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This video explains how to start an allotment garden and set it up for success. It shows the first steps beginners should take when planning and preparing a growing space.
The guide covers choosing crops, preparing soil, organising beds, sowing seeds and basic plant care. It also explains how simple planning and regular maintenance help create a productive and manageable garden.
If you are new to growing your own food, this video provides practical beginner-friendly advice to help you start an allotment garden successfully.
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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 alotment guide
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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 brute and enjoy today's
0:45
episode hey everyone and welcome back to
0:48
gardening with Ben we're back after a
0:52
busy weekend down at the allotment wow
0:54
we certainly got plenty done and
0:57
hopefully we'll be getting plenty done
0:59
next weekend
1:00
so make sure you stay tuned for later in
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the week when we'll talk about what
1:04
we're hoping to get done down there next
1:07
weekend fingers crossed the snow don't
1:10
come we'll have to see but what are we
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going to be talking about today well
1:17
today we're going to talk about tips for
1:20
newbiz tips for new starters on
1:23
allotments and sharing any advice from
1:26
what I've learned over the years of
1:28
having an allotment on the best way to
1:33
start an allotment and to get it all in
1:35
shape
1:37
really
1:39
so welcome to gardening with Bennett if
1:41
you're new make sure you do give us a
1:43
follow these podcasts do come out every
1:46
single day at the moment so yeah so
1:49
we're going to be talking
1:51
about how to get started on unman when
1:54
you're looking at getting an allotment
1:57
or a piece of land
2:00
when you wanted to do your allotment the
2:02
biggest tip I can give to having an
2:05
allotment is to make sure that there is
2:08
water on
2:10
site yes they do cost more to rent a
2:13
year like my plots £100 pound a year
2:16
which isn't a lot of money when you
2:18
think about it but some plots you can
2:21
get like for2 pound a year and stuff
2:23
like that but they don't come with water
2:26
and you'll think oh well I can just save
2:28
it from my shed or or save it uh from
2:32
the rain throughout the year but trust
2:35
me it's never enough rain to catch to be
2:40
able to water your plants
2:43
now I obviously have plenty of water BS
2:46
around my alotment and try and catch as
2:49
much rain water as possible especially
2:51
through the winter months to water
2:54
because to turn our water off at our
2:56
sight like around now till around April
3:01
time so I need to save as much as water
3:05
as possible
3:07
and there was a year a couple of years
3:10
ago when we had a heat wave and
3:13
literally I were talking to people that
3:15
had a lot mons and they didn't have
3:17
water on site and they were struggling
3:19
to keep things watered as it were too
3:21
hot they'd ran out of water and they
3:24
couldn't get any more rain water to
3:26
water the plants they had to bring water
3:29
to the site with them to keep things
3:30
watered because they couldn't get enough
3:33
rain to
3:34
water so that is one of the main things
3:37
I think that you need to look for when
3:39
you do get an allotment if you're
3:41
looking at getting one now obviously
3:44
once you get your piece of land you see
3:47
it and you think wow that's a mess
3:50
because trust me they never come in a
3:52
good
3:53
State they always come looking like a
3:57
bomb bomb site and they Full Of Weeds
4:01
full of rubbish Etc like
4:03
that so the best way to get started on
4:07
allotment
4:08
is stream it all down if possible if
4:11
you've got a streammer stream it all
4:12
down and cover it over cover the full
4:17
plot over with either black
4:20
membrane uh any tar pooling any weed
4:25
suppressant cardboard cover the plot
4:28
over so that no sunlight can get to the
4:31
weeds to get them scwb so cover it over
4:35
and then you can see the size of your
4:38
plot and where to start basically now
4:42
I've had my plot 20 years and I've still
4:44
not got it all tidied and done up as my
4:49
main thing what I suggest is that you
4:51
start at the bottom and work your way
4:53
back up the plot and you can do it over
4:57
a number of years don't try and do it
4:59
all in on year trust me I've learned
5:02
from that mistake like when I first got
5:04
my plot I got a rator and I roated it
5:07
one of the worst things that I ever did
5:10
was rate it because it just chops all
5:13
the weeds up into hundreds more and you
5:16
get a load more weeds growing back the
5:19
best way to do it is dig it all out
5:21
manually and yeah you might say that's a
5:25
big job in itself but trust me if you've
5:28
covered it over most of it will be dead
5:30
and you'll just be digging out the roots
5:32
of
5:33
plants and that way you can uncover a
5:37
bit at a time weed a bit uncover a bit
5:40
more weed a bit and once you've weeded
5:42
it you can even cover it back over until
5:44
you actually need it rather than leaving
5:47
it all uncovered and all the Weeds start
5:50
growing again because I've seen plots
5:53
where people have cleared them all
5:54
within a weekend literally in a weekend
5:57
uh like fetched an army of people down
6:00
or fetch a JCB down to scrape off all
6:03
the top and pile it at the bottom and
6:07
they've been back full of weed in a few
6:09
weeks and they end up giving up the plot
6:12
because they think it's an easy thing to
6:13
do if you're thinking that it's easy to
6:16
have an allotment trust me it's not it's
6:18
a full-time job in itself hence why I go
6:21
down every weekend I'd go down every day
6:23
if I could and I still probably wouldn't
6:25
be on top of it that is a massive job
6:28
having in a lot keeping it all tided
6:31
watering all your seeds potting them all
6:33
up etc
6:34
etc so yeah I don't advise to get a
6:38
rator when you're first doing it you
6:40
maybe want to get a rator after you've
6:42
dug it over to break up the soil but you
6:44
need to get the roots out first before
6:46
you start using rator or you will get
6:48
absolutely loads more roots on the plot
6:52
and that is one thing that you don't
6:54
want so obviously once you've cleared it
6:57
you need to start working out a plan of
6:59
your
7:00
have a look at where the sun comes up
7:03
see where it goes down where most of the
7:06
plot is covered in Sun the for the day
7:09
see how much sunlight gets to certain
7:11
areas then draw a plan draw a plan of
7:13
your allotment draw what you want to
7:15
grow where and where you want it to grow
7:18
and think about your paths as well as
7:21
you need a lot of paths in between your
7:23
beds and stuff don't think that you
7:25
should have massive beds it's good to
7:27
have smaller beds and plenty of paths to
7:30
go around so that you can reach to the
7:32
middle of the bed and you can weed easy
7:35
and keep things clear and
7:38
tidy I did this I used to have big beds
7:41
but then I started making them smaller
7:43
so that I could get around them pretty
7:45
easy and now all my beds are in place
7:47
and all my paths are in place I've got
7:49
my layout I just have to clear it
7:51
everywhere and dig it
7:53
over and just sort out the paths every
7:55
year and do it that way and once you've
7:58
got your beds built and you on top of it
8:02
you can literally just keep changing way
8:05
you plant stuff every single year and
8:07
it's perfect pretty
8:09
much so obviously like I say you need to
8:11
know where to grow things whether it
8:13
needs a Sunny Spot or a shady spot have
8:15
a look at where the sun does shine on
8:18
your
8:19
plot then obviously the next big thing
8:22
for your plot is whether you want a shed
8:25
at a
8:27
greenhouse I highly recommend both both
8:29
of them however I wouldn't go for a
8:32
glass greenhous on an alotment because
8:35
you don't know how safe the plot is or
8:38
whether people are going around and
8:40
stuff like that and if a window smashes
8:42
you'll end up with thousands of pieces
8:44
everywhere so never look at getting a
8:47
glass Greenhouse I'd always go for the
8:49
perspects one and yes the wind can blow
8:54
the perspects out but what my dad's done
8:56
he screwed wood either side of the panel
8:59
so that they won't come out at all and
9:02
it's secure it's down
9:05
it's in an open area and he's never had
9:09
any damage on his greenhous It's Not
9:11
Bent it's not buckled or anything like
9:13
that it's screwed down well to the
9:14
ground it won't move at all so always
9:18
make sure that your green house is
9:20
secure obviously I've not got a
9:23
greenhouse I built myself a shed out of
9:26
perspects because I'm like 6'5 so I
9:29
needed it allall I used to have a
9:30
greenhous and I used to find it awkward
9:32
to get around it so I built myself a
9:35
shed and did it that
9:37
way obviously a shed's good to have
9:41
because then if it is raining you can
9:42
Potter around in the shed and you can
9:45
have a Breo and have a sit down have a
9:48
chill out store your seeds and stuff
9:49
like that but never store any expensive
9:52
tools on the allotment never put a lock
9:54
on your shed either uh because if you
9:57
put a lock on your shed then people
10:00
think there is something in there to
10:02
steal and that's when people break into
10:04
them and stuff like that I've seen
10:06
plenty of people lock the sheds up and
10:08
then like people just break smash the
10:10
shed up just to get into it if you get
10:13
me so I don't have a lock on my shed
10:16
whatsoever if somebody wants to go in my
10:19
shed they can do uh they'll get in
10:22
anywhere so I might as well just leave
10:23
it unlocked for people just wondering
10:26
like I say I have nothing of any value
10:28
in my shed
10:30
uh it's only my cat food feed by
10:33
cat but yeah
10:36
um and next up after obviously you're
10:40
thinking about a shed or Greenhouse a
10:43
poly tunnel if you're looking at getting
10:44
a polyon on on your plot don't get one
10:48
of these
10:49
satellit little squares
10:52
all plastic type thing uh you usually
10:55
find them cheap at like1 for a smallish
10:58
one and they look like little squares
11:01
have white or the green plastic because
11:04
these are absolutely rubbish they
11:06
shouldn't be allowed to sell them I
11:08
don't believe uh because they'll just
11:11
they just disintegrate they just rip
11:13
when it's windy they absolutely useless
11:16
they shouldn't be allowed to sell them
11:18
um if you're looking at getting a poly
11:20
tunnel look at the bigger Brands like
11:23
nor poly tunnel first poly tunnels all
11:26
the poly tunnel Brands out there uh and
11:29
yes they are expensive but the steel
11:32
poles and mine cost me500 but mine's are
11:36
25 foot one you can get smaller ones but
11:40
they are expensive but trust me it'll
11:42
last years my poly tunnel has been up
11:44
now 15 years and it's still standing
11:47
strong I'm taping bits up because yes
11:49
the plastic has started uh go on the
11:52
folds but it's still standing and it's
11:56
standing a lot longer what than what
11:58
would another
11:59
these cheaper ones would they just
12:02
Buckle absolutely
12:04
rubbish next up is paths and Paving and
12:09
stuff like that if you wanted to save
12:10
money on your allotment obviously look
12:13
around and see what freebies you can get
12:16
this is when obviously you uh become a
12:21
skip finder yes you start looking at
12:24
skips start seeing what people are
12:25
thring out start checking out for people
12:28
doing up the guard and stuff like that
12:31
because getting freees for the allotment
12:34
is absolutely perfect now Facebook
12:36
Marketplace obviously you can get free
12:38
stuff as
12:39
well and yes keep it out for green
12:42
houses on there keep it out for sheds
12:45
keep it out for Paving slabs because if
12:47
you get Paving slabs for your allotment
12:49
they're like gold trust meate if Paving
12:52
slabs appear on Facebook Marketplace
12:54
they've gone literally straight away and
12:57
the I they're perfect for paths if you
13:00
can lay all your paths in Paving slabs
13:03
get it done because obviously that it's
13:05
easier to maintain it's easier to sweep
13:07
them down and you won't get no weeds
13:10
growing if you put black membrane down
13:12
underneath them and put that on top and
13:15
it's more level to walk on and you don't
13:17
get mcky or anything like that so yeah
13:20
look out on Facebook Marketplace or gum
13:23
tree for freeas and try and use them if
13:26
possible so yeah that is my basic tips
13:30
for anyone that's planning on starting
13:32
an alotment and I hope that you found it
13:35
useful we'll talk about more topics in
13:37
podcasts to come so stay tuned for that
13:41
but if you're new to following us if
13:43
you're new to listening to us give us a
13:44
follow and feel free to like it share it
13:48
and I hope that you come back for more
13:50
podcasts and if you're listening on
13:51
YouTube hello on YouTube and welcome to
13:55
gardening with Ben's podcast while we're
13:57
finishing now but I hope you've enjoyed
13:59
it as obviously these are going out on
14:01
YouTube as well now so lots more
14:03
listeners and lots more viewers so until
14:06
next time everyone remember keep smiling
14:09
keep shining and keep gardening with Ben
14:13
everyone thank you for joining me on
14:16
this episode of gardening with Ben I
14:19
hope you have found some useful tips and
14:22
inspiration for your own gardening and
14:24
alotment journey if you have enjoyed
14:26
today's episode please make sure to to
14:29
follow And subscribe to the podcast so
14:32
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14:34
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14:36
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14:47
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14:50
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14:52
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14:55
happy gardening and until next time
14:58
remember keep smiling keep shining and
15:01
keep gardening with Ben
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