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This video explains how to create a garden habitat that supports birds and beneficial insects. Learn how to provide shelter, nesting areas and safe feeding spaces to encourage wildlife to visit and stay.
The guide covers planting wildlife-friendly plants, adding water sources and creating protected areas where insects and birds can live naturally. These features help improve biodiversity and support pollination.
If you want to help wildlife and make your garden more natural, this video provides practical steps suitable for gardens, raised beds and outdoor growing spaces.
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0:00
hello and welcome to gardening with
0:03
Ben's awardwinning podcast as voted by
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subscribe button to stay up to date with
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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
and welcome back to
0:27
gardening with Ben for a new episode
0:30
well the weather is certainly being nice
0:33
this week so far the temperatures are a
0:35
lot nicer and yeah it's good gardening
0:39
weather at the moment it's a shame that
0:41
I'm not able to get to the allotment
0:42
this week but oh well the weekend is
0:45
nearly here and I'll be down there on
0:47
Saturday morning and now that it's
0:49
starting to get lighter earlier I'm
0:51
hoping to start getting down to the plot
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a bit earlier usually I get there about
0:55
half 9 10:00 but I'm hoping to start
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getting there from about 8:00 soon and
1:01
start cracking on with getting even more
1:04
done down at the plot because we've got
1:06
to get the ball rolling and get things
1:08
moving along pretty fast now and if I'm
1:11
wanting to get all the improvements done
1:13
on my plot that I'm hoping to get done
1:16
we have got to put the extra time in and
1:19
dedication into getting it done because
1:21
I don't I don't usually stay in the
1:23
afternoon I usually like to get on in
1:24
the morning and spend the rest of the
1:26
afternoon at home relaxing so I'll start
1:29
going down down earlier to the plot and
1:31
hopefully we'll be getting those jobs
1:33
done and yeah I'm certainly happy with
1:37
how it's all coming along um I'm just
1:41
been looking through my old fs and
1:43
usually I've got a lot of my seeds sewn
1:46
by now uh but it has been a bit cooler
1:50
this year so I'm hoping to get them in
1:54
in the next couple of weeks that is the
1:56
plan anyway uh we've still got to sort
1:59
through everything that we are going to
2:01
S so and if we've got anything missing
2:04
um and yeah I I still need to clean out
2:07
all my seed trays and my pots get them
2:10
all washed down get my shed finished get
2:12
my poly tunnel cleared out uh po the
2:16
poly tunnel I won't be using till the
2:17
end of May so we've still got plenty of
2:19
time to get that all cleared out and
2:21
tided because I'll only start using that
2:23
when I plant my tomatoes up and my
2:26
cucumbers and my melons and my or jeans
2:29
and my Peppers we're certainly going to
2:31
have a lot in there this year uh so
2:34
hopefully we'll be getting some great
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crops from in the polyon all this year
2:38
and now that I've repaired it it should
2:41
last for quite a while now and hopefully
2:44
fingers crossed it does because we don't
2:47
want to have to replace that cover um
2:50
it's a big job replacing the cover on
2:52
the polyal digging out all the plastic
2:54
and putting new stuff on but it will
2:58
need doing eventually but we keep keep
3:00
keep the plastic going a bit longer a
3:02
few more years and we'll get it replaced
3:05
eventually and hopefully pretty soon so
3:09
as it's starting to get warmer we need
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to start looking at how we can attract
3:14
the wildlife to our garden and Wildlife
3:18
is extremely
3:20
important part of the garden and the
3:23
allotment and some people might think
3:26
well why but the reason why we need to
3:29
attract the wild life is because it
3:31
helps us with growing the
3:34
produce and I've I've always Tau about
3:38
how we should be attracting the bees to
3:40
the allotment uh that is the number one
3:44
thing to do
3:46
as obviously the bees help with
3:49
pollination the bees help create the
3:52
fruit and the vegetables and without the
3:54
bees you'd be spending ages going around
3:57
pollinating everything yourself on the
3:59
alotment which does take a lot of time
4:01
and effort and you certainly wouldn't
4:04
want to be going around doing that every
4:05
day
4:07
and the chance of getting stuff
4:09
pollinated is a lot harder by doing it
4:13
yourself it's better for the bees to
4:15
just jump around and fly onto different
4:17
flowers and help pollinate stuff so that
4:20
is the key thing that I've been working
4:22
on this year uh to attracting the bees
4:25
to my plot uh for the coming years and
4:28
to help them
4:30
so the next key thing what you need to
4:33
be thinking about at this specific time
4:36
is how to attract the frogs to the
4:39
allotment because adding the frogs to
4:42
the allotment is a very important thing
4:46
to do because we shouldn't be putting
4:50
slug pets down uh there is natural
4:53
methods by using beer or by using copper
4:57
tape and stuff like that but we
4:59
shouldn't they putting slug pets down so
5:02
the best thing to protect the allotment
5:05
from the Slugs is frogs and frogs are
5:08
obviously free um so yeah you need to be
5:11
looking at ways of attracting the frogs
5:14
to the allotment
5:16
and quite a few allotment sites won't
5:18
let you have ponds my allotment site
5:20
doesn't let me have a pond but there is
5:23
Ways and Means around that and by
5:26
meaning that I mean by not having an
5:29
actual Pond but creating a shallow water
5:33
area so that the frogs can use it
5:36
obviously just using a box filled with
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water and making it Pond friendly and
5:43
maybe attracting the frogs to the plot
5:45
that way um the thing around having pwns
5:49
is obviously to stop anyone from falling
5:52
in them and drowning whereas a small box
5:56
there's no chance of that and you
5:58
probably get away with it as as well
6:01
and attracting the frogs obviously
6:04
around now is the best time because they
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will be looking for places to start
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spawning and creating that frog spawn
6:13
and if you can attract the frogs to the
6:15
plot you have got your own slug
6:18
protection away from keeping the Slugs
6:21
down and that is the big thing what you
6:25
have on your plot that can damage all
6:28
your cops and everything
6:30
basically so you need to look at ways of
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getting the frogs to the alotment and
6:34
frogs are lovely as a kid I always used
6:36
to haul frogs and I used to stroke them
6:39
and stuff like that yes I I did used to
6:43
throw them on my
6:45
sisters quite a bad child but yeah uh
6:48
attracting the frogs to the plot is one
6:50
of the best things that you can do if
6:52
you can possibly do it so have a look
6:55
around have a look at creating a
6:58
wildlife area on your plot to attract
7:01
them frogs to the plot and the same goes
7:03
for hedgehogs attra there Hedgehog homes
7:07
what you can create yourself and create
7:10
a warm and welcoming environment for the
7:12
Hedgehogs for them to come on the plot
7:14
obviously you won't see the Hedgehogs
7:16
because they only come out at night if
7:18
you set up a wildlife camera on your
7:20
allotment which I've always wanted to do
7:22
so I may possibly do that eventually uh
7:25
because I'd love to see what Wildlife
7:26
comes down on my plot at night uh have a
7:29
look look at getting a wildlife camera
7:32
and seeing if you can get hedgehogs on
7:33
your plot because again they will eat
7:35
the Slugs and slugs come out at night
7:38
they don't often come out in the daytime
7:40
they come out at the night time and that
7:43
is one of the reasons why a good
7:45
gardening tip is if you want to water
7:48
your plot water it in the morning before
7:50
the sun and heat comes out because the
7:53
Slugs don't come out in the daytime as
7:54
often as the night time a lot of people
7:57
tend to water the plots at night but
7:59
that is when the frogs are attracted to
8:01
the Garden so you're just creating
8:03
yourself a bad way of gardening if you
8:06
water at night rather than in the
8:09
morning so attracting the Hedgehogs is
8:11
another way and then the next big thing
8:14
to eat the slugs are the birds yes
8:18
attracting Birds to your allotment and
8:21
obviously if you're attracting the birds
8:23
to the allotment by seed or bread or
8:29
other
8:30
ways they will spot the slgs crawling
8:33
around on the alotment and they will
8:34
come down and swoop in and pinch them
8:37
and eat them and that is what you want
8:39
to do so attracting the birds onto your
8:41
allotment is a big thing obviously you
8:44
want to watch out for attracting pigeons
8:46
onto your alotment because they will
8:48
decimate your brassicas they absolutely
8:51
love brassas broad
8:53
beans yeah plots can be devastated by
8:57
pigeons so you need to be careful of
8:59
obviously keeping stuff pigeon proof but
9:02
attracting the smaller birds to your
9:04
plot is a big must and something that
9:07
you should try and
9:09
do so yeah attracting the wildlife to
9:12
the plot is very important and I'd say
9:14
it's high on the priority list of things
9:17
to do so obviously I've been working on
9:20
getting the bees to the plot so my next
9:23
task will be to try and get the frogs on
9:26
the allotment because I do want frogs on
9:29
my I absolutely love them love them to
9:31
pieces and it's a good thing to have on
9:34
your plot and also I'm going to be
9:37
looking at getting bird stations around
9:39
my plot uh feeding the birds obviously
9:42
that costs money uh keeping the feeders
9:45
filled up but hopefully we can get
9:47
something sorted and start attracting
9:50
those birds to the alotment because
9:51
they're lovely to see as well when
9:53
you're down at the alotment I've got a
9:56
quite a few Robbins that pop down and as
9:59
I'm digging over beds they'll come in
10:01
pinch them worms and then fly off again
10:04
but they're absolutely lovely to see and
10:06
seeing different varieties of birds as
10:08
well there's different bird seeds out
10:10
there what will attract different birds
10:12
to the allotment so yeah have a look
10:14
around see what you can do let me know
10:17
what you're going to plan to do in the
10:19
wildlife areas of your allotment and how
10:21
you're going to attract the wildlife to
10:23
your plot send me a message it's always
10:26
great to hear from you and I'd love to
10:28
hear what ideas you've got have
10:30
attracting wildli to your plot and yeah
10:34
keep up the good work we'll be back with
10:36
a new podcast tomorrow as always talking
10:40
about all the things that we need to be
10:42
preparing for for the weekend down at
10:45
the allotment so I hope you all have a
10:48
fantastic day everybody the weekend is
10:51
nearly here thank goodness I nearly said
10:54
something
10:55
El but yep the weekend is nearly here so
10:59
until next time remember keep smiling
11:02
keep gardening and keep listening to
11:04
gardening with pens
11:06
podcast so thank you for listening to
11:08
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
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