Up next in 10
☀️🌿 It’s a beautiful sunny Monday, and there’s no better place to be than the allotment! In today’s video, I’m sharing a busy day on the plot, ticking off those all-important March gardening jobs and making the most of the spring sunshine. 🌱
From preparing beds and sowing early crops to clearing, weeding, and planning ahead, this is what real allotment life looks like when the growing season begins. 💪
Join me for a relaxed, chatty update full of sunshine, productivity, and a few well-earned tea breaks along the way. ☕🌻
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0:00
hello and welcome to gardening with
0:03
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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
everyone and welcome to gardening with
0:28
Ben for another episode today well today
0:32
has been the last day at the allotment
0:35
on my days off now I'm back to work for
0:37
4 days from tomorrow Tuesday and yeah
0:42
what a fantastic few days we have had
0:45
off and the weather today has been
0:48
absolutely fantastic you couldn't have
0:51
asked for better weather today down at
0:53
the alotment so I got there at 9:00 this
0:56
morning but I still feel like I didn't
0:59
get tons done but I completed everything
1:02
that I wanted to get done
1:04
because getting these jobs done is
1:07
critical to getting my allotment in
1:09
shape ready for the year ahead and so
1:13
far we are pretty much on track to
1:17
getting it all completed and I'm pleased
1:20
to say once it's done I will be able to
1:22
just sit there look at my plot and enjoy
1:25
it but I doubt that'll ever
1:28
happen there's always too much to do I
1:31
never have a chance to sit back and
1:33
enjoy the allotment and look at it and I
1:35
think I really need to start doing that
1:37
more even if it's just for 15 minutes
1:39
just sitting there and looking at it and
1:42
taking it all in and enjoying the work
1:46
that I have put into completing the
1:49
allotment and we'll see over the next
1:52
few weeks I'm hoping to create a seated
1:55
area where I can actually sit and enjoy
1:58
the alotment
2:00
but that's the last job on my list as
2:02
I've get to the top of the plot so we
2:04
still a long way to go before we create
2:06
that seated area but it is up there it's
2:09
up there on my list uh so you don't need
2:12
to worry I will hopefully be able to
2:14
have chance to be able to sit back and
2:16
enjoy it uh
2:18
eventually so what have we been up to
2:21
today on the allotment well we've
2:24
been getting a lot of stuff ready um my
2:28
first job on the plot was was I have
2:31
found a shell of a pond which is
2:35
absolutely fantastic for what I want
2:39
um it's a plastic shell uh which had
2:43
just been thrown over the wall so I
2:45
thought I best check it first before I
2:47
dig it all out to make sure that it
2:49
doesn't actually leak that there's no
2:51
cracks in it and thankfully enough all
2:53
the water stayed in so that meant we've
2:56
got a free pond on the plot and what
2:58
does a free Pond mean
3:00
it means that we'll hopefully get some
3:03
foggies on the plot and they'll eat the
3:05
Slugs now there's no better way of
3:08
stopping the Slugs than frogs so if you
3:11
can encourage frogs to the allotment
3:14
then they will eat the Slugs for you and
3:16
you will have less of a problem with
3:19
slugs as they'll just go hopping around
3:22
every single night picking them all up
3:24
and eating them all for
3:26
you well that's the plan anyway I just
3:29
need to get some frog Spa now to fill
3:31
the pond up with some uh but we'll have
3:33
a look around and see if we can get some
3:36
for the pond uh see if we've got any
3:38
friends or neighbors who've got some
3:40
frogs Bor who are willing to let me have
3:42
some and hopefully we will be able to
3:44
get some Froggies down there and enjoy
3:47
the new pond so I've dug a pond out I've
3:50
placed that in I'll be sharing a photo
3:52
of it later on Instagram and Facebook so
3:55
watch out for that I just need to I
3:57
couldn't dig it that deep so it's still
4:01
uh not level with the floor at the
4:02
moment um the soil underneath it was
4:05
really clay by the time I get to uh got
4:08
further down and I didn't want to be
4:10
digging that up because then I'd be
4:12
mixing it in with my other soil and
4:14
stuff like that so there's a bit of a
4:16
lip on it at the moment so what we're
4:18
going to do is we're going to build up
4:19
the edges uh and so that the Froggies
4:23
can walk into it and we're going to put
4:26
some nice soil and stuff around it and
4:29
hopefully find some nice plants uh to go
4:32
around the pond to encourage the
4:35
wildlife to come to it and we'll also
4:37
put some rocks in there as well for some
4:39
shading and stuff like that because
4:41
obviously the rocks will want to Nest
4:44
away they like to go in between the
4:46
rocks and stuff we used to have a pond
4:48
years ago at my old house and we had it
4:53
near the rocker and the frogs absolutely
4:56
love the rocker they were just hiding in
4:57
between all the rocks out of the way
5:00
they loved it um so I know that to put
5:03
like rocks and stuff around it so I've
5:06
got I've got to learn about ponds now um
5:09
because I'm going to be wanting to put
5:11
some pond plants in it as well and I I'd
5:15
love to get a couple of fishes in in it
5:17
as well um hopefully we can get some
5:20
pond fish to go in it but obviously to
5:24
get frog spawn first and let that hatch
5:27
before we put some fishes in because
5:30
if we put the Frog spawn in and the
5:32
fishes at the same time the fish might
5:34
eat the Frog spawn and we don't want
5:37
that at all we want the frogs to survive
5:39
so I want all the Froggies to hatch
5:41
first and then we'll possibly look into
5:44
getting some fish to go in it and be
5:47
able to enjoy feeding the fish as well
5:49
when I go to the plot which will be nice
5:52
um a couple more pets to have down at
5:54
the allotment um I I would really love
5:58
that um something else to encourage me
6:01
to go to the plot because then it'll
6:02
mean I have to go to feed the fish on a
6:05
regular basis as well so that this
6:08
survive but yeah we're going to be
6:10
having to look into pond plants now and
6:13
where I used to work at my old Gardens
6:15
and we used to sell some pond plants and
6:18
there were some absolutely fantastic
6:20
ones um so we need to look into getting
6:23
some nice pond plants in it uh ones that
6:26
really can add oxygen to the water as
6:30
well because obviously we don't want it
6:33
getting covered in algae and stuff like
6:35
that and adding the oxygen in will help
6:38
the fishes as well because I won't be
6:40
able to have a pump in there not unless
6:41
I get a solar powered one uh which will
6:44
obviously cost a bit of money so we'll
6:46
possibly get some nice pond plants to go
6:50
in it and just to add a bit more life to
6:52
the pond plot so it's all exciting stuff
6:56
at the minute uh I'm really going to be
6:58
looking at
7:00
looking after the wildlife as well on
7:02
the plot this year that is my main area
7:04
so we've sorted the bees out we're going
7:07
to be sorting with all the spring bulbs
7:10
we're going to be hopefully helping the
7:11
butterflies next with all the flowers
7:15
that I'm going to be planting uh I'm
7:17
possibly going to be looking into more
7:19
types of flowers to attract the
7:21
butterflies to the
7:23
plot obviously you can have bulia which
7:26
obviously is the butterfly plant uh it's
7:29
it's known as so we're going to be
7:31
looking at possibly helping the
7:33
butterflies then I'm going to be looking
7:36
into helping the birds uh I'm really
7:39
going to be encouraging the birds to the
7:41
plot soon uh not necessarily wanting the
7:43
pigeons but unfortunately you can't
7:45
choose what bird you get to the
7:47
plot but we're going to be really
7:49
looking at helping the birds to the plot
7:52
next uh I'm going to get some nice bird
7:55
feeders and some different types of bird
7:58
food once that can attract different
8:00
varieties of birds like blue tits and
8:02
white tits and gray tits all the tits
8:05
like you want um we're going to be
8:07
attracting those to the plot and yeah
8:10
I'd really love uh to start seeing my
8:13
Wildlife on my plot and that's what I
8:16
want to do and want to be able to once I
8:20
can sit down and enjoy the plot then I
8:22
can sit and watch all the birds come
8:24
down and enjoy the allotment and enjoy
8:28
seeing what different birds come to the
8:30
plot so that's one of my main key areas
8:34
and then hopefully I may look into how
8:38
to get a hedgehog house on the plot as
8:41
well as they sell Hedgehog homes uh some
8:45
garden centers we used to tell them
8:46
about where we worked um so I would
8:49
really like to help the Hedgehogs next
8:53
so that is going to be another thing so
8:56
yeah all these help towards slug
8:59
prevention because obviously the birds
9:00
will come down they'll pinch the Slugs
9:02
up they'll eat them and the snails and
9:05
obviously the hedgehogs hedgehogs
9:07
absolutely love slugs so if you can
9:10
encourage the Hedgehogs to your alotment
9:12
fantastic they'll definitely go around
9:14
at night eating all your slugs and
9:17
hopefully keep the slug population now
9:19
so the more things that you can do for
9:21
the Wildlife the wildlife will help you
9:24
back and that is one thing that I am
9:27
adamant in trying to get as much wild
9:29
life down on my plot as possible and you
9:31
never know I may get a wildlife camera
9:34
down there because it would be
9:35
interesting to see what actually goes
9:37
off on my allotment when I'm not there I
9:39
may not want to see
9:42
everything hopefully not so yeah it has
9:46
been a
9:47
fantastic week down that uh well three
9:50
days down at the allotment with the
9:52
amount that I've got done I've also been
9:56
sewing some seeds today as obviously I
10:00
watched Gardener world this week and Mr
10:02
Monty Don was telling us that we need to
10:05
be getting a sweet pece soon if you've
10:06
not SE him already and I looked in my
10:09
carrier bag and I got 10 packets of
10:12
sweet peas so about 200 peas uh and I I
10:17
just shove all my seeds in a bag when
10:19
I'm uh done at the end of the year and
10:21
who knows what seeds I've usually got
10:23
hanging around so I found 10 packets of
10:25
sweet pieces I've probably got some more
10:27
hiding somewhere um so we''ve got all
10:30
those using my trick what I do uh to get
10:33
them to germinate so hopefully they will
10:36
have germinated next time we go to the
10:38
allotment uh we'll have to have a look
10:40
on them but I'll be uploading my video
10:42
on to YouTube I've recorded it so I'll
10:44
upload it onto YouTube to show you my
10:47
trick of getting sweet pece to germinate
10:50
if you've not subscribed to my YouTube
10:52
channel why not get subscribed just find
10:56
gardening with Ben on YouTube and and
10:59
you will be able to see all my
11:01
videos I've also sewn some lavender seed
11:05
as well as that is the next plan on my
11:08
list that I want on the plot now I've SE
11:11
some but I am going to go out and buy
11:13
some because I've seen at uh shop near
11:15
me uh them selling lavender plants I
11:18
think three for12 so I might end up
11:21
possibly getting around six uh for
11:24
around my entrance to my plot because
11:26
again the bees absolutely love lavender
11:31
and I just want to make my entrance to
11:33
my plot as fragrant as possible and
11:36
lavender will certainly do that it'll
11:39
add so much fragrance to the plot and I
11:42
just want it to be a get a nice smell as
11:45
soon as you walk onto my plot and think
11:47
oh this is brilliant this plot this is
11:50
fantastic and lavender looks absolutely
11:53
beautiful as well so that is next on my
11:57
list of plants to buy for the plot I
12:00
don't think I've got many others on the
12:02
list of plants to buy to be honest I'm
12:04
going to have to keep my eyes out when
12:06
I'm going round garden centers this
12:08
summer because I never really look at
12:10
flowers and plants like that I've always
12:12
just looked at fruit and vegetables but
12:14
now I'm starting to look at the flowers
12:16
and see what flowers to actually grow on
12:18
the plot which is exciting but it
12:21
obviously all costs money as well so
12:23
yeah uh everything I earned from these
12:25
podcasts go back into buying stuff for
12:28
the M as well so make sure you do keep
12:31
listening to them and you hope you're
12:34
putting towards these episodes at the
12:35
end of the day because I get to talk
12:37
about what I've done and how I've
12:40
planted it and how I look after it as
12:41
well so we're both benefiting from it
12:45
I've also put all my potatoes to chit um
12:49
that was one main job what I needed to
12:51
do I bought them the other week and they
12:52
were still in the bag and I thought I
12:55
actually saw that on Garden's world as
12:57
well and I thought well I I best get
12:59
doing it Monty's taught me to do it I
13:01
best get my potatoes chitting now
13:03
chitting is something that I always do
13:05
uh some people don't chit but I I I
13:08
usually do chit and yeah again I've sh
13:11
uh recorded a video for that so make
13:13
sure you tune in and you'll be able to
13:15
see how I chip my potatoes and what I do
13:19
as well and obviously you'll see all my
13:21
other videos so please do subscribe to
13:24
my YouTube channel and talking of videos
13:27
we've also done a video on of my
13:29
allotment I've done a plot tour uh it's
13:32
been a while since I've done a
13:34
pre-recorded plot tour of my allotment
13:36
where I go around talking about
13:38
everything that I've been doing on my
13:39
plot what's growing and what's not
13:41
growing and share it all with you so
13:44
you'll be able to get to see that I'll
13:45
be uploading that one tonight um on my
13:48
YouTube channel so watch out for that
13:51
coming on like I said if you do click
13:52
subscribe you'll get and tick the Bell
13:55
as well I think it is and you'll get
13:56
notified when that new episode goes
13:59
tonight and the other episode I've
14:01
recorded is talking about all the
14:03
different seeds that you can sew in
14:06
March obviously we've talked about it on
14:10
these episode but obviously if you want
14:13
to watch me talking about it that's
14:15
sometimes better uh so I've recorded
14:17
that and yeah that'll be going on
14:20
possibly tomorrow so plenty of videos
14:24
coming as well I really do need to get
14:26
more into doing the videos on YouTube
14:29
I'm obviously doing all these episodes
14:31
on the podcast but I really do need to
14:33
get back into doing the videos on
14:35
YouTube again cuz I do enjoy them it's
14:37
just takes forever transferring the
14:41
videos from my camera to my phone they
14:44
take like half an hour just for a
14:47
10-minute video it's absolutely bizarre
14:50
how long it takes and then I have to
14:52
fasten it all together and then upload
14:54
it onto YouTube and put all the hashtags
14:56
in what you need to put in for people to
14:58
see it and stuff like that so it's not a
15:01
fast process but I am really needing to
15:04
start doing my videos more and getting
15:06
that going because I've got like over
15:09
1,100 subscribers now on YouTube so I'm
15:12
really pleased with how many I've got I
15:14
just need to get the video timing up so
15:16
then it will get
15:18
monetized uh you have to get 4,000 hour
15:21
views uh to be able to get it to
15:22
monetized so I've got the subscribers I
15:24
just need to get the videos watched now
15:27
uh so that's one thing that we need to
15:29
start getting them videos out there for
15:32
people to see and if there's any videos
15:35
that you want me to record drop me a
15:37
message on Instagram or on Facebook it's
15:39
always great to hear what sort of videos
15:42
you want to see because at end of the
15:44
day I don't know what videos to record
15:46
and stuff like that sometimes so it's
15:48
good to hear from other people what
15:51
videos you want me to record and upload
15:54
so yeah let me know same goes for these
15:57
podcasts if there's a specific topic you
15:59
want me to talk about with the podcast
16:01
send me a message it's always great to
16:03
hear from people and I do get quite a
16:06
few messages from people and it's really
16:08
nice when I've heard that you've
16:09
listened to an episode so yeah please do
16:12
send me a
16:13
message so we're halfway through the
16:17
month now and I feel like that I've
16:20
actually got halfway through my plot uh
16:25
when I walk onto my plot I've like
16:28
sorted out the main maintenance I've
16:29
cleared it all out it's all looking tidy
16:33
we've got loads of bulbs planted summer
16:36
bulbs and spring bulbs and plants are
16:40
going in I've still got a lad more
16:43
summer bulbs to get I believe uh I want
16:46
to get a load more summer bulbs so that
16:48
is on our list as well for next month um
16:51
so we do need to get a load more Summit
16:53
bulbs and I'm hoping they will add a
16:56
great display I've never tried Summit
16:58
bulbs before I've tried gladioli and
17:00
they did fantastic so I bought some more
17:02
gladioli bulbs but I've never tried
17:04
summer bulbs so that is next on our list
17:08
well I've planted some uh I've planted
17:11
about 100 summer bulbs already uh so I'd
17:14
like to get a loaded more summer bulbs
17:16
on the plot and once they planted
17:20
obviously they're planted forever and
17:22
hopefully they'll keep going back year
17:23
after year like I said I've never tried
17:25
growing summer bulbs before so it's all
17:27
new to me
17:29
so I'm hoping we do get a good display
17:32
if not it's money
17:34
wasted but yeah I've obviously sorted
17:37
out my entrance I've built two new uh
17:40
raised beds what uh crumbled away we've
17:43
put some new flower beds in around it
17:46
we've also sorted out around my rhubarb
17:49
area all my rhubarb's done we still need
17:51
to get as broad beans in that's next on
17:53
his list as well we've got as broad
17:56
beans to get in but we sorted out as
17:58
rubab we pruned all his fruit trees all
18:00
those are ready we just need to prune as
18:02
Plum Tree but I won't be doing my Plum
18:04
Tree until late spring cuz that's when
18:07
they say to do it you shouldn't do it
18:08
until late spring so we've still got all
18:11
that to shape uh We've also obviously
18:15
sorted out our new fruit area which I'm
18:18
so pleased with my neighbor came down to
18:20
his plot today and he'd not been down
18:23
for a while because he's been on holiday
18:25
and he was amazed at how much I've done
18:28
in this new fruit area cuz obviously
18:30
I've got all my strawberries in I've put
18:33
some summer raspberries in I've got my
18:35
phoness blackberries in I've got my
18:38
Great Vine in I've
18:41
also
18:44
got
18:46
my what other stuff have I got oh I've
18:49
got my Red Goose prison I've got my blue
18:52
prison I've got my Victoria plum trees
18:55
in so yeah it's all coming together and
18:59
shaping up really really well now
19:02
there's still one fruit left on my list
19:05
what I need to get for this year if I
19:07
can and that's the yellow raspberries I
19:10
would love to try the yellow raspberries
19:13
uh I've seen them on Lads pictures all
19:15
the time but I've never actually grown
19:16
them so I do want some yellow
19:19
raspberries for my
19:20
allotment and my mom and dad have said
19:22
that they've seen some at this shop so
19:25
I'm hoping that we can go and get some
19:27
for the allotment and get them in the
19:29
ground so that is the one last thing for
19:32
the fruit that I need to get for this
19:33
year possibly next year we will look at
19:36
doing different food
19:39
including blue uh not blue BR black
19:42
currents red currents and white currents
19:45
so we might possibly try them so we'll
19:48
have to have a look at an area to put
19:50
those in because obviously they're
19:51
bushes and they all need quite a bit of
19:53
space so we'll possibly look at that for
19:56
next year they may go right at the top
19:58
of the plot out of the way so yeah it's
20:02
been a fantastic half of month already I
20:06
can't believe how fast this month's
20:08
going Who would know that on Sunday is
20:11
the first day of spring and I'm
20:14
certainly looking forward to that and
20:15
the weather has shaped up so nicely
20:18
recently if it's going to be like this
20:20
all the way through spring I will be
20:22
happy I even had to get the host Park
20:24
back out today to fill the pond up and
20:26
I'm just thinking soon will be going
20:28
around the watering on a regular basis
20:30
again and doing all that that is one
20:32
thing that I don't enjoy doing is
20:34
watering I don't know why I just don't
20:36
enjoy watering uh whether it's cuz it's
20:38
a waste of time obviously it's not a
20:40
waste of time cuz you're getting the
20:41
crops from it but it just takes up so
20:43
much of your time watering that you
20:45
don't get much else to do but yeah we
20:48
will see hopefully it's going to be a
20:51
fantastic year on the plot this year and
20:53
so far in the first three months I have
20:55
to agree that it has been and hopefully
20:58
we will get some fantastic stuff growing
21:01
this year for me to share with you all
21:03
on my Instagram Facebook and the podcast
21:06
and YouTube so yeah make sure you click
21:09
that subscribe button on YouTube uh I
21:12
would love for you to subscribe and
21:13
follow me on YouTube if you've not
21:15
subscribed to these podcasts please do
21:18
click the Subscribe or the follow button
21:20
you will get notified when new podcasts
21:22
come up like I said I'm back at work for
21:24
the next 4 days so it won't be talking
21:27
about the allotment it'll be talking
21:28
about other stuff but hopefully fingers
21:31
crossed those episodes will go out we'll
21:33
pre-record them in advance for you to
21:35
listen to so I hope you have a fantastic
21:38
week everybody I'm looking forward to
21:40
being back at the plot on Saturday and
21:43
starting to share some stuff with you
21:45
again so until next time remember keep
21:48
smiling keep gardening and keep
21:50
listening to gardening with Ben's
21:53
podcasts so thank you for listening to
21:56
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always remember keep smiling and keep
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gardening
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