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This video explains important gardening tasks to focus on in late winter and how to prepare the garden for the upcoming growing season.
It covers checking overwintering plants, early sowing, bed preparation, soil care, pruning where appropriate and organising growing space. These simple jobs help prevent problems and encourage strong plant growth once warmer weather arrives.
Preparing the garden early makes planting easier and improves overall results.
These tips apply to vegetable gardens, flower beds, raised beds, containers and small gardens.
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0:00
good morning everybody and welcome to
0:02
gardening with Ben in today's video
0:05
we're going to give you a tour of our
0:07
alotment and talk about our plans for
0:10
this year down at the alotment site and
0:13
decide what we're going to be doing and
0:14
what we're growing and where we're going
0:16
to be growing things so sit back relax
0:19
and enjoy today's episode everyone
0:22
[Music]
0:28
[Music]
0:41
so welcome to gardening with Ben
0:43
everyone in today's video we're going to
0:44
be showing you around the plot in our
0:47
weekly tour video and we're going to be
0:49
talking about what we're planning on
0:50
doing this year and some of the exciting
0:53
things that we're going to try and
0:55
hopefully achieve down here at the
0:56
alotment there's big plans and much time
1:00
to do it but hopefully we can keep on
1:02
top of it and we can get it looking
1:04
absolutely amazing this year so yeah
1:08
let's stop waffling and let's have a
1:10
look around the plot everyone so we're
1:12
at the front of the plot as always so
1:14
we're going to show you around the full
1:16
size of the plot show you what's growing
1:18
and what's not growing and see what
1:20
state it's certainly in So at the front
1:23
of the plot we've got absolutely loads
1:25
of bulbs growing we've planted so many
1:27
bulbs this year well last year now and
1:30
they're starting to pop through and
1:32
we're starting to see some color popping
1:34
through look at these bearded irises
1:37
popping through behind the hether and
1:40
hopefully they'll be out in full flower
1:42
soon but yeah they're looking nice
1:44
nicely hidden away but the he's looking
1:47
absolutely amazing it's done so well
1:49
this year and we only purchased these
1:52
for 50 and I keep saying this in every
1:54
video but yeah I'm so happy with that
1:57
purchase and I wish I'd bought more of
1:59
them be honest cuz we've got a few but
2:02
these two seem to do the best out of
2:04
them all but yeah hopefully soon we'll
2:07
start to have daffodils out and we'll
2:10
hopefully get the Tulips out as well
2:12
soon in the highs which will look
2:14
absolutely
2:16
amazing we've got a few snow drops we
2:19
need to get some more snow drops for
2:21
next year we've not got enough snow
2:22
drops this is only amount of snow drops
2:24
I've actually got so we need to get some
2:26
more snow drops down here for next year
2:29
e uh they're the first things that come
2:31
out in springtime so want to attract
2:34
more color for next year so I've wrote
2:37
that down on my list get some marel
2:39
drops ready for next year so that we can
2:41
have lots of color right early on
2:44
throughout the
2:46
springtime but yeah we've got loads of
2:48
bulbs
2:49
coming absolutely
2:52
loads
2:53
hopefully soon in the later videos we'll
2:57
have lots more color to show you we've
2:59
got a few crocus is coming out and
3:01
another Bearded Iris popping out there
3:05
as well so loads of color coming along
3:08
we just need them all to come out at the
3:10
same time but that never happens does it
3:12
they all come out at different times but
3:14
yeah lots and lots of bulbs are growing
3:18
down
3:20
here so this is the entrance to my plot
3:23
and as you can see we've got absolutely
3:25
loads of crocuses out at the moment
3:27
they're all looking fantastic they've
3:29
not open up this morning they'll open up
3:32
in a bit hopefully but we are expecting
3:35
a storm so hopefully they withstand the
3:37
storm what's due to come we've also got
3:40
some tulips in there that was full to
3:43
busting the other year but hopefully we
3:45
get plenty in there this year we need to
3:48
fill it up with more compost because I
3:50
planted this cherry tree last year well
3:53
it's a cherry Bush and yeah as you can
3:56
see it's not covered over properly so we
3:58
need to put some more compost in that
3:59
but it is taking it's got buds on it
4:02
which is a good sign it is Alive and
4:04
Kicking and hopefully we'll get some
4:06
cherries on that in time to come but
4:09
this area I want it to be my smelly area
4:12
not as in smelly bad but smelly as in
4:15
good I want to have lots of Liles in
4:18
this entrance area this year so we might
4:21
fill up these beds with Lily plants and
4:25
I'm going to have sweet peas all along
4:27
this back bit here all along this this
4:29
fenc in and all along the entrance bits
4:32
and the side bits as well so that as
4:34
soon as you walk onto the plot it smells
4:37
absolutely gorgeous and the color will
4:40
be amazing in summertime so that's my
4:42
plans for this area come this year to
4:46
have it as a smelly
4:47
area it's a funny way of saying it is it
4:50
but yeah I want it to be absolutely
4:52
gorgeous and if I'm getting the sweet
4:54
peas growing up that side bit it'll look
4:57
great and I'll put some netting up or
4:59
chicken wire them to cling onto and
5:01
support them along that way we've got us
5:03
bird houses they've been cleaned out
5:05
ready for this year we've seen the blue
5:07
tits around but I've not seen them
5:09
nesting yet we've had baby birds in
5:12
there the last few years so hopefully
5:15
again we get more blue tits this year
5:17
down at the alotment we're trying to
5:19
attract them by putting out the nuts and
5:21
the bird seed but obviously that does
5:23
attract the rats and the squirrels so
5:26
but yeah this area is going to look
5:28
absolutely fantastic come summertime and
5:32
hopefully we're going to have some nice
5:34
roses out we've got on climbing up the
5:36
frm
5:37
area and yeah hopefully come summer time
5:41
it'll look gorgeous so stay tuned for
5:44
that as well down here we've got us
5:47
lavender plants we need to look at these
5:50
I need to look how to prune lavender
5:52
plants as I know they say you don't
5:54
prune them back to the Woody bit cuz the
5:57
Woody bit's dead so I might have to just
5:59
leave them
6:00
I'll have to read up on how to prune
6:02
lavender so if you got any tips on how
6:04
to prune lavender do let me know because
6:06
I don't want to kill them off they don't
6:09
look too healthy but yeah let me know in
6:12
the comments how to prune lavender and
6:13
if I should leave these or if I should
6:15
prune them back let me
6:18
know but yeah there's Robins we've got
6:21
so much Wildlife around here but his
6:24
cooking apple tree is looking absolutely
6:26
fantastic we didn't get many cooking
6:28
apples last year I gave it a big prune
6:30
back but I've left it this year so
6:34
hopefully we'll get some cooking apples
6:35
on it this year because I think the
6:38
pruning last year stressed it out too
6:40
much that's why it didn't produce many
6:42
cooking apples so fingers crossed we get
6:44
lots of cooking apples this year down at
6:46
the
6:48
alotment then down this side bit we have
6:51
got my rubar patch my f famous rhubarb
6:55
patch about 16 Plants of rhubarb now you
6:58
probably asked me why I've got so much
7:00
rhubarb because I love rhubarb crumble
7:03
and rhubarb freezers and it's expensive
7:05
to buy so it's worth its weight in
7:09
gold most certainly so yeah we've got
7:12
plenty of rubot that's all starting to
7:14
pop through probably do our first
7:17
harvest around May time or the end of
7:19
April depending on how warm the weather
7:21
is but hopefully lots and lots of
7:25
rhubarb to come we've got a PE tree this
7:28
PE Tre starting Bud up and come back to
7:31
life look at that all the buds are
7:33
starting to come out on it we've had
7:35
some great pairs on these peir trees the
7:38
last few years so hopefully again this
7:42
year we'll do even better then we've got
7:45
as eating apples again they've done
7:48
absolutely fantastic the few years I've
7:51
not pruned it this year I should have
7:52
probably pruned it but we'll probably
7:54
leave it for this year and see how it
7:57
gets on but yeah they're coming along at
7:59
really really
8:00
well this one's in pretty good shape and
8:04
growing really well so hopefully lots of
8:07
apples to come this year so yeah I'm
8:10
happy with all this area again I'm going
8:12
to grow sweet peas all the way down this
8:14
side we need to put some fresh compost
8:16
in there as it's quite wet and muddy
8:19
down this area but we're going to fill
8:20
it up put the sweet peas up put a frame
8:23
up down the side of the PO tunnel and
8:25
grow sweet peas up it so it's going to
8:27
look absolutely amazing now we have have
8:29
got hundreds and hundreds of sweet peas
8:31
growing and when we go in the shed we'll
8:34
show you how many we've got
8:37
growing this area was full to busting
8:40
with spring bulbs last year and
8:44
hopefully it's going to be full to
8:46
busting again as you can see they're all
8:48
starting to come through the daffies are
8:50
coming through first so hopefully we'll
8:52
get plenty of daffodils coming out and
8:55
looking amazing this year this should
8:58
soon be opening as you can see the
9:00
flowers are coming along pretty well on
9:02
them at the
9:03
moment so we're now in our shed so let's
9:06
give you a tour of what we've got
9:08
growing in our shed and hopefully what
9:10
we're going to get growing this year so
9:12
I planted all my sweet peas and we've
9:15
got loads of different varieties this
9:17
year to grow down at the alotment I want
9:19
it to look absolutely amazing I've tried
9:21
literally every variety of sweet pee out
9:23
there this year to see what they look
9:26
like and how well they grow and see
9:28
which variety does best down here so
9:30
hopefully they'll start popping through
9:32
when it gets a bit warmer and then we'll
9:34
take the clean foam off and let them
9:37
grow and then we'll plant them out
9:38
around maytime outside so fingers
9:41
crossed they get growing and we don't
9:44
lose
9:45
them here's some sweet peas that I
9:47
started off around August time they're
9:49
looking absolutely amazing growing
9:52
pretty well and looking good we pruned
9:56
all these back pinched them out and and
9:59
to make them Bush you obviously they
10:01
won't get as big of flowers on them but
10:04
they will Bush out and produce more
10:06
flowers on them than normal ones so
10:09
we'll see how well they grow like I said
10:11
I've got loads of sweet peas growing
10:12
this year we putted up as geraniums as
10:15
well last year uh to see if we could get
10:17
them to survive throughout the winter
10:20
they've got some new leaves growing on
10:21
them so maybe they are still alive maybe
10:24
they're still growing but we
10:27
might take cuttings off them and pop
10:29
them up instead but we'll see how well
10:32
they get on and see what they look like
10:34
with growing we've got loads of flowers
10:37
growing I've never grown flowers from
10:39
seed much so we're giving that a try we
10:42
started them off last year to get them
10:45
growing and hopefully we'll plant them
10:48
out and see how well they get on outside
10:50
when it gets a bit warmer more sweet
10:52
peas lots of sweet pees we've got loads
10:55
of varieties of potatoes this year we've
10:58
got them all chitting ready to go we've
11:00
got them all labeled up so we know which
11:02
variety they are and yeah they're
11:03
starting to send the chicks out we'll
11:06
plant these around the end of March time
11:09
in containers and see how well they get
11:12
on I've always grown potatoes for the
11:14
last few years in containers as it's
11:17
easier to get them out you don't split
11:19
them when you're digging them mu and
11:21
they don't get W worm as much like they
11:24
do in the ground so yeah I've always had
11:27
a good crop when growing them in
11:31
containers and then this is my Salvia
11:33
which I thought was dying off I didn't
11:35
think I'd done very well with these
11:36
cuttings it taken to start off with but
11:39
then they died off throughout the winter
11:40
period but I've noticed it's got new
11:43
life growing on them they're starting to
11:46
come back out into bud so looks like
11:49
with they have taken so hopefully we can
11:52
get these planted out this year these
11:53
are the black current variety of salv
11:55
and smell absolutely
11:57
gorgeous so lots more flowers come into
12:01
the alotment this year here we have
12:03
another spring flower bed absolutely
12:05
loads of spring buls in here as you can
12:06
see all the Tulips are coming through
12:08
all the daffies are starting to come
12:10
through I think they look like n uh the
12:12
mini T ones that if that's what you call
12:16
them but yeah hopefully lots of bulbs in
12:20
here we've got some high Sims hopefully
12:22
in here as well I do love my high SS and
12:24
I can just sit here and smell them and
12:26
look out on my allotment
12:30
we've also got a bulb lasagna which I've
12:34
never done before uh I got sent the
12:35
bulbs from Simply seed and they're
12:38
coming on really well we plant them all
12:39
at different levels and see how well
12:42
they get on but as you can see they're
12:44
all coming through really well so
12:46
hopefully a jam-packed planter full of
12:49
spring bulbs and it's going to look
12:51
gorgeous so we'll keep you posted on how
12:53
well that's
12:55
doing this is my
12:57
Loganberry which which we planted a few
13:00
years ago that's growing bigger every
13:02
year which is fantastic loganberries are
13:04
good because they're not prickly like
13:06
your raspberries and your black
13:09
blackberries that smooth so you don't
13:11
cut yourself on them and look all the
13:13
buds are coming out on it all the leaves
13:15
are starting to come out so yeah it's
13:18
doing well and we're going to train that
13:19
along our allotment and get it growing
13:24
well we got his bird feeders out so we
13:26
can watch his Birds we do love watching
13:29
watching different varieties of birds
13:30
coming out I need to tidy out my
13:33
blueberries they need a bit of the
13:35
tidying up and put some fresh acious
13:37
compost in them but they're looking good
13:40
they're getting all the buds on them
13:41
which is a good sign we got all the
13:43
strawberries in the strawberries all the
13:45
way in this bed some are hidden
13:48
underneath the holes but they're in
13:49
there so hopefully lots and lots of
13:51
strawberries this year down this side
13:54
we've got lots more spring balls we've
13:55
got a load of aliums as well in this
13:57
side and I'm going to grow them a sweet
13:59
down this side as well like I said we're
14:01
going to have an alotment full of sweet
14:03
peas this year which is going to look
14:05
amazing down this side we've got a
14:06
forless Blackberry which has done
14:09
fantastic the last few years if you're
14:10
looking at a BlackBerry get a formless
14:12
one because it does amazing and they're
14:16
so big the blackberries on them
14:18
absolutely
14:21
delicious but yeah everything's coming
14:23
along good this is our Great Vine
14:26
starting to get buds on it
14:29
we've not had any grapes on it yet but
14:32
we'll see what it's like this year the
14:34
plant's getting bigger every year so
14:37
we'll see if we get any grapes on it
14:39
hopefully it's warm
14:41
enough and we got another Loganberry
14:43
here growing pretty well I do love my
14:47
Logan berries they're absolutely
14:48
gorgeous if you've not grown Logan
14:50
berries before give them a try we've got
14:52
another climbing rose we need to fasten
14:53
that to our new Archway what we put up
14:55
the other
14:56
week but that's all coming out into bud
14:59
it's all looking
15:01
great and then this is the alotment
15:04
where I do all my growing of all my
15:07
vegetables we've got some white onions
15:10
got some red onions and then some of
15:11
them need pushing back in they're coming
15:13
out but hopefully we get some onions
15:16
growing and hopefully we get a different
15:18
good crop we are going to plant some
15:21
ones in March as well so we're trying
15:23
both winter onions and the normal summer
15:27
variety of onions
15:31
up here we've got us garlic
15:34
growing some haven't done so well but
15:37
some have done really well and it's
15:39
growing
15:40
fantastic but we should get a good
15:43
amount of garlic by the looks of that a
15:46
decent
15:47
cropping and the cold weather helps it
15:50
along and helps it split but they seem
15:52
to be growing pretty good I'm happy we
15:54
are they're all coming
15:57
along so as you can see that was a tour
16:00
of my allotment andn it's looking pretty
16:03
decent at the moment I'm happy with how
16:05
it's coming along down here we've got
16:08
all the jobs done we've got the plot
16:10
cleared ready for this year we're ahead
16:12
of time and next month is the month that
16:16
counts sorry about the wind it's a storm
16:19
on its
16:20
way but yeah we've got so much planned
16:23
this year and March is the busy month
16:26
down here on the allotment where we
16:28
start sewing all our seeds fingers
16:31
crossed on the
16:32
weather uh but hopefully that is when we
16:35
start sewing all our seeds so we'll be
16:37
sharing that Journey along the way so
16:39
make sure you're following us to stay up
16:41
to date for that seeds we've got lots of
16:44
different seeds we want to try we've got
16:46
peas we've got squashes we've got corett
16:50
we've got sweet corn beetroot carrots
16:53
lettuce you name it we're going to be
16:55
growing it and the more we can grow down
16:58
here obviously the better off we'll be
17:00
because obviously we'll save money with
17:02
buying things and we can live off the
17:04
food that we grow which is one of the
17:07
reasons why I've got my allotment
17:08
because it tastes so much nicer having
17:11
your own fresh vegetables down here and
17:15
tasting the difference of them like
17:18
potatoes taste so much difference when
17:20
they're homegrown sweet corn does
17:22
absolutely gorgeous and like I said with
17:24
my rhubarb is that I've got 16 Plants
17:27
but we can just keep har in it and
17:29
freezing it and then it'll last me all
17:31
year and we'll be having rhubarb crumble
17:33
every single day but that's a good thing
17:36
I love my rhubarb
17:38
crumble I'm sure a lot of people do like
17:40
rhubarb crumble as well and it's an
17:42
oldfashioned vegetable it's not actually
17:45
a fruit it's clust as a vegetable but
17:48
it's an oldfashioned thing which tastes
17:50
absolutely delicious and gorgeous I'm
17:53
hoping that this shed roof is going to
17:55
last this weekend we are going to be
17:58
putting a new shed roof on soon so we're
18:01
going to be improving the shed and doing
18:03
some working there we've got all the
18:05
shelving up all the shelving is fine but
18:07
we're just going to be repairing the
18:09
roof we're going to repair the sides of
18:11
it and just make it last a few more
18:13
years longer the structure is perfectly
18:15
fine it's just the polycarbonate what's
18:19
had it it's been up about 10 years now
18:21
so it's starting to deterior but we're
18:23
hopefully going to get it all pretty
18:25
good this year we're also going to try a
18:28
lot of different different varieties of
18:29
melons down here on the allotment this
18:31
year now I've sewn all them pretty early
18:34
I know a lot of people commented saying
18:35
oh you growing them to early you're
18:37
growing them too early but last summer
18:40
it was a struggle we didn't get much sun
18:42
we didn't get much warmth so I want to
18:44
start them off early to make sure that
18:46
hopefully we get some produce and that
18:48
they'll ripen in time because things
18:51
were ripening late last year like
18:53
September October time so it were pretty
18:55
late on so that's one of the reasons why
18:58
started them early but we're going to
18:59
try lots of varieties of melons we've
19:01
got Cela we've got watermelons we've got
19:04
sugar baby watermelons nice small ones
19:07
lots of new varieties to try I just like
19:09
experimenting even if it doesn't grow I
19:12
just like experimenting growing
19:14
different things down here that's the
19:15
whole fun of gardening trying new
19:18
varieties and different things to see
19:21
what grows and what doesn't grow so I
19:24
hope that you enjoyed this video make
19:26
sure you do follow us to stay up to date
19:27
with all our videos we're doing more and
19:29
more videos these days and if you not
19:31
checked out my podcast go and check that
19:33
out as well on all podcast platforms
19:35
it's Spotify Amazon Amazon Echo you can
19:40
ask it to play um gardening with Ben and
19:43
she will do and apple podcasts I'm
19:46
everywhere so have a listen to them
19:48
podcasts they get produced on a regular
19:51
basis when I
19:52
remember but yeah we've got more
19:54
podcasts coming up this week so until
19:57
next time everyone remember remember
19:59
keep smiling keep shining and keep
20:01
gardening with Ben everyone
#Home & Garden
#Home & Garden