This video explains how to plan and design a growing space for successful gardening.
The guide covers choosing a location, planning layouts, organising planting areas, improving soil, crop rotation ideas and avoiding common beginner mistakes. It also explains how good planning improves productivity and makes gardening easier to manage.
If you want a well-organised and productive garden, these simple practical tips will help you create a growing space that works efficiently.
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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 alotment guide
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and here to help you cultivate your
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garden and your passion for plants
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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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you each episode we'll dig into tips
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tricks and techniques to make your
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garden and alotment thve from planting
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sewing and growing we will share all the
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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 brew and enjoy today's
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episode hey everyone and welcome back to
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gardening with Ben well happy hump day
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we are now in the middle of the week
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it's nearly the
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weekend we nearly at the weekend it's
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near only time to get back to those
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allotments and Gardens if you're working
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in the week like I am so yeah we do look
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forward to them weekends and I do look
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forward to spending all my time down
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there at the weekend and it's
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currently still decent weather we still
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haven't had a frost that I know of yet
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where I am and it's like 12th of
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November 13th of November already and
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we've not had no Frost and another thing
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I've noticed is we've hardly had well
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we've not had any rain for ages I don't
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know if it's like it where you are but
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we've not had no rain they'll be calling
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on a drought before you know it but yeah
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it's it's bizarre weather certainly is
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strange at the moment how we've not had
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no rain No frost it's just dry and I'm
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needing it to rain to water my onions
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and my garlic but it's just not coming
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we're having to water myself in November
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and yeah it's very bizarre but yeah what
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are we talking about today well today's
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episode is all about planning for next
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season we are at that time of year when
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we're starting to think about what we
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want to do down at the allotment Gardens
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next year and I love this time of year
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and obviously as I'm doing my plot at
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the moment I'm stripping it all back I'm
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digging it all over I'm clearing all my
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beds I'm providing a blank canvas ready
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for next year like obviously some stuff
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will stay where they are like all my
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fruit trees all my fruit bushes my
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rhubarb that will all stay where it is
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but all my beds are completely empty and
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we'll be starting from scratch again
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next year and what I usually do at this
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time of year I usually get a piece of
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paper draw all my beds out and write
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down where I want to to grow stuff next
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year and where I want plan on growing it
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planting it sewing it and yeah I decide
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on what I want to do
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and my allotment gets quite a bit of
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shade on it so I have to think about
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what's will grow in the shade and what
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won't grow in the shade and when you're
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planning on what you want to grow on
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your allotment next year you need to
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look at what's been grown where you need
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to grow stuff in different places each
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year because each vegetable uses
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different nutrients from the ground so
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it's not good to grow the same thing in
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the same place year after year it's good
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to keep rotating stuff around and
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obviously improve your soil as well over
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the winter period ready for planting
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next year and that can either be with
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compost mulch or it can be with u
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fertilizer anything to improve it and
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make it more nutritious ready for
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growing next year and hopefully getting
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some good crops in so we'll obviously
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draw us plan we'll write down where we
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want stuff to grow and we'll think about
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what we want to grow next year and one
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of the ways that I think about what I
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want to grow next year is I just have
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like think of something like
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say squash and I'll just Google or look
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on Amazon or in a seat catalog at
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different varieties of squash to grow
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and I like growing different
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new varieties every single year of
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different things and obviously if you go
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to a garden center you won't get that as
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many varieties in the garden center or a
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DIY Shop you'll only get your standard
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varieties that you will see so have a
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look online have a look in different
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seed magazines Etc and try and grow
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something different next year and it's
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really interesting to do what whe you'll
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eat them or not it's just the fun of
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growing them and I've done this for a
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few years now and one year I did
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different varieties of squash one year I
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did different varieties of beans as is a
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load of different varieties of beans
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there like purple beans there like
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speckled beans yellow beans black beans
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red beans there all different varieties
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of beans and it's just good to try
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different varieties and then
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sometimes experimenting growing
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different varieties you may find one
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what's really easy to grow and tastes
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delicious now I did this as well for
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growing cauliflower I saw a purple
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variety of cauliflower yes purple not
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white but purple I've never had any look
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growing white cauliflowers very well I
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thought oh I'll give these purple ones a
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try it's worth a shot fill up a space
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I'd got some seeds
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and they did absolutely fantastic the
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curd on them were absolutely brilliant
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and they tasted absolutely delicious so
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yeah it's good to try different
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varieties because things might actually
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grow better so always experiment down at
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the allotment and I might actually try
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that with carrots next year because
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obviously I've not had much Lu with
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growing carrots so I might actually do
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my experiment with carrots next year try
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different varieties of carrots and see
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which ones I can actually get growing so
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let me know if you fancy doing different
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experiments in trying different stuff
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next year it's always good to hear what
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everybody else is up
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to and there's not many other sort of
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things that you can try with different
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varieties really I've not there's not an
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awful lot of different variety stuff out
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there obviously you get you like
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different varieties of tomatoes which is
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good there's plenty of different
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varieties of tomatoes coming out there's
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white ones my dad grew some white
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Tomatoes last year and they were
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delicious and they did fantastic and he
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grew them outside they did really well
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so there's lots of different varieties
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out there and what I tend to do as well
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sometimes is I'll go to the supermarket
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and or to the garden center and I'll
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just write down all the different types
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of seeds I think oh I'll try that one
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this year I'll try that one next year
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and I also write a little log as well I
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create like a little log I go online and
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I buy a Seed Catalog uh seed diary every
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year like a planting diary and you can
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write down when you've planted stuff how
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well it's done when it
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germinated uh where you planted it and
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that is very good thing to try as well
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so yeah there's plenty of different
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things out there for you to try when
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you're growing stuff
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and it's exciting it's exciting to try
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different stuff you can't it's you don't
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understand how easy it is to grow
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different types of stuff on the
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allotment and you don't realize how many
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different varieties of things there
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actually are out there because if you go
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to a supermarket for instance you'll
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just see your standard vegetables you
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won't see any different varieties of
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vegetables because they won't sell them
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in the supermarket because people won't
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buy them it's like if you were to go to
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a supermarket and you had a white
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beetroot for instance people wouldn't
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buy a white beetroot because they think
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wow that's strange I'm not buying that
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it might taste funny they'll only buy
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what they know is going to taste nice if
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you get me so that's the reason why it's
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best to grow these things that are
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different varieties because you'll never
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actually try them unless you grow them
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yourself because they'll not sell them
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in supermarkets anywhere so so it's
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always good to try different varieties
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of
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stuff so if you are listening to this
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podcast do get involved send me a
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message let me know what different types
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of varieties of vegetables that you have
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tried growing and what you plan on
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trying growing as well and I might give
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melons another girl next year as I've
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not grown them for a few years now and I
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grew some cantaloup melons in my poly
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tunnel wouldn't be able to goow them
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Outdoors because it's not hot enough but
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I grew in my poly tunnel and they did
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absolutely fantastic and I had some
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really nice delicious melons on them and
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I didn't think I'd be able to grow them
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in this country to be honest but as it's
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starting to get warmer Sometimes some
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Summers uh I thought I'd give them a try
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and yeah they did really well so I might
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give cantelou melons another go next
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year and yeah they were absolutely
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delicious and each plant got a few
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melons on them so they did absolutely
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fantastic I've never tried growing
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watermelon I don't think watermelon
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would grow very well here to be honest
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but um it's not something that I might
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give a try but I'm going to look out and
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try and see what different types of
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variety of stuff are out there and see
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about trying some new stuff as well so I
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might get myself a Seed Catalog from one
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of these companies plenty of companies
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out there that give seed catalogs out
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and you can have a look through them and
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then see all the different varieties
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there are that are in there obviously
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you can look on the website but
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sometimes it's easier to navigate
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through a magazine rather than through
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somebody's website I often find and then
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you can Circle them and think oh I'll
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have that one I'll have that one and
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then you can go online and buy them on
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you like circled them and found which
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ones that you want to
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grow so it is all good fun trying
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different varieties of produce out there
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so if you are listening to this podcast
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and you are just a standard grower you
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just grow standard stuff and you've
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never tried experimenting growing
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different types of stuff have a go next
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year uh let me know how you get on I'd
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love to hear how you growing and what
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you are
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growing and I love to hear from you all
11:14
as well so yeah and I hope you enjoying
11:17
all these podcasts they have been coming
11:18
out on a daily basis now which is
11:21
fantastic so I'm having to find
11:23
different topics to talk about every
11:26
single day which can be hard sometimes
11:28
but I'm I'm getting there I I probably
11:31
cover a few things quite a few times but
11:34
I am having a little chat with you all
11:35
and talking on different topics every
11:37
day if you have got any topics that
11:40
you'd like me to talk about please do
11:42
drop me a message and give me some
11:44
suggestions I don't know anything about
11:46
no dig gardening so don't ask about no
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dig gardening because it's not something
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that I actually do um but yeah if there
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is anything out there that you'd like me
11:56
to chat about on a podcast please do let
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me know also on my YouTube channel and
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my Instagram Channel I've been posting
12:04
daily questions as well um thank you for
12:07
everybody that's got involved in the
12:10
questions um yesterday's question was um
12:15
do you use gardening gloves or do you
12:18
not do you like to get your hands Mucky
12:20
and get them dirty or do you like to
12:24
wear the gardening gloves and keep them
12:25
clean I'm certainly one for keeping
12:28
getting my hands M I never wear
12:31
gardening gloves I'll only wear
12:32
gardening gloves if I'm messing around
12:34
with brambles or Nettles uh but yeah
12:37
I'll never wear gardening gloves down at
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the alotment so that was yesterday's
12:42
Daily question so if you aren't
12:44
following me on Instagram or on YouTube
12:47
give me a follow and get involved in the
12:49
daily questions I'd love to hear from
12:51
you and your answers and I'll talk about
12:54
the daily questions on my podcast as
12:56
well as it's obviously a little space
12:59
filler as well and extends it so we'll
13:02
ask the daily question in the podcasts
13:04
as well so I hope that you enjoying
13:06
these podcasts remember to give it a
13:08
like give it a
13:09
follow and leave a review as well
13:12
because it helps push it out to
13:13
everybody so until next time everyone
13:16
remember keep smiling keep shining and
13:19
keep gardening with Ben
13:23
everyone thank you for joining me on
13:26
this episode of gardening with Ben I
13:29
hope you have found some useful tips and
13:31
inspiration for your own gardening and a
13:34
lopment journey if you have enjoyed
13:36
today's episode please make sure to
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follow And subscribe to the podcast so
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you never miss a new episode and if you
13:44
have a moment I'd love for you to leave
13:45
a review and share the podcast with
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fellow gardening enthusiasts your
13:50
support helps us grow this community and
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continue bringing you great content you
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can also follow us on social media on
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every platform called gardening with Ben
14:02
for daily gardening tips and updates
14:05
happy gardening and until next time
14:07
remember keep smiling keep shining and
14:11
keep gardening with Ben
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