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How I Overcame the Winter Gardening Blues
10K views
Jan 1, 2025
🌧️ How I Overcame the Winter Gardening Blues Let’s be honest — the cold, dark days can zap your motivation. But with a few small changes, I found ways to stay inspired and connected to the plot. 🌱✨ Here’s how I kept my gardening spirit alive through winter and turned the blues into fresh motivation. Have you felt the winter slump? What helps you push through? #WinterGardening #GardeningBlues #GrowYourOwn #AllotmentLife #GardenMotivation #UKGardener #SeasonalStruggles
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0:02
hello and welcome to gardening with Ben
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your go-to podcast for all things green
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and growing I'm Ben your allotment guide
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whether you're a seasoned Gardener or
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just starting out this podcast is for
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garden and alotment thve from planting
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tips and AD advice we will also have
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regular episodes talking about what we
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have been up to on the Alum so sit back
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grab a brute and enjoy today's
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episode hey everyone and welcome back to
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gardening with Ben for a brand new
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episode blim me it's Friday already
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where has the week gone fingers crossed
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we have a better weekend this weekend
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but we don't know yet
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uh I'll have to check the forecast and
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see what it's going to be like hopefully
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we'll get lots more done down at the
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alotment you'll have to find out later
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in the week what we get up to down at
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the plot whether we actually get some
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stuff
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done well today's episode we're going to
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be talking about how I got over the
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winter Blues in gardening and this is
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quite obviously a personal story but I I
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get over the winter
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Blues from gardening because when I
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first started my allotment what I used
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to do is I used
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to go really hard with my gardening
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throughout all the spring and summer
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periods but when it came to October I
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just leave my plot and leave it until
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January time I wouldn't even go down to
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the alotment to do any work down there I
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Pro uh probably just rock back up in
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January the 1st and see what it looks
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like and get started from then I'd not
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even dug up any old plants or anything
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like that i' just left them all in the
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ground and then I'd have a big M mad
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rush to get it all ready and get it all
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prepared for the year after uh well for
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the that c coming year and get it all
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tidy get any beds remade get it all
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painted get it all tidy again get it or
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weed did and get all the roots up out of
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the ground and
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this was a hard chore to get it done and
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to try and get it all done by March time
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because March time is The Busy period
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down at myot when I'm sewing all my
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seeds getting all them started and
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concentrating on growing them keeping
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them watered etc etc so that is the
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hardest job of the lot
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so I did I did this for years I used to
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do it for years just pack up and not
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come back for January but when I started
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blogging on my allotment and sharing
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tips and advice and showing people what
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I were getting up getting up to down at
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the Block I thought uh I used to get
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messages like people used to say to me
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Ben where are you are you all right
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we've not seen you down at the allotment
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for ages sharing pictures Etc and I used
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to think yeah I'm not staying up to date
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with people I'm uh I'm just leaving them
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hanging they'll probably think I've
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disappeared or left my allotment or just
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vanished but yeah then I started
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thinking I need to carry on through the
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winter period I need to show people
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what's happening down there over the
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winter
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months so I started doing my live
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streams again through the winter period
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And I started showing people things that
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you could grow through the winter I
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don't often grow anything through the
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winter not much at all I learn like have
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some onions in and some garlic in or
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some broad beans in I won't have a lot
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of things growing down at me because I
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use it now as a time for sorting out all
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my plot and getting it all tidy and
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ready for the year next year and as soon
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as the produce starts to die come
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October time when it gets a bit colder
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and when things have stopped producing
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any vegetables like your pumpkins and
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your squashes and stuff I'll start
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digging them up and clearing in the bed
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straight away and the quicker I get all
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my plot cleared ready for the year uh
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for the next year I've ticked it off
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I've got about 18 beds all together
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they're all the pretty much the same
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size and I like count it down like
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thinking I've got three more beds left
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to do I've got six more bed left to do
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etc etc and once I've cleared all my
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beds I'm like I know that I've done the
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biggest part of my plot and Tiding all
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them up because as well I have a lot of
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issues with band weed on my plot and I
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can't really dig into the ground to get
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all the bindweed roots out while things
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are growing in that bed um because bind
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weed will travel all over the place and
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you can't really get it out without
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actually getting a fork in there and
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getting all the pieces out and giving it
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a good turnover to get every little
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piece out so come October time uh
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November time when I'm digging them over
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I'll get most of the bindweed roots out
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yes I'll get some more growing in it
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probably over the winter period but it
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won't grow as fast and I'll just keep
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turning them over every month or so to
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get as much out as possible for the year
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ahead so I'll get all that done and I
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actually enjoy winter now winter is one
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of my best times down at the alotment so
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before like I obviously used to pack it
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up and not come back till January now I
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absolutely love being down there in the
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winter not because I'm growing anything
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but because I'm building stuff and
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getting involved in making it look fancy
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for the year after not that it looks
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fancy uh it just looks fancy to
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me but yeah I absolutely love winter now
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and since obviously like I said I've
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started gardening through the winter
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months I get excited because I'm
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planting all my winter bulbs for
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springtime I'm Tiding all my shed up
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obviously I'm doing men M on it now that
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I've had storm damage um but yeah we
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make it stronger and hopefully last a
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few more
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years um I sweep all my paths down I
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trim all my shrubs back uh I sort out
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all my fuit trees for the year after but
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yeah I absolutely love the winter period
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now being down there yes it may be
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freezing cold and yes I didn't do
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anything down at the plot hardly last
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weekend but some days I absolutely love
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it and I do love the frosty mornings as
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well down there and just enjoying being
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down there but winter has to be one of
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the best periods down at the alotment I
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enjoy having a good fire going because
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Alan I'm a I'm a wood hoarder I don't
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know if you're the same I just store
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wood down at my alotment my shed's full
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of it that much full that the cats used
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it as part of the nest when they were
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like
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uh when they were uh um got some kittens
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down in my shed they were all hidden
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behind it uh but yeah I'm a wood hoarder
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and I'll just save any cut offs as well
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because we're not allowed to burn stuff
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through the spring and summer time we're
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only allowed to burn stuff in the winter
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me months so I'll start all my offcuts
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and I'll just have some nice bonfires
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burning in the winter period I love the
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smell of bonfires as well and you can
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just sit at the side of the bonfire just
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thinking about all the things that
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you're going to do for next year in
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growing but winter is a special period
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of the time down there now and it does
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help my mental health a lot so much
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because people struggle more with the
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mental health throughout the winter
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periods all you see a lot of the time is
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darkness and being out in the fresh air
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and enjoying the passion of being in
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your garden doing what you do you
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absolutely love it and it encourages me
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and now that I'm working 9 to 5 Monday
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to Friday it's nice to get out of the
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house and out of the flat being in the
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fresh air getting your fingers in the
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soil yes it may be nippy and may be cold
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but you can take a nice flash down there
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and have a nice brew as well and I love
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making the content for you all and I
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just love interacting with you all
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sharing what I'm getting up to down at
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the alotment on my Instagram and my
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Facebook and I hope that you all enjoy
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it so if it wasn't for you guys asking
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me where I am through the winter period
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I'd probably still be curled up again
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hibernating throughout the winter period
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and getting ready to start again on the
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1 of January down at the plot but yeah
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it's down to you guys that give me the
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motivation to go to the allotment and
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keep doing stuff to produce for you all
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and it encourages me to learn more about
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the sort of things that you need to do
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in the winter as well as this more
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things to be done every day of the year
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in the allotment an allotment is not an
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easy job and I see it so many times new
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people coming down to the allotments
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thinking it's going to be an easy job
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dig it all over or hire
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a JCB to scrape all the top off and then
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it all grows back again and they soon
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give up after a couple of months it's
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not an easy job if you're thinking of
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taking on a lot and you think it's an
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easy job it is far from easy it's a lot
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of hard work and time and effort trust
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me if youve not got much time just go
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for a small little plot but I've got a
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massive one and if I hadn't had all the
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free time per I wouldn't have been able
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to keep up and get it all sorted and
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done now
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but if you are looking for an allotment
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I will do a podcast on tips and advice
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for taking on alotment coming up as well
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we need to talk about that again we've
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not done that for a while so we'll talk
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about that as well coming up
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soon but yeah thank you all for giving
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me the motivation and the encouragement
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to keeping these podcasts going for you
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all as well and the more people that
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listen to it it encourages me more to do
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it as well so until tomorrow's episode
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everyone remember keep smiling keep
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shining and keep gardening with Ben
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everyone thank you for joining me on
10:56
this episode of gardening with Ben I
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hope you have found some useful tips and
11:01
inspiration for your own gardening and
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