Up next in 10
This video reviews the past growing season and explains how to evaluate a garden to improve future results.
It covers assessing plant performance, identifying problems, planning changes, preparing beds and organising crops for the next season. You’ll also learn simple ways to record successes and avoid repeating mistakes.
Reviewing and planning helps create a more productive and easier to manage garden.
These tips apply to vegetable gardens, raised beds, containers and small gardens.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Let's have a last tour of 2025 around
0:04
our a lotment. Welcome to Gardening with
0:06
Ben. Happy New Year's Eve, everybody.
0:09
And we're down here on the a lotment in
0:11
the freezing cold getting work done. But
0:13
we're going to show you around the plot
0:15
and show you what it's looking like and
0:16
what our plans are for 2026. So, sit
0:20
back, relax, and enjoy today's episode,
0:22
everyone.
0:24
So, we are at the front of our a lotment
0:27
as always. And the heather is looking
0:30
absolutely gorgeous. It's all coming out
0:32
in flower now. It's getting cooler. And
0:36
these were just cheap. They were 50 p
0:38
from the B& when they were selling them
0:39
off. I thought I'll give them a shot.
0:42
And they've been in quite a few years
0:43
now. And they're spreading absolutely
0:45
gorgeous. But we've got lots of spring
0:47
bulbs in here. Fingers crossed they all
0:50
start popping out soon and hopefully get
0:52
some beautiful spring color. Obviously
0:55
in the summertime we'll have some summer
0:57
flowers in here. But yeah, they're all
0:59
popping through. The squirrel hasn't got
1:01
them all. So yeah, we should have some
1:06
decent spring flowers in that part of
1:08
the plot.
1:11
The roses are dying off. The frosts get
1:13
into them. But yeah, as they die off,
1:16
take the heads off them and we'll have
1:18
to have a look at giving them a winter
1:20
prune.
1:24
It's all looking pretty good down here.
1:27
All the plum tree got pruned back end of
1:29
July, ready for next year. We might not
1:33
get none next year, no plums because it
1:35
seems to through every couple of years.
1:37
So, we'll see how well it actually is.
1:40
But yeah, we've got loads of spring
1:41
bulbs in here. what we did have, but
1:43
I've noticed a lot of squirrel activity
1:46
and I'm not happy with it. We need to
1:47
fix that raised bed. That's one job to
1:50
do on the plot. We've pruned all the
1:52
cooking apple tree back to a decent size
1:55
and given it a good shape up. And yeah,
1:58
we need to get those brambles out from
2:00
out of there. But yeah, I'm happy with
2:02
how that is. One job that I need to do
2:05
on the plot is sort out this path as
2:09
it's all sinking and I need to level it
2:11
all back out and straighten it up as
2:14
it's pretty bad when it's slippy. All
2:16
the rhubarb's growing well, absolutely
2:19
well. It will die off again with the
2:21
cold weather, but it'll come back March,
2:24
April time, and hopefully get our first
2:26
harvest. We need to clean the pond out
2:28
ready for next year's froggies.
2:30
Hopefully, we get some frogs born next
2:32
year. We've pruned back all the pear
2:34
trees and the apple trees are all in
2:36
great shape and looking absolutely
2:39
awesome for next year.
2:43
This part of the plot I need to give a
2:45
good tidy up. It needs a lot of work
2:46
doing on it. There's a lot of spring
2:48
bulbs in here, so we need to clear it
2:49
all out and tidy it all up. That's on
2:51
our job list to do pretty soon and get
2:53
sorted, but it's a bit of a dumping
2:55
ground at the moment. Now, into the poly
2:58
tunnel, which I've done an absolute load
3:00
of work on. I took all the flooring up.
3:03
I cleared it all out. Not that it was
3:04
clear at the moment. It looks a mess.
3:06
But yeah, we've got a lot of work to do
3:10
with buying raised beds because I'm
3:12
going to turn this into a all year round
3:14
growing area and I want to try growing
3:17
through the winter. I've never done it
3:19
before, so it's all new to me. So feel
3:22
free to join along with me and see if we
3:24
can go through the winter next year and
3:26
see how we get on. But yeah, the raised
3:28
beds are coming along good. I've took
3:30
away the metal strap what were holding
3:32
them together in the middle because
3:34
everybody was saying that they were
3:35
wonky and yeah, they look a lot better
3:37
now. We just need to level it out a bit
3:39
so that it's all in great shape. But
3:42
obviously we've got to get them filled.
3:45
I rather oversized this bed. Uh I bought
3:49
one for growing carrots in because I've
3:51
never been able to grow carrots in the
3:53
20 years that I've had the a lotment and
3:54
I thought I'll try and grow in the poly
3:56
tunnel. See how we get on. But yeah,
3:58
it's a bit big. So, we'll see. We'll see
4:00
about that one. Uh we'll see what we
4:03
might do with it. We've got as Christmas
4:07
potatoes to harvest. As you can see,
4:09
bloody rats or squirrels have been in
4:11
there. I'm not happy. There's obviously
4:13
something in there. But yeah, we need to
4:15
get all these emptied, get them
4:17
harvested, and see what's in there as
4:20
the plants have died back and we need to
4:22
get them out. Now
4:25
we've got as many mini green houses
4:26
which we've purchased. We've got the
4:28
strawberry runners in them at the
4:30
moment. What we've putotted up and
4:32
hopefully they take root and get growing
4:34
for next year. These will be great for
4:35
growing my seeds in and stuff like that.
4:37
Stop the mice and rats from getting at
4:39
them when they're on the ground to just
4:42
get at them. But yeah, they should be
4:43
pretty good for next year.
4:47
Now onto another area which I've
4:49
recently done up. Uh, we've obviously
4:52
got some salvas in here what are
4:54
growing. We've got spring bulbs in there
4:55
as well. Fingers crossed they all come.
4:57
I do want my spring bulbs to come. But
5:00
yeah, we've built all these arches down
5:01
this side. We've put all his fruit up
5:03
over them so that they're not on the
5:05
ground anymore so that they more they
5:08
can grow better. We've got this Logan
5:10
berries here. As you can see, there's
5:11
buds growing on them already.
5:14
Absolutely fantastic. So hopefully a lot
5:16
of Logan berries next year. We've got a
5:18
blackberry climbing over as formless
5:20
blackberry. If you're looking at
5:22
blackberries, get a formless blackberry.
5:24
This grows for miles and it produces
5:26
fantastic fruit on it. Absolutely
5:28
amazing.
5:30
We've cleared around a lot of the
5:31
strawberries what are in the ground.
5:34
We've obviously got gaps what we'll fill
5:35
the runners in with uh where plants have
5:38
died off. So, we've got that to sort
5:40
out. But yeah, these archers are
5:43
absolutely brilliant. Made a whole load
5:45
of difference down here. And we've got
5:47
his grape vine growing up it as well. We
5:49
got his first grapes last year which
5:51
were absolutely amazing. So hopefully we
5:53
get some next year. We got to sort his
5:56
blueberries out. That's one job on his
5:58
list. We're going to repot them up, put
6:00
some fresh ericacious compost in them
6:02
and give them a good shape up ready for
6:04
next year. We've got four more arches
6:07
coming to that back bit. So that's the
6:10
next job. Put four more arches up.
6:12
Absolutely loads of archers. I'm loving
6:14
them at the moment as you can tell. But
6:17
yeah, it's all looking pretty good. Then
6:20
onto the main part of the plot. Again,
6:22
we've put up new archers down this part.
6:24
We've got new beds in here which have a
6:26
bit of a mess at the moment. We need to
6:27
tidy them up, but there's a load of
6:29
spring bulbs in there as well as
6:30
obviously all the pans. We've got those
6:33
bird feeders up which have been
6:34
attracting loads of blue tits and the
6:37
squirrels. They definitely love them.
6:38
The squirrel, but yeah, loads and loads
6:40
of blue tits and robins. Absolutely
6:42
amazing. I'm so happy with how that's
6:44
coming on. We've got our onions as
6:47
onions are growing great, really well.
6:49
We had them netted over to start off
6:51
with, but took the netting off it and
6:54
they're growing fantastic. We've got a
6:56
shellots. Some of them are growing well,
6:59
some aren't, but hopefully they all
7:00
start to take off. And we've got some
7:02
more onions as well. There we've got
7:05
some broad beans. These ones are a bit
7:08
behind these ones cuz I planted them
7:10
ones first. That's why I've netted them
7:11
up and tied them up. But yeah, we'll let
7:13
them grow a bit more and then we'll
7:15
fasten those up as well. We have got
7:18
some more onions in this area and more
7:22
onions in there and garlic I believe in
7:25
this one. We've got elephant garlic
7:28
growing here. Two elephant grow garlic.
7:30
So hopefully we get some decent sized
7:32
elephant garlic. We have got English
7:36
garlic
7:37
and we have got Chinese garlic. The
7:40
Chinese garlic seems to be doing better
7:42
at the moment than the English garlic.
7:44
I'm growing Chinese garlic cuz gardeners
7:46
say never grow Chinese garlic. It won't
7:48
grow. So, I'm giving it a try just to
7:50
see if we can prove them wrong or not.
7:52
But yeah, absolutely amazing how it's
7:54
all coming on. We've tidied all the beds
7:57
up and started repairing them all.
8:00
Started clearing all the pathways.
8:03
Looking absolutely amazing. Again, some
8:05
M arches at the top of my plot. I should
8:09
be sponsored by these arches. Absolutely
8:11
loads. We've got climbing plants at the
8:13
side of them. So hopefully we'll get
8:15
some flowers climbing up them next year.
8:18
We've built all those new beds up here.
8:20
We need to clear all the leaves. That's
8:22
one job on his list to put all the
8:23
leaves in the compost pile and maybe in
8:26
the raised beds to help with feeding
8:28
them. But yeah, it's all looking
8:31
absolutely amazing. So I'm looking
8:33
forward to next year, 2026. It's going
8:36
to be a great growing year down here at
8:38
the plot and hopefully some great
8:41
produce to enjoy. So yeah, that is the
8:45
tour of my a lotment for 2025.
8:51
I'm happy with how it's all looking
8:54
absolutely amazing. Ready for next year.
8:57
You for watching my tour of my a lotment
9:00
for 2025, the last one of the year. So,
9:04
make sure you drop us a follow to stay
9:06
up to date with 2026
9:08
episodes and how well we get on with
9:11
growing next year down at the plot.
9:14
Until next time, until next year
9:16
everybody. I hope you all have a happy
9:19
new year and have a great night
9:22
everyone. And remember, keep smiling,
9:25
keep shining, and
#Home & Garden
#Home & Garden
#Home Improvement