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This video explains the most important gardening jobs to focus on in early spring and how to prepare your garden for the growing season.
The guide covers soil preparation, early sowing, checking supports, pruning, organising planting areas and protecting young plants from changing weather conditions. It also explains how early action helps plants establish quickly and grow more successfully.
If you want a productive start to the growing year, these simple practical tips will help you stay organised and ready for planting.
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0:00
hello and welcome to gardening with
0:03
Ben's awardwinning podcast as voted by
0:07
grow your own magazine and by my
0:09
followers and listeners so if you're new
0:12
to the podcast make sure you click that
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subscribe button to stay up to date with
0:15
all our podcasts listen back to all our
0:18
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 I hope you're all well and I hope
0:32
that you're enjoying the start of your
0:34
week wow it's Monday and spring has
0:39
definitely come today um this is the
0:41
second episode of the day so if you've
0:43
not listened to the first episode of
0:45
Monday feel free to go and check that
0:47
out that came up this morning but yeah
0:50
this is the second episode so you're
0:52
getting quite a lot of episodes at the
0:53
moment so lucky
0:56
you but yes this is our gardening
0:59
podcast
1:01
and we're back for another episode and I
1:04
just want to say thank you uh I've been
1:06
receiving quite a few messages at the
1:08
moment from people saying how much
1:10
they're enjoying it and I was chatting
1:13
to a lady earlier who had just started
1:17
listening to it after following me on
1:19
Instagram and she's given me some great
1:23
advice and telling me that I need to get
1:26
people on talking to me and do some
1:28
interviews with people so watch this
1:30
space it may come hopefully soon but
1:34
we'll see I still get a bit nervous
1:36
about what i' talk about and yeah it'll
1:41
be interesting if you've got any ideas
1:43
of how I can interview people and what
1:45
to talk about feel free to send me a
1:48
message I always like to receive
1:50
messages and what you would like to hear
1:52
on the podcast because sometimes it does
1:56
feel like I'm just going over all stuff
1:58
previously um um and I would like to do
2:01
these every day cuz uh everybody seems
2:03
to be enjoying them and some another
2:05
nice lady commented on my Facebook post
2:08
the other day saying uh Have you
2:10
listened to gardening with Ben's podcast
2:12
so yeah everybody seems to be enjoying
2:14
them at the moment and hopefully as the
2:16
months progress we'll be talking more
2:19
and more about the garden and how much
2:22
we enjoy it and like I said if I could
2:24
do this full time this would be
2:26
absolutely perfect go to the allotment
2:28
in the daytime record podcasts at night
2:31
and yeah just talk gardening all the
2:33
time that would be perfect but
2:35
unfortunately I don't think it'll ever
2:37
happen unless we get a million people
2:39
subscribed to my
2:41
podcast but we can only live and hope
2:44
and
2:45
pray one day it might go viral hopefully
2:50
so yeah what have we been up to today
2:53
well it's been absolutely gorgeous here
2:55
in Sheffield today it's got up to about
2:58
14 15° and at one point I even took my
3:03
hoodie off and my t-shirt to get a bit
3:06
of warmth and a bit of vitamin D inside
3:08
me because a bit of vitamin D is good
3:11
for the body and good for the mind and
3:13
the soul and it's good for you a bit of
3:16
it sunshine on you and somebody
3:19
mentioned to me saying have you put
3:21
protection on but it weren't the strong
3:23
Summer Sun so I'll be fine and I just
3:26
wanted a blast of the sunshine on me I
3:29
even posted sneaky Peak on
3:32
Instagram I cut out the explicit part of
3:35
it but yeah um it's certainly been a
3:39
fantastic day on the allotment today and
3:41
what's made it better is that one of my
3:43
friends came to see me as well and he'
3:45
not been down to the plot for about a
3:47
month now so he'd noticed the difference
3:50
of how much it's progressed within the
3:53
last month and how much I've actually
3:54
done and yeah last time it came down was
3:58
the day before the storms before the bad
4:01
wind and my shed was really rattling
4:04
then and I was saying to him I hope it's
4:07
still alive the next morning after the
4:09
bad storm what were predicted I had a
4:11
few bits broken on it and a few panels
4:14
broken on it but there's nothing that we
4:16
can't repair on it later on and
4:18
obviously I had the damage to the poly
4:20
tunnel with the skin splitting but
4:23
that's all repaired and it's stayed
4:25
together so I'm pretty pleased with how
4:27
that's staying put and yeah it'll be
4:30
back into full action this year inside
4:33
the poly tunnel which I'm looking
4:34
forward to I'm just waiting for payday
4:37
to come along so I can buy my compost
4:39
and start my seeds off um why is it that
4:42
month seem so long uh between paydays
4:46
but yeah I can't wait to get that
4:48
started and I just noticed the price of
4:51
compost how much it's gone up this year
4:54
um I used to get bags that were like
4:56
£7.99 a bag then it went up to £10 a bag
4:59
and then this year I've noticed it £150
5:02
a bag it's phenomenal I really do need
5:04
to get making my own compost and getting
5:07
doing that on the allotment it's
5:08
something that I've not ever done on my
5:10
plot um I should really do it I really
5:13
should uh it would save so much money
5:16
obviously there won't be enough for
5:18
everything that I need but it had saved
5:20
me so much money so I'm going to have to
5:23
look into doing composting um and
5:26
today's job I've nearly cleared the full
5:30
main area of my plot now and this is
5:33
where I do grow every little thing on my
5:35
plot uh beds on my sweet corn my onions
5:39
my cabbages my cauliflowers everything
5:41
this is my main growing area and I've
5:44
nearly cleared it all now I've just got
5:48
uh about four more bed areas to do and
5:51
then it's all cleared and then I've got
5:54
the top of my plots clear now the other
5:56
year I did build some compost bins and
5:58
I've not used them yet I know have built
6:00
them but I've not used them yet they are
6:02
there they're standing strong my DIYs
6:05
actually worked for
6:07
once but I'm not used
6:09
to so I really should use them um so
6:13
yeah uh we're going to be clearing the
6:15
rest of the top of the plot from next
6:18
week hopefully uh tomorrow's job will'll
6:21
just be finishing off all the bed areas
6:23
and getting all that sort of the hardest
6:25
area to that I've been working on at the
6:27
moment on my paths uh would you believe
6:30
it because obviously all my paths are
6:34
covered up with black membrane because I
6:36
use the black membran to keep the weeds
6:38
down and it's just compacted over like
6:43
the year because every year I know I
6:45
don't have to but every year I take all
6:48
the black membrane up and I dig
6:49
underneath it and dig it all over
6:52
because I've had a lot of issues with
6:54
band weed so many issues
6:58
and the B wind weed has just grown under
7:00
the paths everywhere so I dig it all out
7:03
and get as much out as possible because
7:05
obviously I don't want it taken over so
7:08
I usually take all the paths up and dig
7:10
it all over so I've been pulling all
7:13
them back today and getting all the
7:15
paths cleared and
7:17
wow if you don't know what the joy is
7:19
like of pulling bindweed out in a long
7:24
piece you haven't
7:26
lived I must be sad but um when I'm
7:30
pulling bindweed out of the soil you
7:32
have to pull it so gently that it
7:35
doesn't snap and you get a full piece of
7:37
it it's like pulling spaghetti out of
7:40
the soil if you've got bind weed you'll
7:42
know exactly what it's like and to be
7:46
honest the bind weed doesn't cause many
7:48
issues on the plot whatsoever yes it
7:50
does take over yes it's intrusive but it
7:53
doesn't cause any major damage really to
7:56
the plot but it's just obviously a bind
7:59
so yeah we try and get as much out as
8:01
possible uh I seem to be getting on top
8:04
of it every year and getting back
8:05
getting it back down it's not as bad as
8:08
it used to be on my plot but if you saw
8:11
the video of what it was like in my shed
8:13
at the be at the end of last year wow it
8:16
was like walking into jaman you should
8:18
have seen it with how much bind weed it
8:20
is I shared a p a video of it on my
8:23
Instagram real so have a look and see
8:26
what you think to that but yeah it's
8:28
been a good aggressive day today and I
8:31
saw one of my plot neighbors and he was
8:33
asking me if I planted my own potatoes
8:35
yet and I said no not yet I'm waiting
8:38
till Good Friday but I don't know when
8:40
Good Friday is actually this year I've
8:42
not even checked to be honest um but if
8:45
it's end of April I'm certainly going to
8:47
be planting them at next couple of weeks
8:49
my potatoes uh I just need to sort out
8:53
the beds where I'm going to be planting
8:55
them I'm going to be planting them in my
8:57
newest part of the plot which is towards
8:59
W the top of my plot
9:02
and
9:04
the beds up there are quite Shady they
9:08
don't get too much sun up there um so
9:11
obviously potatoes grow under the ground
9:13
so I'm guessing they don't need much
9:15
sunl to be honest I don't know to be
9:17
honest let me know if they need much sun
9:20
for the plants above the soil obviously
9:22
but the potatoes obviously grow
9:24
underground so they don't need the sun
9:26
underground to grow but who knows
9:30
I'll have to check up on that one but
9:32
yeah I'm hoping to grow them at the top
9:34
of my plot and I just need to build the
9:35
beds for that we're building three new
9:38
beds on my plot this year uh we're
9:40
getting further to the top of my plot
9:43
and then all my beds all being built by
9:46
the time I've done them three beds at
9:47
the top so we just need to find some
9:50
more wood um my wood pile is getting
9:53
smaller and smaller and I've used quite
9:55
a lot this year of my wood uh I'm
9:58
certainly impressed with how much it has
10:00
come on this year my plot and how much
10:02
I've actually done it's certainly
10:04
looking really good my plot and I'm
10:06
impressed with how well it does look I
10:09
I've even impressed myself with it
10:13
um but yeah it it's just being a case of
10:15
digging over today nothing too special
10:19
but tomorrow I think I might have to get
10:21
that host pipe out and start filling my
10:24
water BS back up because it's going to
10:27
be a hot day tomorrow it's going to be 7
10:29
17° and recently I've planted lots and
10:33
lots of fruit on my plot I've planted
10:35
all my raspberry canes what I've
10:37
transferred I've planted lots of
10:39
different shrubs what I'll need some
10:43
water and obviously all my strawberry
10:45
plants and stuff like that so I might
10:47
give it a good watering tomorrow uh
10:49
obviously the ground is still pretty wet
10:51
when I've been digging over uh it does
10:53
hold the water quite well so we do need
10:58
to get on and get some more water into
11:00
it I think because it's going to be warm
11:02
over the next few days so I don't think
11:04
it's going to rain too much and
11:06
obviously the fruit trees and the
11:08
raspberry canes around now what I've
11:10
just planted will need a lot of water to
11:13
keep them going and to get them
11:15
established and growing because we want
11:17
fruit as fast as possible and yeah it's
11:20
been amazing down at the plot today it's
11:23
just good being down there in the
11:25
beautiful weather the beautiful
11:26
weather's finally here and just the bees
11:29
buzzing around you I used to be scared
11:31
of the bees but now I just stand there
11:34
and just watch them they just buzz
11:35
around and enjoy it and they just really
11:40
are fantastic creatures and it amazes me
11:44
what they do for us gardeners and for
11:46
the allotments so if possible please do
11:49
try and grow some flowers on your
11:51
allotment because it is super beneficial
11:54
for the bees and if you've never grown
11:57
flowers on your plot before have a grow
11:59
growing some this year they're so cheap
12:01
to buy from like Wilkinson's being Q all
12:05
the good garden
12:06
centers he can pick some up really cheap
12:09
and just see how you get on with them
12:12
and yeah try and attract the bees to the
12:14
plot because like I I always say that
12:17
without the bees we wouldn't get
12:19
fantastic crops and the more I can
12:22
attract the bees to my plot the more
12:25
fruit I will gain from it so that is my
12:28
plan just to keep all the flowers
12:30
growing around my fruit areas and
12:32
attracting those Buzzing Bees and so
12:35
that I can watch them do the work and
12:37
produce me some fruit uh they're the
12:40
biggest workers on the allotment not me
12:42
the bees are the ones that do all the
12:44
work I'm just the one that Tides it up
12:46
and collects all the produce so yeah
12:50
help the bees and they will help us so
12:52
I'm really hoping that I can finish this
12:55
area off that I've been working on
12:57
tomorrow and then when it comes to the
13:00
next time I'm off hopefully we can start
13:03
sewing all the seeds because I been paid
13:05
by then so I need to go through all my
13:08
seed packets now and see what seeds
13:10
we're going to be sewing this month and
13:12
seeing what we're going to be getting
13:13
started and getting excited about doing
13:16
it just sewing all them seeds it'll be
13:19
fantastic and wow I've certainly got
13:21
some seeds to grow and it's going to be
13:24
a mammoth job it's no no quick job
13:26
sewing seeds if you know what I mean uh
13:29
um there's yeah it's a very tricky thing
13:34
to do cuz obviously you've got to
13:35
sprinkle all out individually and stuff
13:37
like that and not so too many Clump
13:39
together you need to put the compost in
13:42
you need to water it you need to cover
13:44
them over with something I use cing film
13:46
to cover mine over with and it keeps
13:48
them moist and wet and it keeps them
13:51
warmer as well during the cold nights
13:53
and hopefully helps with germination and
13:56
it seems to work every year when I've
13:57
done it myself with that
14:00
um you can obviously buy the perspect
14:02
lids to go on top but obviously they're
14:05
expensive so that's why I stick to cing
14:07
film mate yes I know it's not
14:08
environmentally friendly but I use cing
14:11
film and I dispose of it properly so
14:14
yeah we have got all them to do and I've
14:17
just got to make sure I've got enough
14:18
seed trays because like I said I've got
14:21
absolutely loads to do this year I'm
14:23
going to start all my flowers off first
14:26
that's going to be my first job of um
14:28
next
14:29
blocker shifts I'm off getting all the
14:31
flowers soon and then the day after I'll
14:34
probably be starting my vegetables
14:35
depending on how many seed trays we've
14:37
got left uh but it's going to be a big
14:39
task and hopefully I've got enough space
14:42
in my shed I've been making it bigger
14:44
every single year I've not extended it
14:47
this year but I am looking at doing some
14:49
extension work on it once I've got
14:51
caught up with everything and got it all
14:53
sorted and yeah I'm looking at making my
14:57
shed into a super shed and connecting it
14:59
up to my poly tunnel so that it's just
15:01
one big shed poly
15:05
tunnel but yeah I'm looking at growing
15:08
my tomatoes possibly in my shed this
15:11
year and having
15:13
my melons in the poly tunnel with the
15:16
Cucumbers because they prer hotter
15:18
climates and the poly tunnel wow that
15:20
does get hot in the summer Tom M yes
15:23
they like hot but uh it will get hot
15:26
enough in my shed for them where it's
15:28
the melons really need extortion at hot
15:31
weather which the poly tunnel will
15:33
generate and be the best place for so
15:36
that's where we're going to do all those
15:38
melons so it's going to be exciting
15:39
times but I'm going to be recording it
15:41
all and sharing it all with you so make
15:44
sure you do follow my YouTube channel
15:46
because I've been posting lots of videos
15:48
on there recently and quite a lot of
15:50
people are enjoying them and subscribing
15:52
to the channel which is good my
15:54
subscriber rate is going up I just need
15:57
to get my watch time up and then it'll
15:58
get monetized but yeah um please do
16:02
subscribe to my YouTube channel and
16:04
check it out and enjoy the
16:06
videos we're going to be posting quite a
16:08
lot on there this year I think there's
16:10
quite a few ideas that I want to do for
16:12
the video side of it uh it's something
16:15
that I really do need to get into more
16:17
and get get
16:19
started so that has been Monday's
16:21
podcast I hope you've enjoyed it if
16:23
you're new to this podcast make sure you
16:25
do click that subscribe button to stay
16:27
up toate with all our podcast
16:29
if you've not checked out my second
16:31
podcast channel the link is in the
16:33
description it's called gardening and
16:35
allotment tips podcast and I share
16:38
regular podcasts on there and they're
16:40
just specific to one topic whereas on
16:44
this one we'll talk about everything and
16:45
anything on that other podcast Channel I
16:48
just talk about one topic and one topic
16:50
alone in each episode so make sure you
16:53
go and check that one out so hopefully
16:56
we'll get another podcast up tomorrow
16:59
and hopefully it's going to be as hot as
17:01
they say it's going to be tomorrow as
17:03
well so I hope that you all managed to
17:06
get out in some sunshine I hope you all
17:08
manag to get some vitamin D until next
17:11
time remember keep smiling keep
17:14
gardening and keep listening to
17:15
gardening with Ben's
17:17
podcasts so thank you for listening to
17:20
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
17:23
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17:25
remember to do click that subscribe
17:27
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17:40
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17:42
also my YouTube channel to stay up to
17:45
date with all my handy videos how-to
17:47
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17:51
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17:53
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17:58
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18:00
purchase at great prices too so thanks
18:03
again and as always remember keep
18:06
smiling and keep gardening
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