0:00
welcome to gardening with Ben your go-to
0:03
podcast for all things green and growing
0:07
2025 whether you are a seasoned Gardener
0:10
a budding Enthusiast or just curious
0:12
about cultivating your own slice of
0:15
nature you're in the right place join me
0:18
Ben as we explore practical tips
0:21
inspiring stories and the latest trends
0:23
in gardening to make your outdoor space
0:26
Bloom with life from allotment
0:28
Adventures to Wild life friendly
0:30
gardening I'm here to help you grow your
0:33
passion and reap the rewards so grab
0:35
your gloves roll up your sleeves and
0:38
let's get started on this year's
0:43
Journey hey everyone and welcome back to
0:46
gardening with Ben it's Wednesday
0:49
already halfway through the week and
0:52
we're nearly getting towards that big
0:54
bird watch weekend I'm excited for it
0:57
I'm definitely looking forward to it
0:59
fingers crossed we get lots and lots of
1:01
birds down at our lotman at the weekend
1:03
but that will be talked about in
1:05
tomorrow's episode we're going to talk
1:07
about the big word watch tomorrow's
1:08
episode so make sure you come back for
1:10
tomorrow's episode to listen in on that
1:13
one today we're going to talk about what
1:17
our seed goals are this year what our
1:20
plant goals what we're hoping to grow
1:23
what we're hoping to gain from our
1:24
allotment this year down at the
1:28
allotment and what I'm going to put put
1:30
into it and hopefully what I will return
1:32
out of it so this year we're going to
1:35
concentrate on growing all the usual
1:38
things which I always grow which are
1:40
sweet corn peas iceberg lettuce
1:46
beetroot spring onions Runa beans peas
1:52
if I've not said peas already tomato
1:57
cucumbers so those are the main ones
1:59
what we got be gr oh and potatoes and
2:01
garlic and onions so those are the main
2:04
ones which we're going to grow all the
2:05
usual staple vegetables which you grow
2:10
allotment and I'm going to concentrate
2:13
on trying some new things as well this
2:15
year we're going to try some new
2:17
varieties of produce we'll look for some
2:20
different varieties unusual varieties of
2:23
vegetables we're going to try lots of
2:26
different types of pumpkins possibly
2:28
different types of squash different
2:30
varieties of C jetes so that we can see
2:33
which ones do the best and hopefully try
2:36
and grow them ones year after year I'm
2:39
also going to try and grow a huge
2:41
pumpkin this year now I've never
2:43
actually focused on growing a massive
2:45
pumpkin I've just let them grow and let
2:48
the rain water them as and when and I
2:50
get a decent size one just the smallest
2:52
one just a size for me but I want to try
2:55
and grow a big one this year and when
2:58
you try and grow a big one you just have
3:00
to focus on one or two growing on the
3:03
plant rather than having multiple
3:05
growing on it because the more pumpkins
3:08
you have growing on the plant the less
3:11
chance of it being a big one you will
3:13
get because it's putting its energy into
3:15
growing them all and obviously if we're
3:17
growing a big pumpkin we'll have to feed
3:19
it regularly we'll have to water it
3:22
every other day main sometimes every day
3:24
if it's hot so hopefully we'll get a
3:27
decent Siz pumpkin so I'm looking
3:28
forward to trying that this year down at
3:30
the allotment we're also like I said
3:33
we're going to try different varieties
3:34
of squash cuz there's plenty of
3:35
different varieties out there there's
3:36
butternut squash there's trombone I
3:41
think it's called There's
3:47
um K I can't remember the name of it but
3:50
yeah there's plenty of varieties out
3:52
there there's a Turkish one as well so
3:55
there's lots of different varieties of
3:56
squash out there to grow and now that
3:58
I've got my proper cook I've got my
4:00
cooker top I've got my air fryer I can
4:03
try and cook some different recipes so
4:06
that is what I want to try and do try
4:07
and grow some fresh stuff to eat this
4:10
year and hopefully get some fantastic
4:12
crops from and I've mentioned it before
4:14
that I'm hoping to get a a soup maker
4:17
this year so that I can make my own
4:20
soups as well so I want to try that I'm
4:24
going to try and grow leaks I've never
4:25
actually focused on growing leaks I read
4:27
them in the ground but I've not bothered
4:29
with them I've just left them after a
4:31
bit and I couldn't be bothered with them
4:32
but I'm going to try and grow some leaks
4:34
this year so that we can have some leak
4:35
and potato soup which would be nice
4:38
we're going to try and grow some
4:41
possibly different colored beetroots
4:44
different colored carrots different
4:47
colored radishes cuz there's loads of
4:49
different colors of vegetables out there
4:51
they don't necessarily just come as your
4:53
standard vegetable color as obviously
4:56
you won't know about them because they
4:58
won't sell different color in the
5:01
supermarket they'll only sell sell the
5:02
standard variety because people won't
5:05
buy them if you saw a black radish or
5:10
a purple cauliflower which there is a
5:13
purple cauliflower out there which have
5:15
grown many of times which does really
5:17
well so people won't possibly buy them
5:20
so you can actually buy these seeds and
5:23
just be careful away buy them for if you
5:24
saw some on Amazon or Ebay that look
5:27
Dodge you don't necessarily buy them or
5:29
always buy them from a repal place as
5:31
long as you know that they're real or a
5:35
company and you'll know that they're
5:37
actually real seeds and you not being
5:38
con so we're going to try and grow lots
5:41
of different varieties out there we're
5:44
also going to focus on growing lots of
5:46
different varieties of flowers this year
5:49
as I'm getting so well into growing
5:51
flowers I absolutely love it now and we
5:54
have got absolutely loads of different
5:56
varieties of poppies we' bought about 15
5:58
varieties I literally just went on
6:00
Amazon and clicked every variety of
6:01
Poppy and ordered it I'm not going to
6:04
sew the seed straight into the ground as
6:07
knowing me I'll dig them up thinking
6:08
that they're weeds and stuff like that
6:11
often but knowing me I'll probably dig
6:13
them up so I'm going to start them all
6:15
off in seed tray so that I know what
6:17
varieties I want and plant them out
6:19
where I want them to grow and obviously
6:22
once they've grown and the seed heads
6:24
are on the top they'll burst and they'll
6:26
land the seeds in the beds and they will
6:29
come back year after year and hopefully
6:31
get more puppies growing we're going to
6:34
grow different varieties of sweet peas
6:36
as well I've looked Amazon at them
6:38
there's loads of different varieties of
6:39
sweet peas we're also going to grow
6:42
different varieties of sunflower you get
6:44
your normal yellow ones or your uh
6:46
extremely tall ones which are the
6:48
Russian ones but there's like red
6:50
varieties there's a black variety of
6:52
sunflower there's a teddy bear sunflower
6:55
which is all fluffy and looks fantastic
6:58
so there's lots of different Vari is out
7:00
there so we're going to try and grow
7:01
some different varieties of flowers down
7:03
at the alotment I just want it to be
7:05
bright colorful attractive have all my
7:08
borders filled with flowers and make it
7:10
look absolutely gorgeous and I'm going
7:13
to the gardeners world live again this
7:16
year we've got us tickets booked for
7:17
that we'll be going on the
7:20
Saturday and I'm going to buy some more
7:23
Salvia plants this year I'm going to
7:24
take some money for a lot more varieties
7:26
of salvia because we purchased three
7:29
last year and the best one was the black
7:32
Cur smelling one which absolutely
7:35
gorgeous I took loads of cuttings off
7:37
that so hopefully we'll get some more
7:39
salv plants growing next year down at
7:41
the allotment fingers crossed and I'm so
7:44
looking forward to this year down at the
7:46
plot it's going to be absolutely
7:48
astonishing like I said I'm only there
7:50
twice a week now not like I used to be
7:53
like 4 on four off with my old job where
7:55
I could spend four days down there but
7:57
we're going to try and focus and get it
7:59
all done within two days every weekend
8:02
and get as much done as possible so I
8:04
hope that you're looking forward to this
8:06
journey if you're new to these podcasts
8:08
because I'm getting 500 new followers a
8:10
day on Facebook at the moment it's
8:12
absolutely amazing one of my posts gone
8:15
viral and I'm getting absolutely loads
8:17
of followers from it so thank you if
8:19
you're new to this podcast and thank you
8:21
for following me I do love the community
8:24
that we built up and hopefully it will
8:26
continue to grow so tomorrow we'll be
8:29
back with our big bird watch podcast
8:33
where we're talking about what we're
8:34
going to do for the birds this year and
8:37
I hope that you're all going to try and
8:38
get involved even if it's just popping
8:40
out and getting some bird
8:42
seed but yeah we will see you all
8:45
tomorrow so until next time everyone
8:48
remember keep smiling keep shining and
8:50
keep gardening with Ben
8:55
everyone Thanks for tuning in to today's
8:58
episode of gardening with Ben I hope
9:01
you've enjoyed our chat and picked up
9:03
some tips to help your garden and
9:06
allotment Thrive don't forget to stay
9:08
connected with me on all social media
9:11
for even more gardening inspiration
9:14
updates and behind the scenes content
9:16
you can find me on Facebook Instagram
9:19
and YouTube just search gardening with
9:21
Ben hit that follow button or subscribe
9:24
button and join our growing community of
9:26
Guardian lovers until next time every
9:29
want remember keep smiling keep shining
9:32
and keep gardening with Ben