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How to Start Gardening Successfully | Essential Beginner Tips & Mistakes to Avoid
Dec 5, 2024
This video explains the key basics new gardeners should understand before starting and the common mistakes to avoid.
The guide covers choosing a suitable location, preparing soil, selecting easy plants, watering correctly, planning layouts and building good habits early. It also explains how avoiding beginner errors makes gardening easier and more enjoyable.
If you are starting gardening for the first time, these simple practical tips will help you begin with confidence and achieve better results.
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0:02
hello and welcome to gardening with Ben
0:05
your go-to podcast for all things green
0:07
and growing I'm Ben your allotment guide
0:10
and here to help you cultivate your
0:13
garden and your passion for plants
0:16
whether you're a seasoned Gardener or
0:17
just starting out this podcast is for
0:20
you each episode we'll dig into tips
0:23
tricks and techniques to make your
0:25
garden and alotment thve from planting
0:28
sewing and growing we will share all the
0:31
tips and AD advice we will also have
0:34
regular episodes talking about what we
0:36
have been up to on the Alum so sit back
0:40
grab a brew and enjoy today's
0:45
episode hey everyone and welcome back to
0:48
gardening with Ben for another brand new
0:51
episode I hope these podcasts are
0:54
sounding a lot more better and no more
0:56
noisy police or ambulances driving up
0:59
and down the road like they always were
1:01
since I've moved into my new flat and I
1:04
hope that you're all enjoying that the
1:05
podcasts are back we've been
1:07
concentrating this week on talking about
1:11
all the plants that you can plant this
1:14
month all the jobs which need doing in
1:16
the fruit vegetable and flower gardens
1:20
and also in yesterday's episode we
1:22
talked about the jobs which need doing
1:24
in the sheds and the poly
1:27
tunnels well today's podcast episode
1:30
we're going to be talking about my
1:31
allotment Journey how my allotment
1:33
Journey has been has it been a good
1:35
journey has it not been a good journey
1:38
well we're going to talk about all that
1:39
in this
1:40
episode and why not we need to start off
1:44
with a Christmas joke for you all so
1:47
today's Christmas joke is why did the
1:50
brussel sprout bring a shovel to the
1:53
Christmas party why did the brussel
1:56
sprout bring a shovel to the Christmas
1:59
party
2:00
because it wanted to dig the
2:03
vibe it wanted to dig the vibe trust me
2:07
these jokes get a lot
2:09
better or worse should I say but yeah I
2:12
hope you're enjoying all these Christmas
2:14
jokes that we're sharing with you on a
2:16
regular basis if you're not following us
2:18
on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and
2:21
YouTube make sure you give us a follow
2:23
just search for gardening with Ben and
2:25
you'll be able to follow us and see up
2:27
toate
2:28
videos so yeah we're going to talk about
2:30
my allotment journey and to say that I'm
2:34
39 years old it has been a long
2:37
allotment journey in my lifetime to say
2:42
like a lot of people would just be
2:44
getting into allotment in at my age now
2:47
people think oh it's not cool to
2:49
allotment when you're young and meant to
2:52
be going out and everything like that
2:53
but times are changing and younger
2:56
people are getting into growing their
2:58
own produce which is absolutely
3:00
fantastic I absolutely love it and this
3:02
is why we do these podcasts to encourage
3:05
more and more people to get involved in
3:07
doing it so I started my allotment
3:10
Journey back when I was 14 14 or 15
3:15
years old
3:17
and what it was is that in my local area
3:21
there were this alotment site there were
3:22
one person left on the allotment site
3:24
all the rest of them had gone devic
3:26
they'd overgrown and yeah the count was
3:30
saying if we can't get them back up and
3:32
running again we're going to get rid of
3:34
them because nobody's using them it's a
3:36
waste of land you know how it all is so
3:40
the local community formed a group and
3:44
the council cleared them all and they
3:46
managed to rent them all out and they
3:48
got funding for the allotment site to
3:51
get roads put in uh stand pipes put in
3:54
so that there were water on site which
3:56
is a key benefit if you're looking for
3:58
an alotment always look for that's got
4:00
water on it yes you might be able to
4:02
catch some in winter when it rains but
4:05
you'll soon run out of water trust me
4:07
we've had heat waves in the past and I
4:09
know people have struggled with getting
4:11
water to the alotment site so always
4:13
look for water so yeah I I then started
4:18
helping my dad on his allotment because
4:20
my dad was part of the organization he
4:22
had an allotment and I used to go and
4:24
help my dad Garden on his alotment and I
4:26
absolutely loved it and obviously
4:29
tasting all the the vegetables that you
4:30
were growing were fantastic so when I
4:33
turned 18 I thought why am I helping my
4:37
dad do his allotment when I can have my
4:39
own allotment now I'm old enough I'm
4:42
allowed to have one and I was still
4:44
living with my parents and I often used
4:47
to think I just need to get out of the
4:49
house and just be away you know what I
4:51
mean you need you need your own space so
4:54
I applied to get my own
4:56
allotment and I got it and back then
4:59
obviously L allotments weren't trending
5:01
back when I was 18 uh which is nearly 20
5:04
years ago and they were no waiting lists
5:09
no waiting lists for the allotment so I
5:11
got one straight away and got my own
5:14
piece of land and from then on I've
5:17
never looked back all my friends used to
5:19
say Ben why have you got an allotment at
5:21
18 you should be going out enjoying
5:23
yourself why you got an allotment and
5:26
you sad basically obviously called your
5:30
names and stuff like that saying like
5:31
why why are you having an allotment at
5:33
that age and the best thing is is that
5:36
now contacting me ask give me for tips
5:39
and advice on growing stuff so it it
5:43
isn't sad after all and I encourage more
5:45
and more people to get into it and like
5:47
I say it's getting a lot more trendier
5:50
and more people are wanting to that's
5:51
why there's these big waiting list now
5:53
because everybody's wanting to do it and
5:55
a lot of times people post photos
5:58
showing what they produced and people
6:00
think oh that's an easy thing to do
6:02
trust me it's not it's nearly a
6:04
full-time job growing uh fruit and
6:07
vegetables I don't know how I'm going to
6:08
manage on two days a week now going to
6:10
my allotment uh because it is a lot of
6:13
hard
6:14
work and yeah I started off with my
6:18
allotment uh I got a greenhouse from
6:20
somebody else down at the allotment site
6:22
but I had to go to his house to get it
6:25
because it were his house and
6:27
unfortunately with that rust day we
6:29
managed get the glass out but we
6:30
couldn't get the frame apart so me and
6:32
my dad ended up walking about 1 and a
6:34
half miles with a greenhouse frame and
6:38
that wasn't pleasant at all and that has
6:41
to be one of my biggest regrets getting
6:43
a greenhouse because obviously I'm 6 fo
6:47
five I struggled to be in it yes it were
6:49
good to start off with but obviously the
6:51
glass breaks it smashes pieces fall out
6:54
and there glass everywhere and stuff
6:56
like that so I don't always recommend
6:58
getting a glass greenhouse on an
7:00
alotment site uh I'd recommend to have a
7:03
plastic one or building your own like I
7:05
have done
7:06
now so we started off with that then
7:12
we got my I organized my plot I got some
7:16
fruit
7:17
trees uh I started off with a cherry
7:20
tree a plum tree a nectarine tree and a
7:26
cooking apple tree and my cooking apple
7:30
tree and my Plum Tree still there to
7:32
this day they're still growing fantastic
7:34
my nect treine tree never did anything
7:36
so I chopped that down same with my
7:38
cherry that never did anything so I got
7:40
rid of that as well and since then we've
7:42
now got two
7:44
more um apple trees eating apple trees
7:48
we've also got two pear trees which do
7:50
absolutely fantastic as well as eating
7:52
apples they do fantastic as well and two
7:56
years ago I planted two more plum trees
7:58
because my plum Tre struggling a bit
8:00
these days and last year was absolutely
8:03
terrible it like literally half died off
8:06
when it were growing so I don't know
8:07
what happened to it last year so
8:09
hopefully these new two plum trees will
8:12
do fantastic down at my allotment and
8:15
these are Victoria plum trees uh they're
8:18
absolutely gorgeous so if you're looking
8:20
at plum trees get a Victoria plum
8:22
because it's absolutely
8:24
delicious I then planted some rhubarb
8:28
which I've still got down there to this
8:31
day I've got about 16 crowns of that now
8:34
um because over the time I've cleared
8:36
the area and dug it all up and spit
8:37
split the crowns replanted them and got
8:40
more rubar plants growing down there
8:43
we've also obviously got a
8:45
strawberries which are originals from
8:48
the beginning of my plot every year I
8:50
keep taking the runners off and me
8:51
planting them
8:53
and getting new plants and sharing them
8:56
with other people on the site as well so
8:58
my strawberry plants all over the
9:00
allotment
9:01
site we've also got our uh blackberries
9:05
we've got as raspberries as raspberries
9:06
have been in there from the start as
9:08
well they they've been doing absolutely
9:10
fantastic year after year they grow and
9:12
they get fantastic produce on so I've
9:14
still got some of my same stuff what
9:16
I've had down there since I started like
9:19
when I were 18 and obviously we've got a
9:22
polyon which has been up about 16 years
9:24
that cost me500 when I bought it but
9:28
it's a
9:30
20 foot poly tunnel I think it is or 25
9:35
foot by about 15 foot wide so it's a
9:38
decent size poly tunnel but like I said
9:41
it cost 500 but it was a brilliant
9:44
investment and it's ideal for growing
9:47
stuff in there in the winter obviously
9:49
all your Tomatoes your cucumbers and
9:51
stuff like that I messed around with
9:53
irrigation over the years self
9:55
irrigation which has wor fantastic when
9:57
I've got it all set up working
10:00
so yeah it's been a fantastic
10:03
experience
10:04
and I started blogging probably
10:09
about seven years ago or so and that was
10:12
just sharing pictures and little videos
10:14
of what I were getting up to I blogging
10:16
weren't a massive thing back then and I
10:19
was just sharing tips and advice of what
10:21
I were
10:24
doing and basically keeping a diary of
10:28
what I had planted when where and how
10:30
I'd planted it and what did well and
10:32
stuff like that just for my own purpose
10:35
little did I know that people would
10:37
actually start following me um and then
10:40
I started building like an audience up
10:42
on Facebook it all started on Facebook
10:44
to start off with I started building a
10:46
little audience people were getting
10:48
involved they were interacting they were
10:51
enjoying it and I thought yes I'm loving
10:54
this I'm actually loving talking to
10:56
everybody and sharing what I'm getting
10:58
up to and suddenly I'm at like 20,000
11:01
followers on Facebook I can't believe it
11:04
and then I obviously started doing stuff
11:07
on Instagram as well sharing pictures on
11:08
there and obviously I do my YouTube
11:11
videos as well now on there my first
11:13
ever YouTube video on my YouTube channel
11:15
I don't know if you can find it you can
11:17
usually sort them by age and it's when I
11:21
actually first built my shed and yeah
11:25
the shed's Still
11:27
Standing from when I built that video
11:29
it's had a few a major revamp over the
11:32
years but the framework is still up and
11:35
still standing which is a bonus for me
11:37
you know what I'm like with building I'm
11:38
absolutely rubbish with and we didn't
11:42
actually start live streaming till
11:46
I to lock down because I thought people
11:50
are enjoying what I'm doing I'm going to
11:52
go live and talk to people but then I
11:54
was scared thinking what if people ask
11:56
me questions that I don't actually know
11:58
about because I don't don't know
11:59
everything about gardening I've just
12:01
learned what I've done myself if you get
12:03
me I'm not a professional I don't have a
12:06
certificate to say that I'm a
12:08
professional
12:10
Gardener so I got started with that and
12:13
I absolutely loved it talking to people
12:16
people interacting with me on
12:18
live obviously I don't do my Facebook
12:20
lives anymore these days because I don't
12:22
have time for it cuz it takes about half
12:24
an hour to do all that so I have to
12:26
crack on with my allotment these days
12:28
that's why I do a lot videos for you to
12:30
watch that way and over these years I've
12:35
learned so much different methods
12:38
different ways of
12:39
growing uh different varieties what work
12:42
best in growing
12:44
and some years like in my first few
12:48
years I was successful with so much
12:50
stuff growing and then after that it
12:52
failed and I'm like well what have I
12:54
done wrong but that is gardening one
12:57
year you might be absolutely fantastic
12:59
with growing something and then a few
13:01
years later it might be absolutely
13:03
rubbish and you think what am I doing
13:04
wrong but that's just the art of
13:06
gardening and one thing I've learned
13:09
about gardening is never give up keep
13:12
keep trying and it's yes it's you get
13:16
produce from it but it's fun and it's
13:19
enjoyable and if something grows success
13:22
if it doesn't oh well you just try again
13:24
next year or in a few more months when
13:27
it's a bit warmer but it's all about
13:30
having fun and enjoying it and yes it
13:33
can be quite expensive it's not as
13:34
always as cheap as people say that it is
13:37
to grow your own stuff some stuff's
13:38
cheap to grow but some stuff you might
13:41
just be cheaper off buying at the
13:42
supermarket but it's the taste you know
13:44
it's organic it's fresh and you know
13:47
your hard work time and efforts got into
13:49
it and that is what I absolutely love
13:51
about gardening so over these 20 years
13:54
of gardening my allotment Journey has
13:57
been
13:59
absolutely fantastic the people that
14:01
I've got to know through doing my social
14:03
media and getting involved in my posts
14:06
yes I may not always reply back to posts
14:08
and comments but I do read them and I do
14:12
love to see all the comments on the
14:13
posts if I replied back to every post
14:16
and comment it would be a full-time job
14:19
and unfortunately this podcast doesn't
14:20
pay for
14:22
that if we get millions of people
14:24
listening to this podcast then maybe we
14:26
can retire and do it fulltime hint hint
14:29
share share
14:30
share but yeah uh I absolutely love it
14:35
and I wouldn't change it for the world
14:37
and I'm going to keep on doing these
14:39
podcasts keep on doing the live uh the
14:43
the videos for you to watch the photos
14:45
that I share the Little Christmas jokes
14:48
and stuff like that I absolutely love
14:50
doing it all and finding new stuff for
14:52
you to to listen to and to watch so if
14:54
you've ever got anything that you want
14:56
me to talk about or think that i' do
14:58
well on the the podcasts or on my videos
15:00
or on posts please let me know you can
15:03
always message me on Instagram I'm
15:05
always a message way so I hope you've
15:08
enjoyed this podcast if you're not
15:09
following us on these podcasts please do
15:12
give us a follow click the Bell to get
15:14
the notification when the podcasts come
15:16
up as well and until next time everyone
15:20
remember keep smiling keep shining and
15:23
keep gardening with
15:26
Ben thank you for joining me on this
15:30
episode of gardening with Ben I hope you
15:33
have found some useful tips and
15:34
inspiration for your own gardening and
15:37
allotment Journey if you have enjoyed
15:39
today's episode please make sure to
15:42
follow And subscribe to the podcast so
15:45
you never miss a new episode and if you
15:47
have a moment I'd love for you to leave
15:49
a review and share the podcast with
15:51
fellow gardening enthusiasts your
15:53
support helps us grow this community and
15:56
continue bringing you great content you
16:00
can also follow us on social media on
16:03
every platform called gardening with Ben
16:05
for daily gardening tips and updates
16:08
happy gardening and until next time
16:11
remember keep smiling keep shining and
16:14
keep gardening with Ben
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