Up next in 10
How has the allotment come through two storms? Join me, Gardening with Ben, as I head down to my Sheffield plot to check the aftermath and get back to work.First, I take a look around to see how everything has fared. Then it’s time to start work on my new growing area and share the beginnings of another allotment project.We also check out our new dwarf fruit trees and fig plant, before giving the onions and garlic some water.In this episode:
• Checking the allotment after two storms.
• Starting work on a new area of the plot.
• A look at our new dwarf fruit trees.
• Checking our fig plant.
• Watering and catching up with our onions and garlic.
Come along for a friendly autumn allotment diary, with progress, plans and the everyday jobs that keep the plot moving forward.How did your garden or allotment fare in the storms? Share your experiences on the Gardening with Ben Facebook page.Follow the podcast for daily gardening conversations, seasonal tips and allotment updates. If you enjoy listening, please leave a rating and share the episode with a gardening friend.Find more gardening inspiration:
https://gardenandallotment.com (https://gardenandallotment.com/) Keep smiling, keep shining, keep gardening with Ben.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
[music]
0:08
[music]
0:13
[music]
0:21
>> Hey all and welcome back to gardening
0:24
with Ben for brand new episode and
0:27
today's episode is obviously talking
0:29
about what we've got up to at the
0:31
allotment. Well,
0:34
it has been a stormy few days down at
0:37
the plot and I was absolutely dreading
0:40
going down. So, today's been pretty
0:43
nice. It's been a pretty warm day. Sun
0:45
was shining, absolutely gorgeous.
0:48
So, we got a lot done today including
0:52
working on our new area, inspecting the
0:54
plot and we've also got some dwarf trees
0:57
and a fig tree and also did a bit of
0:59
watering as well.
1:01
So, how did my allotment storm the two
1:04
storms?
1:06
I was walking down the plot thinking
1:09
what's it going to look like? Has the
1:11
polytunnel survived the storm? Has my
1:14
shed survived keeping the roof on?
1:17
Has my plot stood up to the storm? Well,
1:21
I walked on and the first thing I saw
1:24
was a piece of roof missing off my shed.
1:28
>> [laughter]
1:29
[gasps]
1:29
>> It's polycarbonate. So, I had a look
1:31
around, couldn't find it anywhere, but
1:34
thankfully it's in a place that I can
1:36
screw another piece on nice and easily,
1:39
fingers crossed. So, yeah, that is how
1:42
much we lost on the shed. We lost one
1:43
piece of roof off the shed. And
1:47
it could have been a lot worse. We could
1:48
have lost it all, but it withstood and
1:51
it survived two storms and that's one
1:55
thing that I'm happy about cuz my shed
1:57
roof is one thing that I don't want to
1:59
have to fix. So, I'm pretty happy with
2:01
how well that's all survived.
2:05
Next up was checking the poly tunnel. As
2:08
you remember the other day,
2:10
we spent a bit of time
2:12
sorting out all the rips and the tears
2:15
on the
2:16
poly tunnel. Any weak points we're using
2:18
poly tunnel tape to fasten it all back
2:20
up. It's expensive stuff. It's like £12
2:23
a roll, but it's really good stuff. It's
2:25
waterproof and really sticky and it
2:28
holds it pretty strong. But, like I
2:31
said, it's been up 16 years and I
2:33
thought one of these days it's going to
2:35
go. Um but we walked on and the poly
2:38
tunnel was standing strong yet again. It
2:41
has survived another storm and I'm
2:44
absolutely amazed. Like I Every time
2:47
we've had a storm and it's still
2:48
standing, it still makes me smile every
2:51
single time. So, I'm really pleased that
2:53
it has held up and that it is still
2:57
surviving.
2:58
My bird feeder had blown over. That's
3:01
one thing that had blown over, but that
3:02
pushes back into the ground pretty
3:04
easily. So, yeah, that's back up and
3:06
standing. We need to fill them back up
3:08
tomorrow with the seeds and the fat
3:09
balls as they've been going down. The
3:11
birds have been enjoying them and yeah,
3:13
they're still
3:15
effectively squirrel proof. Squirrels
3:18
aren't attacking them, which is
3:19
absolutely amazing. I still can't
3:21
understand why they've not managed to
3:23
crack them. But yes, they have withstood
3:26
the squirrels, which I'm really pleased
3:28
about.
3:29
And yeah, next up we walked onto the
3:32
plot to have a look at any damage on the
3:34
plot. Now, I've got quite a few garden
3:36
arches up.
3:38
Uh I've built quite a few to plant all
3:40
my
3:41
black reserve over, my climbing roses
3:43
over, my clematis, my jasmine, quite a
3:46
few plants over them and the top the
3:50
entrance on my plot all withstood the
3:53
storm absolutely fantastic. But at the
3:56
top of my plot, all five had fell over.
4:00
>> [laughter]
4:01
>> Oh, well.
4:02
It could have been worse. That's all I
4:04
keep saying. It could have been worse.
4:06
Uh
4:07
so, we've got them to put back up. But,
4:09
what we'll do, we'll put some stakes at
4:10
the side and secure them to the stakes.
4:12
So, next time there's a storm, they can
4:15
be a bit stronger and hopefully survive.
4:17
But, I'm going to leave them down for
4:18
the time being. There's no point putting
4:20
them back up cuz there's nothing much
4:21
really climbing up them at the moment.
4:23
So, yeah, we're going to leave them for
4:25
the time being and see
4:27
how they get on. So, overall, for the
4:30
bad two storms that we had,
4:33
I really did pretty good. I'm absolutely
4:36
amazed I lasted a bit longer.
4:39
Um
4:41
I'm pleased as well cuz my dad's plot,
4:43
that survived the storm as well. He's
4:45
got a polycarbonate greenhouse, but he's
4:47
put pieces of wood screwed behind every
4:49
piece of polycarbonate so that they
4:51
can't blow out. And that's worked an
4:54
absolute treat and he's never lost a
4:56
piece of plastic from it in years.
4:59
It must be about 10 15 years he's had
5:01
his greenhouse up and yeah, it survives
5:03
every storm as well. So, yeah, we've
5:06
both done pretty well out of all the
5:07
storm weather, I'm happy to say, and it
5:10
lives to
5:11
last another storm.
5:14
So, now that we've checked out all the
5:15
plot and that it all survived and I'm
5:18
happy with it all, we needed to start
5:20
doing some work. I was geared up to
5:22
doing repairs on the polytunnel if it
5:23
had completely gone. But, yeah, we
5:26
managed to get on and do some work
5:27
today. So, my main area at my main thing
5:31
at the moment is
5:32
doing up in front of my seating area.
5:35
Now, this area's been the same for about
5:37
5 years now
5:38
and it's looking tired. It's looking
5:40
weird, right? The fence is not very good
5:42
at the side which separates mine and the
5:44
neighbor's plot. And yeah, it's all
5:47
looking a bit tired. Um
5:49
the seating area is absolutely weed free
5:51
cuz we've got wood chip down. It keeps
5:53
the weeds down. There's black membrane
5:55
underneath it and yeah, it's it's
5:57
perfect. It's doing its job at the
5:59
moment. But, I want to make it
6:00
impressive. I like to make things
6:03
better. Uh
6:04
sometimes I do things up and then a few
6:07
years later I think I'm going to make it
6:08
even better. So that's our big project
6:11
at the moment
6:12
before the next project which is doing
6:14
up the whole of my plot. Well, half of
6:16
it I'm going to do this year and half of
6:18
it next year.
6:19
Um but the area that I'm doing is my
6:22
seating area. So that I can sit back,
6:24
relax, enjoy listening to the birds,
6:26
have my coffee,
6:28
see what I'm growing and just enjoy
6:30
being in the peace. So I wanted to do
6:32
that area up because it's good for the
6:34
mind sitting back, relaxing, and
6:36
enjoying
6:38
what you've done.
6:39
So I want to do up that area and I'm
6:41
going to be creating a main feature
6:42
point. I'm not telling you what the main
6:44
feature point is yet. I'm holding you
6:45
off that. You're going to have to keep
6:47
waiting.
6:48
But
6:49
um
6:50
we're going to be doing up that area and
6:53
down the side of my plot there were a
6:55
lot of bindweed, there were a lot of
6:56
nettles, there's old hedging there
6:59
what's growing. And yeah, we chopped all
7:01
that down, we cleared it all, and it's
7:04
now
7:06
bindweed weed free for the time being
7:08
and
7:09
no hedging and no nettles. But what
7:12
we're going to do is we're going to end
7:13
up ripping the fence out in time and
7:15
we're going to put black membrane
7:17
between mine and my neighbor's plot so
7:18
that no bindweed will grow up the
7:20
fencing all being well. The fencing will
7:23
sit on top of the black membrane and
7:26
it'll have wood chip underneath it. So
7:28
nothing will climb up the fencing.
7:30
That's my plan anyway. See if it works.
7:33
And we're going to grow some roses up
7:34
against the fencing as well. We'll
7:36
hopefully have three roses, really
7:38
fragrant ones, so that I can sit there
7:41
and smell them when I'm sat having my
7:43
coffee, which I thought's really nice.
7:45
Three nice roses.
7:47
It'll look really nice.
7:49
So we've
7:50
cleared out that a hedge way. We've got
7:53
rid of a lot of rubbish. It's become a
7:55
dumping ground. I'm I'm a really bad one
7:57
for dumping stuff and just chucking it
7:59
in a corner.
8:00
Uh we've got a big bagful of rubbish
8:02
which we're going to take to the tip and
8:03
the recycling tomorrow. Sort that out
8:06
and yeah, that's made it tons better.
8:08
It's starting to look amazing. Um the
8:11
next job, which will be tomorrow,
8:13
hopefully,
8:14
will be to
8:16
take out all the path, and take out the
8:20
bed what were there, move my chair, and
8:22
hopefully clear the wood chip what was
8:25
there originally. We're going to take
8:26
all the black membrane up what's down,
8:29
and we're going to be putting some more
8:30
black membrane down. We're going to
8:31
level it all, and under the black
8:33
membrane, I'm guessing there'll be a lot
8:35
of bindweed roots, so we're going to
8:36
take all them out, dig them all out, and
8:38
we're going to relay a piece of black
8:40
membrane down again. I absolutely love
8:42
black membrane. Yes, bindweed does
8:44
travel along underneath it, but it stops
8:46
it growing up where you would don't want
8:48
it, which is absolutely what I want. I
8:50
want it as manageable as possible,
8:53
because I don't get much time down at
8:55
the plot, so I need it as easy as
8:57
possible. Yes, it'll pop up
8:59
between the
9:00
black membrane, but it'll hold it down
9:03
where I want it to hold it down, which
9:05
is what I want.
9:07
So, that's one thing that we're going to
9:08
be doing.
9:09
And
9:13
that is it. So, hopefully tomorrow we're
9:15
going to be ripping out all that,
9:16
getting it all done. We're going to take
9:17
a tape measure to measure for a new
9:19
piece of black membrane, and then next
9:22
week we'll be laying that new membrane,
9:24
and then we'll be getting ready for my
9:28
new fencing and my feature point, which
9:31
I'm not telling you yet. I'm not going
9:33
to tell you. Uh and I might slip up and
9:35
tell you one day, but I'm not going to
9:37
tell you until we get it. Uh we've got
9:39
to make sure we get it first. But, it's
9:41
going to involve a lot of work
9:43
and a lot of money.
9:45
But, yeah, hopefully it'll look good.
9:47
Um so, we've got that to do tomorrow,
9:50
and
9:52
hopefully we'll crack on and get that
9:54
job done. Obviously, I've write myself a
9:56
list of all the jobs that I want to do
9:57
when I go down to the allotment.
9:59
Obviously, I have a lot of filming to do
10:00
as well while I'm there, cuz I'm film
10:03
trying to film you content, so that
10:04
something new comes out every single day
10:07
on YouTube or on Facebook. I post the
10:10
same stuff on all platforms. Um but
10:13
yeah, uh I'm trying to post new video
10:15
every single day. So, I hope you all
10:17
enjoying the videos. If you do see a
10:19
video on Facebook or on YouTube, just
10:21
give it a like. You don't have to leave
10:23
a comment, but giving it a like does
10:24
push it out and
10:26
it goes towards
10:28
all the work that I'm doing on the plot.
10:30
So, please do.
10:31
Uh just give it a like if you see one of
10:33
my posts. It really does help and I
10:35
appreciate it.
10:36
So,
10:37
that was one big job what we did today.
10:41
So, the next up was checking some new
10:44
dwarf trees what I've had delivered.
10:46
I've had four dwarf fruit trees
10:48
uh delivered to me and I'm absolutely
10:51
over the moon with them. Yes, I have got
10:52
lots of fruit already, but you can never
10:54
have enough fruit. And the best thing
10:56
about dwarf fruit trees is that they
10:58
don't get big. Uh you can grow them in
11:00
pots if you want and if you do grow them
11:02
in pots, obviously you've got to keep
11:04
them watered, which is harder, so it's
11:05
better off in the ground if possible.
11:07
So, yeah, four new dwarf fruit trees and
11:10
we've got two apples, we've got a pear
11:13
and we've got a cherry. So, I need to
11:15
try and find somewhere to get all them
11:16
planted and hopefully get some great
11:19
fruit coming on them and I've not got
11:21
cherry tree at the moment. I've got one
11:23
at the top of my plot, but I don't think
11:24
it's taken. I think it's uh died. So,
11:27
hopefully with us planting it in the
11:29
autumn winter time, it'll take root and
11:32
hopefully grow. So, I'm looking forward
11:34
to seeing what we get from them.
11:35
Obviously, if you've got cherry trees,
11:37
it's good to net them because the birds
11:39
might pinch them all before you actually
11:41
get them. So, we'll see we'll see how we
11:43
get on.
11:45
And obviously, I've got some big fruit
11:47
trees at the moment, not dwarf ones,
11:49
actual normal fruit trees.
11:51
Uh I've got two apples, I've got a
11:54
cooking apple, I've got a pear. The pear
11:57
tree didn't do anything very good this
11:59
year. I'm going to give it a good chop
12:00
back. Uh and I've obviously got the plum
12:02
tree as well. So, we do get a lot of
12:05
fruit off this allotment and the fruit
12:07
probably pays for my allotment in itself
12:09
with how much fruit we get off. We get
12:10
absolutely loads of. So, we're
12:12
absolutely amazed with how well we're
12:14
getting with them. So, yeah, I'm looking
12:16
forward to them. Let me know if you've
12:18
got any dwarf fruit trees and how you
12:20
get on with them, whether you've got
12:21
them in the ground or whether you've got
12:23
them in pots. Just send me a message.
12:24
Let me know that you've um
12:27
that you've got them. Or leave a comment
12:29
on the pod- podcast as well and give it
12:31
a rating. Uh
12:32
giving it a rating and leaving a comment
12:34
does help push it out as well. So, thank
12:36
you for those that do do that.
12:40
And then, we've also had a fig tree
12:43
delivered as well, fig plant. Um I've
12:45
already got a fig plant and I had a look
12:47
at it today. It is absolutely getting
12:48
massive. So, I need to have a look about
12:50
how to prune that back cuz I don't want
12:52
it to get to get too tall
12:54
and take over. But yeah, we've already
12:56
got one fig plant and I've got another
12:58
one.
12:59
Um this is a fig uh
13:01
Brown Turkey, I believe the variety is.
13:04
And when it came, I weren't expecting it
13:06
to come with much on because it's
13:07
obviously coming to autumn and stuff
13:09
like that. But it must have about 10 to
13:12
12 figs already on it. I'm absolutely
13:14
gobsmacked. It looks absolutely
13:16
stunning. I'll have to take a photo to
13:18
post it on uh my socials to show you.
13:20
But I can't believe how well it's
13:22
looking and how many figs are on it. I
13:24
can't wait to get them planted and
13:26
hopefully growing more figs. Um
13:30
cuz you can grow them in the UK. You can
13:32
really grow them and they do really
13:33
well. As long as it's in a nice sunny
13:35
position, you can get some decent figs
13:37
off them. So,
13:39
if you've not got a fig plant, give it a
13:41
try and see how well you get on with it
13:43
and see if you manage to get some figs
13:45
off it. Like I said, I've I've got one
13:47
already and it already gets figs on it.
13:49
But this one what came, wow, it beats
13:52
the one that I've already got planted.
13:54
So, I need to get this planted straight
13:55
away and get it in the ground and
13:57
hopefully get some delicious figs off it
14:00
for next year.
14:02
And last up, what we did at the plot, we
14:04
did a bit of watering. Yes, it has been
14:06
raining outside, but I have stuff in my
14:08
poly tunnel. So, we had to get some
14:10
watering done.
14:11
As obviously the wind dries stuff out
14:13
and yeah, it needed a good water. We
14:15
have watered his onions, his garlic, his
14:18
elephant garlic, his sweet peas, his
14:21
broad beans, his
14:24
um
14:26
calendula, uh poppies. We've got loads
14:29
of flower seeds growing in the
14:30
polytunnel. I have to do another video
14:32
on how well they're getting on, but
14:34
they're absolutely doing amazing. My
14:35
sweet peas are getting ready for
14:37
pinching out. I'll talk about that on an
14:39
episode on a podcast because I think
14:41
I'll find people will find it useful
14:43
about pinching sweet peas out and
14:45
starting them off at this time of year.
14:47
So, yeah, it has been a very successful
14:51
day down at the allotment. I'm
14:52
absolutely amazed with Oh, and one thing
14:55
that I noticed when I was walking around
14:57
in my plot, um
14:59
some of my netting had blown off my
15:00
bulbs what I had planted the other week
15:02
in my new beds, and they're actually
15:05
popping through already. So, touch wood,
15:08
we are going to get a fantastic display
15:10
in these new raised beds at the full of
15:12
my plot. You'll be inundated with
15:13
photos. When when these are in flower,
15:16
I'm just going to be spamming,
15:17
absolutely spamming. So, forgive me now
15:20
for when I start doing it. But yeah, I
15:22
can't wait to see what they'll look
15:23
like. They're going to look absolutely
15:25
amazing. So, hopefully we'll get lots
15:28
and lots done at the allotment when
15:30
we're doing it out there today.
15:31
Obviously, this is
15:33
recorded yesterday for yesterday's
15:35
allotment visit. So, hopefully we'll get
15:37
absolutely loads done.
15:38
I've got a lot of videos to film for
15:40
you. If you want any videos filming
15:42
talking about anything specific or with
15:44
the podcast talking about anything
15:45
specific, do let me know.
15:48
As podcasts coming up over the next few
15:50
days, we'll be talking about everything.
15:53
There's October round up, then we'll be
15:54
talking about what plants to sow in
15:57
November, and we'll also be talking
15:59
about what jobs to do on the allotment
16:01
in November as well. So, there's still
16:04
lots to be getting on with down at the
16:05
plot. Make the most of
16:07
the decentish weather.
16:10
Make the most of it when it is sunny and
16:12
get yourself out in the plot. Whenever
16:14
it's raining, get yourself in the shed
16:15
or in the polytunnel and do work in
16:17
there. It's good to keep active. It's
16:19
good to keep out in the fresh air and
16:21
it's good for the mental health as well.
16:24
So, I hope you've enjoyed today's
16:25
podcast, everyone. As always, do
16:27
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and
16:31
keep gardening with Ben, everyone. Until
16:32
next episode, we'll see you all soon.
16:36
>> Another [music] day, another scene.
16:39
A little sunshine [music] is all we
16:41
need.
16:43
Keep smiling.
16:45
Keep shining. Until then, keep gardening
16:48
gardening [music] with Ben.
16:51
See you tomorrow.
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