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This video explains regular garden maintenance tasks that help plants stay healthy and productive.
The guide covers watering, feeding, supporting plants, light pruning and checking for early problems. It also includes simple routines that prevent issues and make gardening easier to manage.
Consistent care is an important part of successful gardening and helps improve plant growth and harvests.
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hello and welcome to gardening with
0:03
Ben's awardwinning podcast as voted by
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grow your own magazine and by my
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to the podcast make sure you click that
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subscribe button to stay up to date with
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all our podcasts listen back to all our
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previous episodes sit back grab a brew
0:21
and let's enjoy today's
0:24
episode hello and welcome back to
0:27
gardening with Ben well it's Saturday
0:31
Saturday is finally here and the weekend
0:34
has begun I bet you all thinking thank
0:37
goodness because of this beautiful warm
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weather that we've been having in the UK
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and it's still going to stay warm today
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on Saturday I think it's going to get to
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17 18 degrees today so it's going to be
0:50
a nice day for being in the garden and
0:54
the allotment obviously make sure that
0:56
you're Sun creamed up because you never
0:57
know the sun may get you and you always
1:01
want to play safe when you're out in the
1:03
garden when the Sun's shining or even in
1:05
the greenhouse you got to be careful cuz
1:08
the sun can burn you through the
1:09
greenhouse if you're not careful or even
1:11
the poly tunnel I've been sunburnt in
1:13
the poly tunnel before and not realized
1:16
it but then when I've got home I've been
1:19
red as a
1:20
beetroot so always be careful and yeah
1:24
I'm certainly making the most of this
1:26
glorious weather obviously as you know
1:29
I'm on night shift this week
1:32
and I don't usually go to the alotment
1:34
when I'm on night shift because I'm
1:36
usually too tired or just lounge around
1:39
when I'm on nights cuz I'm in a zombie
1:41
mode and I just don't usually bother
1:45
we're going down but because it's so
1:47
nice I've been waking up at like say
1:50
half 1 and going to the alotment for
1:52
2:00 and staying there for a couple of
1:55
hours and then coming back because I
1:57
don't want to miss out on this glorious
1:59
sunshine
2:00
it's not often we get decent weather
2:02
like this in the UK at this time of year
2:05
so you need to make the most of it while
2:07
it's definitely here and I hope that
2:10
you've managed to able to get some time
2:12
in the garden yourselves this week and
2:14
enjoy a bit of it and it's certainly
2:18
pushed me forward with what I've been
2:20
doing and I've now started sewing on my
2:24
seat usually I'm sewing
2:27
them possibly middle of it April but
2:31
I've got them all started well I've been
2:34
sewing all my flowers this week I've uh
2:38
sewn all my flower seeds yesterday so
2:42
I've got all them done didn't take too
2:44
long um it usually sometimes takes a bit
2:48
longer but I've been recording it as
2:50
well because I want to try and Sh the
2:53
start to finish of growing flowers from
2:56
seed and be able to share it on my
2:59
YouTube channel with you you all so that
3:00
you can all see how easy it is to
3:03
actually do so I'm hopefully obviously
3:06
not going to up upload them until the
3:08
end of the year once they flowered so
3:10
stay tuned and hopefully we'll have some
3:13
new videos coming on our YouTube channel
3:15
if you've not followed my YouTube
3:17
channel make sure you go and check it
3:18
out gardening with Ben and give it a
3:21
subscribe and you'll be able to see all
3:22
my videos what I do as well I'm there
3:24
and I'm often doing tours of the
3:26
allotment and showing you how I'm
3:28
getting on with everything and just how
3:30
it's coming along because obviously I
3:33
talk about it on here but sometimes it's
3:35
better off having visuals as well and so
3:38
that you can see what I'm exactly
3:41
doing and somebody asked a question
3:44
yesterday they said I'm I too early to
3:47
start sewing in a unheated greenhouse
3:52
and my answer to that was no no now is a
3:55
good time to be doing it because a lot
3:57
of seeds will need to start growing now
3:59
like your tomato seeds your melon seeds
4:03
your peppers Chiles and my Greenhouse is
4:06
unheated and every year I've sewn around
4:09
this time of year and I've had great
4:11
success um obviously it gets colder at
4:14
night when it's in the greenhouse but
4:16
you should be pretty off safe around now
4:19
it should be okay and they should
4:21
survive being in the greenhouse uh when
4:24
it gets cold at night they don't usually
4:27
get Frost killed because they've got
4:29
that protction of the greed
4:32
house sorry about that I'm a bit tired
4:35
um I'm recording this at 2:00 on my
4:37
dinner
4:38
break but yes um definitely um
4:43
definitely now is the time to start
4:45
sewing your seeds so I've sewn all my
4:47
flow seeds this week so next up will be
4:51
to start sewing all my vegetable seeds
4:53
and my fruit uh which includes my melons
4:57
and my tomatoes and getting all the I'm
5:00
growing I've just got to make sure that
5:02
I've got enough seed trays because I've
5:04
never usually grown as many flowers as
5:07
I've done this year and I think I
5:09
counted up that I've used about 15 seed
5:11
trays just to do them I've tried to se
5:14
some in pots that haven't got many seeds
5:16
in the packet to save using a seed tray
5:19
cuz usually I'll just use seed trays for
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everything but if there's only about 20
5:24
seeds in a packet I'll just throw them
5:26
in a plant pot and grow them in there
5:29
and then obviously when they're big
5:31
enough I'll separate them out all into
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individual plant pots and grow them on
5:36
and get them
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bigger and I just can't wait to see all
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the new color coming in my plot this
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year because like I said growing flowers
5:46
is quite new to me I've I've grown
5:48
vegetables for years so but I still get
5:51
excited of growing in them but I'm so
5:53
excited about growing flowers from SE
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it's something new for me it's not
5:58
something I've done done much of so it's
6:01
all still a learning curve for me and uh
6:04
trial and error really because all I end
6:06
up doing is just looking online seeing
6:08
other people's tips and advice read
6:11
books and magazines to try and find out
6:13
what you need to do when growing flowers
6:16
and that what always makes it fun really
6:19
because you're always learning and
6:20
you've always got something new to learn
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when you're doing gardening and nothing
6:26
straightforward some things grow some
6:28
things don't um sometimes when you get a
6:31
packet of seeds there could be a packet
6:32
of Duff seeds and none of them might
6:35
germinate it all just goes down to look
6:38
at the end of the gardening you can do
6:41
everything by the book and you can still
6:43
fail but it's just trial and error and
6:47
whether you're lucky or not and most of
6:50
the time you are lucky with gardening as
6:52
long as you look after the plants the
6:54
plants will look after you and you'll
6:57
get decent crops and decent flowers from
7:00
what you've SE and hopefully you'll have
7:04
a great reward and be able to see what
7:06
you've done because obviously you can go
7:08
out and buy your plants from the garden
7:10
center but there's no enjoyment in
7:12
starting them from seed seeing them
7:14
germinate seeing when they first push
7:17
through that soil and into the light and
7:21
then when you've got to pop them all on
7:23
into individual pots at the end of the
7:25
day I've got no children these are my
7:27
little
7:28
babies and I will nurture them until
7:31
they are fully developed plants if you
7:34
want to put it like that but yeah it's
7:36
something that I do really enjoy doing
7:39
and obviously I hope that comes across
7:41
in my podcast it's what I do and I'm
7:44
enjoying doing these podcasts at the
7:46
moment because I've been putting them
7:48
out literally nearly every day at the
7:50
moment because I'm getting that many
7:52
people listen to them and in they'
7:55
everybody's been commenting on my post
7:57
this week on Facebook saying how much
7:59
enjoying the podcasts so I do appreciate
8:02
that if you're one of them thank you
8:04
very much I do appreciate you commenting
8:06
on my post saying how much you enjoy
8:08
them and if you've got anything that you
8:10
want me to talk about send me a message
8:12
on Instagram or Facebook I'm always open
8:15
for options and always looking for new
8:17
topics to talk about to be honest
8:19
because sometimes I feel like I'm going
8:21
over the old stuff over and over again
8:24
and obviously as the time as the year
8:27
goes on I'll be talking about different
8:30
things as I'm doing different things on
8:31
the allotment and how I've done it share
8:34
my tips and advice on it and what I'm
8:37
doing at the moment so at the moment
8:40
obviously there's not much happening on
8:42
the plot at the moment it's a case of
8:45
just sewing all my seeds and getting
8:46
them done and then once I've got all
8:48
them sewn in my shed then it's getting
8:51
back to doing all the work what need to
8:53
doing on the plot and the next main job
8:56
is to go around painting everything
8:58
which I am putting off and not looking
9:00
forward to um I don't have to paint it I
9:03
don't have to paint all my beds and all
9:05
my fences but I do it just to make it
9:07
look pleasing pleasing on the eye if
9:11
that's how you want to put it um I just
9:14
want it to look nice and spruced up I do
9:16
it every year and once I've done it it
9:19
all looks nice and freshly coated and it
9:21
looks ready for the growing year ahead
9:25
and it just gives it that aesthetic look
9:28
um to make it look like it's somewhere
9:30
that's loved and enjoyed and like I said
9:33
I don't need to do it I could just leave
9:35
them as wood
9:38
looking uh but no I always like to give
9:41
it a liquor paint and a spruce up and
9:43
get it all looking nice and then once
9:46
I've done all the painting it's a case
9:47
of clearing out the poly tunnel I've not
9:50
used that for two years and most of the
9:52
year it's just as a Dumping Ground as
9:54
I'm moving stuff off the plot I just
9:56
shove it in my poly tunnel and hopefully
9:59
forget about it but then I can't forget
10:01
about it when it comes to May time
10:03
because I'll be planting all my tomatoes
10:05
in there I'll be starting them all off
10:06
in my shed but as they're ready to pot
10:09
on into bigger pots that's when I'll
10:11
move them into the poly tunnel and get
10:13
them set up and ready for the growing
10:16
season
10:17
ahead and hopefully I will be setting up
10:21
my irrigation system as well uh I
10:24
created an irrigation system where um
10:27
it's dripped fed from my water bots so
10:31
that there's a constant drip for my
10:33
tomatoes and my cucumbers so that
10:35
they're getting the constant water to
10:37
them and it helps them grow it saves me
10:39
having to go down to the alotment every
10:41
day to water them um the water Botts all
10:44
last for 4 to five days and I just keep
10:47
going and filling them back up and it
10:50
keeps them watered it keeps them going
10:52
and keeps them alive and that's the
10:55
thing with uh watering Tomatoes they do
10:57
need water every sing all day but if
11:00
I've got a constant drip on them it
11:03
works perfectly and it just keeps them
11:07
drinking water all the time and I've had
11:10
great results from doing it and
11:12
obviously because it's from a water Bo
11:15
all I have to do is just Chuck in the
11:17
Tomato feed in the water bot and then it
11:19
will go down to the tomatoes and look
11:22
after them so yeah that's a little tip
11:25
for you if you want to do it I used to I
11:27
started off with having in um water bags
11:31
what hung up but uh eventually they got
11:34
too heavy and they snapped and that's
11:36
when I decided I'm going to try and fix
11:38
it from my water boots and it takes a
11:41
long time to set it up trust me uh
11:44
setting up water BS to uh drip feed all
11:47
my tomato plants but once I got it all
11:50
cracked and sorted uh wow was it
11:53
fantastic it worked a treat I I shared a
11:56
video of it a couple of years ago on my
11:59
um YouTube video so if you want to check
12:02
it out and see what I did have a look at
12:04
that and see how it got got
12:07
on but like I said my main thing for
12:09
growing in the poly tunnel this year is
12:11
going to be Melons I'm really going to
12:13
concentrate on them and I'm going to be
12:15
putting so much effort into seeing if I
12:18
can get some great melons from uh
12:20
growing in my poly tunnel here in the UK
12:23
so yeah it's a challenge but fingers
12:27
crossed we do it uh I did grow some
12:29
melons a couple of years ago cantelou
12:31
melons and they did really well and
12:34
tasted absolutely delicious they just
12:36
melted in your mouth they were beautiful
12:39
the best melons I've ever tasted and I
12:41
mean that um so yeah uh I did try
12:46
watermelons one year but I didn't have
12:48
much success with them but again I
12:50
didn't have much time that year so they
12:52
didn't do very well but we're going to
12:54
try some watermelons again this year and
12:57
I think these are design to grow in the
12:59
UK these ones that I'm growing this year
13:02
so hopefully we may even get some
13:04
watermelons which will be good that
13:06
would be very fantastic I'd love to see
13:09
the results from them and see if we do
13:11
actually get them growing and there
13:13
these ones I think are designed to grow
13:15
outside so if they're growing in the
13:17
poly tunnel fingers crossed they will do
13:19
a lot better than what they will do
13:22
outside so we've got that to do and then
13:25
we've got our carrot beds to design I
13:28
want to grow carrots in tubs again this
13:30
year um I I've never had luck with
13:34
growing carrots in the 16 years that
13:35
I've had the allotment uh they've been
13:38
absolutely rubbish but I did start some
13:40
off in tubs last year and I forgot to
13:42
water them so they died uh but i r in
13:45
the tubs the other day and I found one
13:47
perfect carrot in it I like wow that's
13:50
the first carrot I've ever grown really
13:53
well so that if that one carrot worked
13:56
the rest would have worked if i' have
13:58
kept them watered
13:59
so we're going to try that again this
14:01
year and see what results we get from
14:03
them and hopefully we'll have some
14:05
delicious carrots picked from the
14:07
allotment for once in the 16 years that
14:09
I've had my allotment and we'll see how
14:12
we actually get
14:14
on but you obviously usually I go to the
14:17
alotment in the morning and never
14:19
anybody's usually there nobody's ever
14:21
usually there to speak to it's just meet
14:23
on my own on the plot I never usually
14:25
see anybody down there because
14:27
everybody's at work obviously a lot more
14:28
people people who've got allotments
14:30
these days are not retired people
14:32
they're workers uh the generations seem
14:35
to have changed in people up taking
14:38
allotments which is good people are
14:39
getting into it a lot younger and
14:41
they're seeing the benefits from it
14:43
which is fantastic people aren't just
14:44
taking them on because they've retired
14:46
now people are taking them on because
14:48
they know how much they benefit and yes
14:52
sometimes you're not saving as much by
14:54
having an allotment because you're
14:55
spending all the money on the seeds and
14:56
on the manure and the compost and
14:59
everything like that it works still
15:00
cheaper to go to the supermarket to get
15:03
but you're not having to pay for all the
15:05
air mes that it's coming from they taste
15:07
a lot better they organic they're fresh
15:11
and you'll get the enjoyment of doing
15:13
it and because I've been going down in
15:16
the afternoon I've been seeing new
15:18
people which is fantastic and I got
15:21
talking to some lovely couple today
15:23
who've got chickens down there and they
15:26
were saying how nice it is down there
15:27
and how much they love it and they're
15:29
taking the children down to the
15:31
plot and how much they're getting into
15:34
doing the gardening and they want to
15:36
learn them at an young age of gardening
15:38
and the benefits of it and if that had
15:41
not been my dad who would it to me I
15:43
wouldn't be in the same boat I wouldn't
15:45
be doing the allotments or anything like
15:47
that people used to think I daed at 17
15:50
having an allotment and going to an
15:51
allotment all the time but look at me
15:54
now people are crying out for allotments
15:57
and I've had my plot for 16 years now
15:59
and some people will be on a waiting
16:01
list for years because that me in demand
16:04
people are struggling to get a hold of
16:06
them and it's
16:08
something no new allotment sites will
16:11
open up and yeah it's usually just a
16:14
waiting game to get an allotment so I
16:17
hope that you have a fantastic Saturday
16:20
start writing those lists of all the
16:22
stuff that needs to be done in the plot
16:24
this weekend obviously it's Mother's Day
16:27
tomorrow so don't forget your Mother's
16:28
Day present if you're going to get one I
16:31
need to go after I finished work to go
16:32
and get my Mother's Day present shh
16:34
don't tell my mom uh but I need to go
16:36
and get hers and hopefully we'll pop to
16:40
see her as well if she's in so we'll see
16:43
how we get on with that and the best
16:44
thing is about my mom is I call my fruit
16:47
from my vegetable patch on my allotment
16:50
take it to my mom's and she makes me
16:52
crumbles and gives some me back which is
16:54
a perfect combination I grow it and she
16:57
cooks it for me who wouldn't ask for a
16:59
better
17:00
Mumy but yeah definitely so I hope that
17:04
you have a fantastic weekend everybody I
17:07
hope that you get plenty done down at
17:09
the alotment and I hope that you all
17:12
have a good time in this beautiful
17:16
weather as well make the most of this
17:18
Sunshine while we've got it in the UK
17:20
because like I said it's not around very
17:23
often who knows it could actually be
17:26
snowing next weekend uh the weather just
17:29
changes all the time it's very
17:32
unpredictable so while we've got the
17:35
beautiful sunshine here in the UK
17:38
definitely make the most of it and I
17:40
know I certainly will be
17:42
doing and hopefully we'll be back off
17:47
from our last night shift is tonight
17:50
Saturday night so I'll be F waking up
17:53
around dinner time on Sunday and I'll be
17:55
able to spend all day all afternoon down
17:58
at the alotment on Sunday and the clocks
18:01
change as well so I'll be able to stay
18:03
down at the alotment until it goes
18:05
darker which will possibly be around 7
18:07
half 7 so hopefully we'll get plenty
18:10
done on Sunday and we may even go live
18:14
on my Facebook at the week on Sunday as
18:16
well so if you're not following me on
18:18
Facebook follow me on Facebook and
18:20
you'll be able to see my live videos I
18:22
do live videos regularly down on the
18:24
plot just to go around showing everybody
18:27
what I'm doing and and any questions
18:29
what people may be having so yeah I hope
18:32
that you have a fantastic weekend
18:34
everybody as always remember keep
18:37
smiling keep gardening and keep
18:40
listening to gardening with Ben's
18:42
podcasts so thank you for listening to
18:45
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
18:48
hope that you've enjoyed this episode
18:50
remember to do click that subscribe
18:52
button to stay up to date with all our
18:54
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18:59
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19:01
more listeners feel free to check out my
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social media sites Facebook and
19:05
Instagram as well gardening with Ben and
19:07
also my YouTube channel to stay up to
19:10
date with all my handy videos how-to
19:13
videos and sharing my tips and advice
19:16
and feel free to check the link as well
19:18
in the description for my gardening with
19:21
Ben t-shirts lots of funny gardening
19:24
design t-shirts in there for you to
19:26
purchase at great prices too so so
19:28
thanks again and as always remember keep
19:31
smiling and keep gardening
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