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This video shares practical gardening tips for beginners to help plants grow successfully. Learn simple techniques such as watering correctly, preparing soil and spacing plants properly.
The guide covers common mistakes and easy adjustments that improve plant health and reliability when growing vegetables or flowers. These methods help new gardeners gain confidence and achieve better results.
If you are starting a garden and want straightforward advice, this video provides helpful guidance suitable for gardens, raised beds and container growing.
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hello and welcome to gardening with
0:03
Ben's awardwinning podcast as voted by
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grow your own magazine and by my
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followers and listeners so if you're new
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to the podcast make sure you click that
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subscribe button to stay up to date with
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all our podcasts listen back to all our
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previous episodes sit back grab a brew
0:21
and let's enjoy today's episode hello
0:25
and welcome back to gardening with Ben I
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hope you all well as you can see this
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has been published nice and early so
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that means I must be back at work and
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it's a pre-recorded
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episode so that you can still listen to
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the podcast because obviously I'm not at
0:42
the allotment today so I can talk about
0:44
different topics and talk about
0:47
different things with you and also
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yesterday I uploaded a podcast to my
0:53
other podcast channel uh which is called
0:55
gardening and allotment tips and that
0:58
one's got Link in the description of
1:01
this one you'll be able to find that
1:02
link and I was talking about all the
1:05
different types of melons that you can
1:08
grow in the UK and if you can
1:10
successfully grow a melon and I've grown
1:12
melons before but did I actually manage
1:15
to get any melons from them that is a
1:17
good question so make sure you give that
1:19
podcast to listen to and that's on
1:21
gardening and allotment tips podcast
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it's called and yeah the link is in the
1:26
description of this podcast so you'll be
1:28
able to find it
1:31
so what are we talking about today well
1:34
yesterday night I shared a post on
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Facebook and Instagram talking about
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diff the best five allotment tips and
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that's coming from me gardening with Ben
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uh all those tips were set out by myself
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and these are five vital tips what I
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would say are critical for having an
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allotment and the first one on on the
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list is draw a plan out now I've talked
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about this before in an uh podcast but
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creating a plan for the allotment is
2:10
very vital and the reason why I think
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it's vital to draw a plan out of your
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allotment is because then you can think
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about what you're going to grow where to
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be honest the best thing to do is write
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down all the seeds or all the vegetables
2:28
that you wanted to grow this year
2:30
and then draw out all your beds on the
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plot and design exactly where you're
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going to grow your stuff and obviously
2:39
you don't want to be planting stuff in
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the same place it was previously because
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it might have taken all them nutrients
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out of the soil and you might not get as
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good crop as you would hope from so you
2:51
need to plant out plan out where you
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want all your different crops and it's
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good to keep that crop rotation
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happening and and then it will encourage
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better crops and better produce really
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um so yeah it's always good to control
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plan out um hence one of the reasons why
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I
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like proper beds I've created them out
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of wood they're not raised beds I've
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just marked out the beds in wood so that
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I know where the beds are and I can put
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that on my plan I can put the squares on
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my plan and I can write down exactly
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what I'm going to grow in each bed and
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things like your spring onions and your
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radishes you can stick them in between
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rows of many other different vegetables
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they're just like space fillers uh if
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you'd like to call them but your main
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crops like your cauliflowers your
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cabbages your sweet corn the big stuff
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that will take up plenty of room you
3:52
need to plan out exactly where you need
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to grow them and some magazines will
3:56
tell you to grow stuff near other stuff
3:58
so that they can cross pollinate and
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help produce the better crops but yeah
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it's good to create a plan of exactly
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where you want to grow stuff and it's
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good to see it all in writing really
4:09
because then you know exactly what
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you're going to be growing this year and
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you can work towards getting the best
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crops from that
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produce the next stuff the next tip is
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grow in moderation now if you're new to
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an alotment and you're just taking on a
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plot it's exciting it really is exciting
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to be growing in your first year and
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sometimes you can get too excited and
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you can try and grow too much and it can
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become daunting it can become
4:39
challenging and you may struggle to keep
4:42
up with looking after it all so again
4:46
when you're buying seed packets they
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don't come with just 10 seeds in of what
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you actually need like you just cook
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with like 10 cauliflowers gr you get a
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packet of seed seeds and they've got 250
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cauliflower seeds in now who would want
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250 cauliflower seeds it baffles me why
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they put so many seeds in a packet but
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there we go uh and I I I fall victim to
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this every year rather than just sewing
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10 seeds I will sew a whole packet uh
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trust me I do it every single year and I
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shouldn't do I need to learn not to do
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that and I think I might try this year
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to actually grow what I need so hold me
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to that and keep me grounded and see if
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if I can actually stick to my word this
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year and only grow what I actually need
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to grow for the allotment uh but we'll
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see we'll see about that see if if we
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manag to do it or not but yeah uh that
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is one of my main tips try and grow in
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moderation as the years go on try and
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grow up more stuff it's good to try
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different varieties of stuff as well try
6:00
growing stuff what you wouldn't have
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actually bought in the supermarket try
6:04
growing different colored vegetables
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that you wouldn't see in the supermarket
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also don't always try growing different
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colored vegetables from people like on
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eBay because they will be fake products
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there is purple cauliflower which I've
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talked about many of times in my podcast
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and there's multicolored carrots and
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there's white radish and there's black
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Tomatoes but just be careful who you buy
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stuff from because sometimes they may
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not be that color especially when you've
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grown them and then they turn out to be
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red tomatoes and not black Tomatoes not
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that I've ever done it uh but I've seen
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so many people post stuff online of them
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being scammed by buying different stuff
6:47
what they shouldn't do so yeah try and
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grow in moderation and try and not Excel
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yourself the next up on the list is is
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water in the morning and not at night
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yes you heard it right water in the
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morning and not at night now I only
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learned this the other year uh which it
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does actually make sense uh the best
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time to water is before the sun comes up
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in the morning um you're possibly
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looking at 6 7:00 in the morning uh when
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it starts to get to summer because the
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sun will come up pretty fast and it will
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get hot pretty fast so look at getting
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up out of bed 6:00 in the morning 7:00
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in the morning get into the alotment and
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getting it watered before the belting
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Sun comes out the reason for this rather
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than doing it at night is one main
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reason what every Gardener hates and
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that is slugs yes the slugs come out at
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night do you ever see the slugs in the
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daytime no you don't you only see the
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slugs come out of at nighttime and
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that's when they are most active and if
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you've wet all the ground the Slugs will
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be in heaven because they tend to go to
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where the wet ground is and that's what
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will attract them so don't water at
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night water in the morning and your
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plants will take in enough water
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and food from the soil in the daytime
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and then the Slugs won't attack your
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plants as much at the nighttime so that
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is one huge gardening tip that I've
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shared with you there so water in the
8:36
morning not at night if you want to stop
8:38
the sluggs from getting all your produce
8:43
so next up on the list is if I can get
8:47
my mouse to work is protect everything
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from pigeons yep pigeons are an absolute
8:56
nightmare um whenever some somebody gets
8:59
an allotment on our site I'll go and
9:01
introduce myself I'll go and talk to
9:03
them and I will tell them any issue with
9:06
what's happening on the site if there's
9:08
an influx of rabbits are for instance
9:10
and just give them a few tips as well uh
9:14
it's a good way to get them started
9:15
because I wish somebody did that for me
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when I first got the allotment I I learn
9:19
it all for myself but I TR to try and
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help the people that move onto the
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allotment site because it's good it's
9:26
good courtesy it's good to help people
9:28
out because they won't what they do in a
9:30
lot of people so it's good to give them
9:32
advice and tips now the reason why I say
9:35
Protect everything from pigeons is
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because they will decimate your
9:40
plants if you plant brassas like your
9:44
cauliflowers cabbages brussel sprouts
9:48
peas broad beans and they're shooting up
9:52
out of the ground the PE the pigeons
9:55
will eat them to shreds if you think oh
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I'll come back tomorrow and I'll net
10:01
them trust me the pigeons are sat there
10:04
in the tree watching you plant them
10:06
thinking o delicious food delicious food
10:09
we're going to have some nice tea
10:11
tonight thanks to gardening with Ben but
10:14
no you need to make sure that you net
10:17
them up as soon as you plant them and
10:21
make sure the netting is high up so that
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the pigeons can't bounce on them and eat
10:26
through the netting because they will do
10:29
that as as well they'll PE poke the
10:31
beaks through the netting so you need to
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make sure that it's high enough so that
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the pigeons can't get to the vegetables
10:38
now I spent £80 on a piece of netting
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yes £80 on a piece of netting but this
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piece of netting covers the full length
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of my plot and what I do every year
10:53
before I start planting out is I fasten
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this piece of netting over the top of my
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plot down the sides I've got King wire
11:00
uh which goes up to about 7 8T high and
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over the top I have my netting and that
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stops any pigeons from getting onto my
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plot whatsoever so I don't have to keep
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taking the netting off the beds at all
11:15
to weed or anything because the netting
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is above my head at all times and I'm
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6'5 so it has to be really tall uh
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obviously but this chick obviously the
11:26
chicken wire lets the small birds
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through they can pop in and out like the
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robins and the blue tis and stuff like
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that they can come and get the worms and
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everything but the pigeons cannot get in
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one bit and it has worked a treat it
11:42
being the best investment that I've ever
11:45
purchased and I can't remember where I
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purchased this netting from I just went
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online I measured the size of my plot
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and I purchased a piece of netting the
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size of my plot and I've had this piece
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of netting for about 10 years yeah it
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may be starting to get some holes in it
12:00
and stuff like that but I just use some
12:03
cable tires and I fasten the holes up
12:05
and stuff like that so yeah and then I
12:07
just take it down in Winter because I
12:09
don't want it to get damaged in the snow
12:11
and then I'll put it back up again say
12:14
May June time before I start planting
12:16
everything out and it's been the best
12:18
investment that I have ever purchased so
12:20
if you're wanting to protect your crops
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from pigeons put a piece of netting
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right over the top of
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it and last but not least is get an
12:30
allotment with a water supply
12:34
now yeah you might be looking around at
12:36
allotment sites on thinking about
12:39
getting an allotment but the main
12:41
critical thing I plead with you is to
12:45
get an allotment with a water supply on
12:48
and yeah you may have a friend who has
12:50
loads of baths uh that you can use on
12:53
your plot or use wheelie bins or water
12:56
butts but you will never have enough
12:58
water water however many bins or baths
13:02
or water barrels you have you will never
13:05
have enough water there was a
13:09
drought two a heatwave not a drought 3
13:13
years
13:14
ago and it didn't rain all summer uh
13:18
they even talking about putting stand
13:20
pipes back out uh the council because
13:22
the reservoirs were running low um but
13:26
people on all allotment forums were
13:29
having to take water from home to the
13:32
allotment to water their vegetables
13:34
because they've not managed to save
13:36
enough through the winter to water all
13:39
their vegetables with so if I can
13:42
encourage you to get a plot with water I
13:44
certainly will do we're not allowed HST
13:47
pipes on our side but we're allowed HSE
13:49
pipes to use to fill the water buts back
13:51
up
13:52
with so that's all I do I've got plenty
13:55
of bins around my plot I fill them up
13:57
with water and then just water the
13:59
plants that need the water and obviously
14:02
if you're using a host pipe it's bad
14:05
because you're watering a bigger area
14:07
and the weeds will grow back fast you
14:10
best off using a wheelie bin or a water
14:13
book and just watering around the plants
14:17
and that's only where the weeds will
14:19
grow they won't grow in between all the
14:20
paths and everywhere from you trailing
14:22
the water hose pipe everywhere to the
14:25
plot you will only be able to water
14:28
what's at actually needed so that has
14:31
been five of my main gardening tips
14:34
today my allotment tips I'll hopefully
14:37
do some more allotment tips further on
14:39
in the week as obviously we won't be
14:41
talking about what we being up to on the
14:43
allotment because obviously I'm not at
14:45
the allotment now until Saturday so
14:48
hopefully fingers crossed the weather
14:50
will stay nice when I recorded this on
14:53
Tuesday the weather has been fantastic
14:55
today and it's been
14:57
absolutely gorgeous
14:59
so I'm hoping the weatherman sees my
15:02
shift
15:03
pattern and he keeps it warm for me for
15:05
the weekend I wish anyway but yeah one
15:08
can live and hope uh but yeah thank you
15:12
for listening to this episode this
15:14
podcast episode if youve not followed me
15:16
on YouTube have a look for gardening
15:18
with Ben on YouTube and I'm starting to
15:21
share more and more videos of what I'm
15:24
getting up to down at the plot and I've
15:26
just uploaded a video of my plot tour I
15:30
take you on a plot tour and I'll show
15:32
you exactly what I've been doing and
15:34
what I've got growing at the moment at
15:35
the allotment and how it's all coming
15:37
along because I am really happy about
15:40
how well my plot is coming along at the
15:43
moment and i' I wanting to share it with
15:45
you so please do check out my YouTube
15:47
channel gardening with Ben and subscribe
15:50
to it as well so then you get notified
15:52
of new episodes and if you've not
15:54
subscribed to this podcast yet please do
15:56
click that subscribe or follow button uh
15:59
if you're new to this podcast uh and
16:01
then you get notified when new episodes
16:03
come up and like I said I've also got
16:06
the other podcast Channel as well
16:08
gardening and allotment tips podcast
16:10
there is a link in this description and
16:13
there's episodes on there just talking
16:15
about one specific Topic at a time uh I
16:18
use that for just talking about a
16:20
different thing each episode so my
16:22
recent episode is talking about growing
16:25
melons in the UK so have a listen to
16:28
that one as well so until next time
16:30
remember keep smiling keep gardening and
16:33
keep listening to gardening with Ben's
16:35
podcasts so thank you for listening to
16:38
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
16:41
hope that you've enjoyed this episode
16:43
remember to do click that subscribe
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17:00
and also my YouTube channel to stay up
17:03
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17:05
videos and sharing my tips and advice
17:09
and feel free to check the link as well
17:11
in the description for my gardening with
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Ben t-shirts lots of funny gardening
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design t-shirts in their future purchase
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at great prices too so thanks again and
17:22
as always remember keep smiling and keep
17:26
gardening
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