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This video explains which crops to sow, grow, and harvest during late summer and how to care for them successfully. I cover planting options, ongoing maintenance, watering, and harvesting tips that keep plants productive. It is helpful for gardeners wanting practical guidance and better planning for seasonal growing.
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0:01
Let's have an August tour of our a
0:03
lotment. Welcome to Gardening with Ben.
0:05
And we're going to give you a tour of
0:07
our a lotment of what it's looking like
0:08
at the moment and seeing what's growing,
0:11
what's not growing. Yes, I show you the
0:13
failures and yeah, let's see how we get
0:16
on.
0:17
So, let's start at the front of the plot
0:19
and look at these roses. I need to keep
0:21
deheading these and stopping flowering.
0:24
That's the thing. If you want them to
0:25
keep flowering, you've got to keep
0:26
deheading them. And look, we've got
0:27
black spot as well. Ah, but yeah, always
0:32
lots to do down at the a lotment. I
0:34
always see it as I'm going round
0:38
my plum tree. We picked some plums off
0:40
it yesterday. What I might do next time
0:43
when it fruits, it probably won't fruit
0:45
next year, but we're going to thin out
0:47
the plums
0:49
because they touch one another and then
0:51
they go rotten, they go sweaty, and
0:53
yeah, then it damages them. But yeah,
0:56
that one looks ready. We'll take that
0:58
one.
1:00
Look at that one. Nice one.
1:04
But yeah, lots of behind weed to sort.
1:05
That's going to be one weekend's job
1:07
sorting this area out.
1:10
Onto the cooking apple tree. Wow.
1:13
Absolutely amazing. Look at this. We've
1:17
got so many cookers on it this year. And
1:20
they're getting big. They'll soon be
1:22
ready for harvesting these. They're
1:24
everywhere inside it. How I'm going to
1:26
get some of them, I don't know. But
1:29
yeah, they're everywhere at the moment.
1:31
But hopefully the strong wind won't blow
1:33
them off tomorrow. We're going to come
1:34
down tomorrow night. So if it does,
1:36
we'll grab them and get them picked if
1:40
they're on the floor, which a few of
1:42
these are. So we'll take those home to
1:44
make a small crumble
1:48
into the poly tunnel where it's a mess.
1:53
I'm not the tidiest of gardeners, that
1:55
is for sure. The million tomatoes
1:59
absolutely doing amazing. This is the
2:02
best variety that I've ever grown in
2:04
tomato wise. And I'm going to stick to
2:07
these ones and grown year on year, I
2:09
think, as they've produced amazing
2:12
tomatoes. And as the name goes, millions
2:15
of them, and there's still loads growing
2:18
on it. So hopefully we can keep these
2:20
fruit in all the way up to September,
2:23
October time. Then beef steak. First
2:26
time ever growing these. Absolutely
2:28
amazing. Some of them, that is for sure.
2:31
They're starting to turn red, which is a
2:34
good sign. So I'll be harvesting these
2:35
soon. Some of them have been getting
2:37
eaten. A little blive. But yeah, we've
2:41
got some red ones. That one might be
2:43
ready for harvesting. Actually, we might
2:46
take that one home. Our first beef steak
2:48
tomato. The huge one is still yet to go
2:52
completely red. It's starting to turn.
2:55
So hopefully in a few weeks, maybe next
2:58
week it might be ready to harvest. See
3:01
what it tastes like. Absolutely massive
3:04
that one.
3:06
Onto the melons. Look, I definitely know
3:10
the watermelons now. They're looking
3:11
like a watermelon. So yeah, first time
3:14
ever growing watermelons and we're doing
3:17
fantastic on them. So I'm pleased with
3:19
how they're coming on. We've got another
3:21
one there. I'm propping them up on
3:23
buckets so they're off the ground and
3:24
they're not weighing the plant down.
3:26
I'll need to prop that one up on a um
3:29
plant pot as well. Let's do that now.
3:31
Actually, while we remember,
3:34
basically all I'll do is just put a
3:37
plant pot underneath it to weigh it off.
3:40
stop it weighing down the plant like
3:43
that. So yeah, basically just like that.
3:46
That's how I look after them. We've got
3:48
one growing up here. Is that one any
3:50
good or is it not? It looks like that
3:52
one's going rotten. We'll take that one
3:54
off so it can focus on growing another
3:57
one. But yeah, the melons are doing
3:59
well. Then I've sewn all my bianial
4:03
flowers, which you'll have seen in a
4:05
video. If you've not seen it, go and
4:07
look for it. We've got fox glove, we've
4:09
got wall flowers, we've got sweet
4:10
williams, we've got loopins, we've got
4:12
primulas, we've got holly hawk, we've
4:14
got Chinese cabbage. First time ever
4:16
trying that. I did it in my August
4:18
video. Uh said about growing it, so I
4:20
thought I'll try it. And forget me not
4:22
as well. So yeah. Then we've got
4:25
Christmas potatoes, which again you'll
4:27
have seen in the video. We've got Maris
4:30
Piper, we've got pentilant javelin, and
4:33
we've got Aaron. These need to be grown
4:35
indoors as well. So you can start them
4:37
off outdoors, but around September,
4:39
October time, fetch them indoors when it
4:41
starts to get colder or it'll kill the
4:43
plants if they get a heavy frost. So
4:46
yeah,
4:47
they hopefully will do really well and
4:50
we'll get a good crop from them. We've
4:51
got about eight potatoes in each one, so
4:54
probably too many, but I wanted to stuff
4:56
them in and use them all. And I still
4:58
had some left over and gave them to my
5:00
neighbor. So yeah, hopefully we'll get
5:02
plenty of Christmas potatoes. We just
5:04
got to keep them watered well with them
5:06
being in the poly tunnel. The speck of
5:08
things on top, you're probably wondering
5:09
what that is. That's just plant food
5:11
which I bought what they were selling
5:12
off in moist selling this off. So yeah,
5:15
I've put some of that on top and there's
5:17
some in the bottom as well where the
5:19
potatoes are as well to keep them fed.
5:23
Onto the other fruit area, the
5:25
blackberries are growing absolutely
5:27
wild. These are formless blackberries,
5:29
these ones. So they don't prickle you
5:31
and they grow absolutely amazing. If you
5:33
ever want to grow blackberries and you
5:35
don't want thorns, get the thornless
5:37
ones. They grow fantastic. My loan berry
5:40
that's nearly done for the year.
5:43
Obviously all the new growth. We're
5:45
tying it all back so that it's all safe.
5:49
All the old growth
5:51
will die back like this. And then we'll
5:54
snip it back the old canes as they won't
5:57
fruit next year. They'll only fruit on
6:00
the new growth, so we'll have a lot to
6:02
chop off. Down the side, this is my
6:06
newest plum trees. Uh, yes, they've been
6:09
in about 3 years. We're just having
6:12
fruit this first year. We've only had a
6:14
couple of plums on them, but we've
6:15
pruned it all at the bottom as you can
6:18
see so that I can focus on growing the
6:21
plums and making it up. Oh, got some
6:23
blueberries there to pick. Best get them
6:25
picked, aren't I? For my yogurt. I love
6:27
it when you go around and you spot stuff
6:29
ready for harvesting. I best get them.
6:32
Onto the grapes. Last week I tied them
6:34
all back. Tidied them all up as best as
6:37
I could. And look at these.
6:40
They're growing.
6:42
They're growing. First time getting
6:44
grapes on them. So, we'll see how they
6:46
get on. See if we get some grapes. But
6:50
yeah,
6:52
those are meant to be red gooseberries.
6:54
They're still not ripening yet. them
6:56
ones. They're just starting to go red on
6:57
them a bit. Bit late, but we'll keep
7:00
them on. See See how well they get on.
7:04
But yeah, got some roses along with all
7:07
the bindw weed. Oh, there's the formless
7:10
blackberries.
7:13
Look, they're they're huge. Absolutely
7:15
huge. So, I'll harvest them. We'll get
7:18
them harvested as well before the black
7:20
birds eat them
7:23
out through the poly tunnel cuz I can't
7:25
get out through the other way. I've just
7:27
cleared this area today. Uh I couldn't
7:29
actually get down this area down the
7:31
side of my other fruit trees. These are
7:33
golden delicious apples. Look at how
7:34
many we have got. We have got absolutely
7:38
loads of apples on this tree. They're
7:41
not massive yet. Hopefully they get
7:43
bigger. But yeah, this year is going to
7:45
be a good year for golden delicious
7:46
apples. Probably the best harvest that
7:49
I've ever had on this tree. And these
7:52
are like a ready green ones are
7:54
delicious ones, but I don't know what
7:56
variety they are. Forgotten. So don't
7:58
ask me the variety. But yeah, got loads
8:02
of apples growing on them.
8:06
And then hidden away, we've got some
8:08
pear trees, which has got some pears on
8:11
it. We've not got loads on it that I can
8:13
see. But we've got a decent amount. In
8:16
fact, there's some hidden around the
8:18
back. So, it's going to be a case of
8:20
getting in there and getting them out at
8:22
some point. And then this is a different
8:25
variety of pear tree. It's absolutely
8:27
huge. I'm going to have to try and chop
8:28
this back this year. It's got too big
8:33
somehow. We're going to have to try and
8:34
chop all that down this year, which is
8:38
going to be a job and half for me to do.
8:41
Chop it down. It's massive.
8:44
We've got some yellow corettes growing
8:46
there. Look at them popping through.
8:50
So yeah, we'll be picking them soon.
8:55
So that is how my a lotment's doing. I'm
8:57
quite disappointed that I've not got as
8:59
much growing this year, but like I said,
9:01
time takes over and I use this area as a
9:04
place for my mental health, for fitness,
9:08
and for getting outside as well. So,
9:10
that's one of the reasons why I have my
9:12
a lotment. Uh, but yeah, I hope you've
9:15
enjoyed it. I hope you've enjoyed the
9:16
tour. Make sure you give it a like. Feel
9:18
free to share it. Leave a comment. Until
9:21
next time everyone, remember, keep
9:23
smiling, keep shining, and keep
9:24
gardening. I'm a bad
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