Up next in 10
This video explains important tasks to focus on in late winter to prepare the garden for spring planting.
It covers clearing beds, improving soil, organising growing space, checking overwintering plants and planning early sowing. These simple preparation jobs help prevent problems and make the start of the growing season easier.
Good preparation during colder months leads to healthier plants and better harvests.
These tips apply to vegetable gardens, flower beds, raised beds, containers and small gardens.
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0:00
if you're a maintenance supervisor for a
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commercial property you've had to deal
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with everything from leaky faucets to
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flickering light bulbs but nothing's
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wornout components to Everyday
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just stop by Ranger for the ones who get
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it done welcome to gardening with Ben
0:32
your go-to podcast for all things green
0:35
and growing in
0:37
2025 whether you are a seasoned Gardener
0:40
a budding Enthusiast or just curious
0:42
about cultivating your own slice of
0:45
nature you're in the right place join me
0:48
Ben as we explore practical tips
0:51
inspiring stories and the latest trends
0:53
in gardening to make your outdoor space
0:56
Bloom with life from allotment
0:59
Adventures to my life friendly gardening
1:01
I'm here to help you grow your passion
1:03
and reap the rewards so grab your gloves
1:06
roll up your sleeves and let's get
1:08
started on this year's gardening
1:12
Journey hey everyone and welcome back to
1:16
gardening with Ben for another brand new
1:19
episode I hope we've all had a excellent
1:22
weekend because I know I certainly have
1:25
we finally in February yes it's a new
1:29
month and is getting closer to Spring
1:31
it's getting all that bit closer towards
1:33
our Mass sewing time when we sew every
1:37
seed that we've
1:39
got and I've still been purchasing more
1:42
and more seeds it's getting Beyond a
1:43
joke now I'm getting a bit addicted to
1:45
this but oh well it's my little Hobby
1:48
and I enjoy it so what have we been
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purchasing we purchased every variety of
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sweet pee on
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Amazon so hopefully my garden is going
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to be absolutely gorgeous with sweet
2:02
peas this year I'm I'm literally going
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to have a Sweet Pea
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Farm they think that I'm not growing any
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vegetables on it or fruit but we will
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have lots and lots of flowers that is
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the plan for this year so yeah I'm
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looking forward to trying lots of
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different varieties of sweet peas and I
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hope that you enjoy seeing the varieties
2:22
growing down on my plot as well and see
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how well they actually do down there so
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we've got that to do and and we've also
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ordered every variety of sunflower as
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well on Amazon so we're going to have a
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beautiful smell of sweet peas and a
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field of sunflowers for lots and lots of
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selfies to be taken but yeah it's going
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to be a busy busy time this summer with
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how much that we're going to be growing
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because we are going absolutely wild we
2:55
is growing this year and hopefully it
2:58
does rain during the summer Su so that
3:00
we don't have to keep watering every
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day but yeah uh so we've got every
3:05
variety of sweet pee we've got every
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variety of sunflower I've got loads of
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varieties of melons to grow so those are
3:13
some exciting things that we've got
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growing next up we're going to be
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getting some different varieties of
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cucumbers and we're going to get
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different varieties of squash as well
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and different varieties of beans so
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we're going to be trying lots and lots
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of different stuff this year down at the
3:30
plot which I'm excited about I'm excited
3:32
to try new challenges down there and I'm
3:35
tempted to try and grow purple brussel
3:37
sprouts just to see what they actually
3:39
taste like and if they taste nice or not
3:41
so hold me to that one and see how well
3:44
we get on with that so what have we been
3:47
up to down at the allotment this weekend
3:50
well our big tasks what we've been
3:52
getting done this weekend is I've
3:54
started doing digging over my beds again
3:57
as was the last time I dug them over
3:59
around
4:00
October time so they were all compact
4:04
again and weeds are starting to appear
4:06
now because it's a bit tiny bit warmer
4:09
but uh we like to dig them over quite a
4:11
few times before we sew uh plant out in
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them we won't be planting out in them
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until May time which is ages away yet
4:18
but we're going to be keeping them dug
4:20
over for a couple of times and digging
4:22
them over you don't often need to pull
4:24
the weeds out because if you're turning
4:25
them over and it's cold at night it will
4:28
kill the weeds and The Roots off so we
4:30
just keep digging them over and turning
4:32
them over and not letting them Roots get
4:35
established in the beds so that is our
4:38
plan over the next few months to keep
4:41
them Weed Free fingers crossed and then
4:43
we won't have a massive job of keeping
4:45
weeding them all before we plant but
4:47
we've got all that to do and then I've
4:49
got to paint them all that's one big job
4:51
that I need to do and not that I'm
4:53
looking forward to it because I
4:54
absolutely hate painting but yeah my
4:56
beds are starting to fall apart now the
4:58
wood's getting a bit knack
5:00
and they just need spruing up and making
5:03
look smart again so we've done all that
5:07
and we've also been busy building an
5:10
arch on my plot as obviously you know
5:12
that I've got climbing Moses near my
5:15
entrance so we need them to climb up
5:18
something they're getting quite tall now
5:20
so we're going to train them over the
5:22
arch and hopefully have an archway of
5:25
flowers on the allotment so I'm looking
5:27
forward to that it's Tiding them up and
5:29
keep keeping them neat and hopefully not
5:31
get spiked to death because they'll be
5:33
climbing over the arch instead of
5:34
blocking the
5:36
entrance so we' got that done we've also
5:40
been busy chitting my potatoes and if
5:43
you don't know how to chit potatoes I've
5:45
just posted a video recently on my
5:47
Facebook page and Instagram and YouTube
5:49
of how to chip potatoes so if you don't
5:52
know how to chip potatoes watch that
5:54
video it's only a two minute long video
5:56
and I'll show you how to chip the
5:58
potatoes it's about preparing them and
6:00
getting them ready I don't plant them
6:02
out until Good Friday even though it
6:04
moves every year but I always stick to
6:07
that because it's to do with the moon
6:08
it's an old Garden wives tale and I've
6:11
just lived by that rule because it works
6:13
for me and I usually get good produce so
6:17
I'm sticking to what works best for me
6:20
so we've done that we've also been
6:23
fixing up my poly tunnel as some of the
6:27
seams were starting to disintegrate and
6:30
come apart as poly tunels do they seem
6:33
to split where the creases are on it
6:36
where it originally folded so I've
6:38
strengthened them up putting tape along
6:40
them and just strengthening It Up Make
6:42
It Last another year uh every year I
6:45
keep thinking it's going to go it's
6:47
going to go one year and it doesn't it
6:49
lasts a bit longer and we keep repairing
6:51
it and I was talking to my dad about it
6:53
today because if it does come off I
6:56
won't be able to replace it with another
6:58
one because it's too much hard work
7:00
digging out all around it and putting
7:03
another skin over the top of it it's a
7:05
lot of hard work and if you've never put
7:08
a polyol skin on trust me you have to
7:10
dig trenches out put it over the top
7:12
then chop bricks in on to hold the
7:15
plastic down and weigh it down then
7:17
chuck all the soil back in and make it
7:20
tight and it's a big job uh it takes
7:23
about four or five people to be able to
7:25
do that so if that does finally go the
7:28
skin and I'm going to replace it with
7:30
netting as I tend to grow a lot of my
7:34
cucumbers and tomatoes outside last year
7:36
and they did really well so I don't
7:38
necessarily need stuff inside my polyan
7:40
obviously it's good for going to be
7:42
growing watermelons and stuff like that
7:43
in it but I'll just uh grow them in my
7:47
shed Greenhouse instead and I'd put
7:52
net in over the poly tunnel so then I'll
7:54
use it as a bit of a Brassica Cage have
7:57
really fine thin netting so that can
7:59
grow my cauliflowers my cabbages my
8:02
Sprouts my broccoli in there without
8:05
butterflies and stuff getting eaten and
8:09
use it as a Brassica cage instead
8:12
basically uh instead of a polyol so that
8:15
would been my plan if it does finally
8:18
give way so yeah it has been a busy
8:21
weekend I've enjoyed it we started
8:22
filming new types of videos now as I'm
8:26
trying different things all the time
8:28
different way days of filming and
8:32
different types of content seeing what
8:34
works and what doesn't work and I've
8:37
started creating short little videos
8:40
rather than me talking on the video and
8:42
recording myself speaking I record the
8:45
video and then I record the sound over
8:47
the top of it with me speaking like
8:51
narrating it basically and I think
8:53
they're coming out quite well they're a
8:54
lot clearer and they sound a lot better
8:57
when I'm recording it so so I hope you
9:00
all enjoying them videos obviously I've
9:01
put one up recently about birds visiting
9:04
my allotment I did one about the best
9:08
gardening tool that I use and I've also
9:11
done my chitty my potatoes that version
9:13
so yeah I'm trying different ways out
9:15
and I hope that you all enjoying them if
9:17
you've seen any of my videos please do
9:19
let me know and tell me what you think
9:20
of them and even if a video just pops up
9:23
on your page or something like that just
9:26
give it a thumbs up and leave a little
9:27
comment on it as it does help push it
9:29
out to wider audience and our followers
9:33
is blowing up at the moment so keep on
9:36
doing that and keep supporting me
9:38
obviously you're not paying me for
9:40
anything so just do that and it'll all
9:42
help me out in the long run and it's
9:44
free so thank you everyone for what you
9:47
do for me and how much you support me so
9:50
until next time everyone remember keep
9:52
smiling keep shining and keep gardening
9:54
with Ben
9:56
everyone Thanks for tuning in to today's
10:00
episode of gardening with Ben I hope
10:03
you've enjoyed our chat and picked up
10:05
some tips to help your garden and
10:07
allotment Drive don't forget to stay
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