10:01
there had a had a few coffees down there
10:04
just had a look around my plot and just
10:07
relaxed really it didn't feel as cold as
10:10
what it actually looked it actually
10:12
pretty nice down there obviously I were
10:14
wrapped up so I were pretty warm but it
10:16
was nice just to be down at the alotment
10:19
after being stuck in my flat whole week
10:21
I needed to get out and being in my
10:24
alotment is my happy place and I
10:27
absolutely loved it so yeah
10:29
it's been a successful day down at the
10:31
alotment today I've not done anything
10:33
obviously apart from feed the birds and
10:35
the cat but it has been great to get
10:38
down to the allotment and fingers
10:39
crossed we'll be back down at the
10:41
allotment next week with lots of jobs
10:44
that we need to start doing and cracking
10:45
on with we've tided out all our shed
10:48
we've cleared all us beds and my job at
10:52
the moment is to clear my poly tonel if
10:54
it's still standing after all the snow I
10:56
did notice absolutely loads of snow on
10:59
top for the poly tunnel today I should
11:00
have knocked it all off to be honest but
11:02
it'll be like a block of ice so I didn't
11:04
want to risk damaging the poly tunnel so
11:07
I thought I'd just leave it and it'll
11:08
slide off in its own time fingers
11:11
crossed this week so yeah hopefully
11:14
we'll be back down at the plot next week
11:16
and get you lots of pictures and lots of
11:17
footage I need to start recording some
11:19
more videos again we've not recorded any
11:21
videos for a while and hopefully keep
11:23
you on track with how well we get on
11:26
this year but yeah I hope that you're
11:28
enjoying the podcast I hope that you
11:30
enjoy listening to them we've had a lot
11:32
of nice comments com in from people via
11:35
messages and people have leaving reviews
11:37
on the podcast as well which you can do
11:39
you can leave a review after the podcast
11:42
and just let me know what you think of
11:44
the episode it's always nice to see and
11:46
obviously it pushes it out as well the
11:48
more people that comment in the review
11:51
section of the podcast on Spotify so
11:54
thank you for everybody that does that
11:56
so until next time everyone remember
11:58
keep smiling keep shining and keep
12:01
gardening with Ben
12:04
everyone Thanks for tuning in to today's
12:07
episode of gardening with Ben I hope
12:10
you've enjoyed our chat and picked up
12:12
some tips to help your garden and the
12:15
lot Drive don't forget to stay connected
12:17
with me on all social media for even
12:20
more gardening inspiration updates and
12:24
behind the scenes content you can find
12:26
me on Facebook Instagram and YouTube
12:28
Just search gardening with Ben hit that
12:31
follow button or subscribe button and
12:34
join our growing community of garden
12:36
lovers until next time everyone remember
12:39
keep smiling keep shining and keep
12:42
gardening with Ben
#Gardening
#Pets & Animals