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This video explains essential winter gardening jobs that help prepare the garden for the next growing season. Learn simple maintenance tasks including clearing beds, protecting plants and improving soil condition during colder weather.
The guide covers organising growing areas, checking structures and caring for overwintering plants to prevent damage from frost and wet conditions. These steps make spring planting easier and help plants establish more successfully.
If you want to stay productive in colder months, this video provides practical winter gardening advice suitable for gardens, raised beds and outdoor growing spaces.
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0:02
hello and welcome to gardening with Ben
0:05
your go-to podcast for all things green
0:07
and growing I'm Ben your allotment guide
0:10
and here to help you cultivate your
0:13
garden and your passion for plants
0:16
whether you're a seasoned Gardener or
0:17
just starting out this podcast is for
0:20
you each episode we'll dig into tips
0:23
tricks and techniques to make your
0:25
garden and alotment thve from planting
0:28
sewing and growing we will share all the
0:31
tips and AD advice we will also have
0:34
regular episodes talking about what we
0:36
have been up to on the alarm so sit back
0:40
grab a brute and enjoy today's
0:45
episode hey everyone and welcome back to
0:48
gardening with Ben for another brand new
0:52
episode for today I hope you're all well
0:54
I hope you're all getting in that
0:56
festive mood and yeah it's nearly the
0:59
weekend one more day and then the
1:01
weekend is finally here so it's finally
1:04
Friday and yeah we getting ready to go
1:08
back down to the allotments fingers
1:10
crossed this rain and wind has stopped
1:12
it's been pretty stormy today here in
1:14
Sheffield where I am but hopefully we'll
1:18
be able to get down to the allotment
1:19
this Saturday and Sunday because I need
1:21
to start filming some more content for
1:22
you all and I need to get back into
1:25
doing a lot of more work down there
1:26
because obviously the last few weeks
1:29
I've been absolutely tied up with moving
1:31
and getting ready I've just got a new
1:33
chair to sit on today while I do my
1:36
podcast so I'm a lot more comfy you and
1:38
yeah I'm getting my set up pretty well
1:41
here in my flat now and settling in
1:44
pretty well I just need to find out what
1:46
where the local places are now and go
1:49
and visit a few sites around me that's
1:51
the next plan on the tick list but
1:53
hopefully I'll settle in in the village
1:56
pretty
1:57
nice so as you know we start off with a
2:01
Christmas joke to get you in the festive
2:03
mood if you've not been watching them on
2:05
Instagram or on Facebook we'll deliver
2:08
them here as well for you so today's
2:10
Christmas joke is what do you call a
2:14
festive herb garden what do you call a
2:17
festive herb garden you call it Seasons
2:23
greeting Seasons greeting so what do you
2:27
call a festive herb garden Seasons greet
2:29
EA in I hope you're enjoying all these
2:31
little dad jokes that we keep throwing
2:33
in every single day you never know we
2:35
might continue them throughout the year
2:38
and just do other gardening jokes so let
2:41
me know if you want me to carry on with
2:43
the jokes and I'll carry on with them on
2:45
a daily basis as quite a lot of people
2:47
are enjoying them so today's podcast
2:51
episode we're going to talk about five
2:54
ways to transform your allotment over
2:57
the winter period and these are are
3:00
probably the five things that I mostly
3:02
concentrate on during the winter months
3:05
down at my allotment and in the olden
3:08
days when I first started my allotment I
3:10
used to finish off my allotment at
3:12
September and I never used to get back
3:14
to my alotment until
3:17
in probably January February time and
3:21
then I was rushing to get it all ready
3:23
in time for March when I'm starting to
3:25
sew on my seeds so I tend to do a lot of
3:29
the jobs from throughout the winter
3:30
months when it's decent weather and as
3:33
you know I've dug over all my allotment
3:35
and cleared most of the rubbish away all
3:38
so I then concentrate on doing parts of
3:42
doing my shed doing my poly tunnel and
3:44
other jobs which need doing around the
3:46
allotment what I don't get chance to do
3:48
during the spring and summer
3:50
months so to get your allotment ready in
3:53
the winter are these five easy winter
3:57
tasks which we like to stick by so the
4:00
first one is clear and tidy yard
4:02
allotment now this is the first thing I
4:05
usually do when my allotments finished
4:08
uh end of October beginning of November
4:11
I clear away all the old vegetables all
4:14
the old weeds and give it a good tidy up
4:18
and try and do any repairs that need
4:20
doing down at the allotment and getting
4:23
it all in ship shap and tidy ready for
4:26
the year ahead and I write down little
4:29
jobs which I I need to do and anything
4:32
what I'm planning on changing I'll like
4:34
design it and draw it and hopefully get
4:37
it built and ready and supported and now
4:40
I've got my allotment in pretty good
4:42
shape with the layout the layout I'm
4:45
going to stick with now probably forever
4:48
as it works I've got my beds set out
4:50
I've got my paths laid out and the only
4:53
thing that I'm going to change is I'm
4:54
going to get Paving slabs for paths but
4:57
they're expensive now so it's only
4:58
buying a few Paving slabs every now and
5:00
then to keep filling the paths up and
5:02
eventually hopefully we'll have all
5:04
Paving stone slabs down on the paths I
5:08
just like them down because they don't
5:10
get as muddy it's suppressed as the
5:12
weeds it's level and yeah it looks a lot
5:16
more aesthetic as well with nice Paving
5:19
stabs down obviously the Slugs like to
5:21
hide underneath them so they're not all
5:23
beneficial but they do look a lot nicer
5:26
so that's the first job which we
5:28
concentrate on doing down at the
5:31
allotment clear and tidy your allotment
5:33
and once you've done that then you can
5:35
start looking at some of these other
5:37
jobs so the next up is enrich your soil
5:41
winter is the ideal time for improving
5:43
your soil and that means either adding
5:47
nutrients to the soil or growing green
5:50
manure in your beds and then digging
5:52
them in in the springtime as obviously
5:55
during the summer months a lot of the
5:57
nutrition has been used up with growing
5:59
your vegetables growing your flowers in
6:02
and yeah you need to get that nutrition
6:04
back into the soil and one way obviously
6:07
you can do that is by spreading a thick
6:09
layer of what we got to manure down and
6:12
covering it over and then in the
6:13
springtime dig it into the soil once
6:16
it's rotted down even more and hopefully
6:19
that will improve the soil and get your
6:22
produce growing absolutely fantastic
6:24
with great results down at the alotment
6:28
obviously the more you look at after the
6:29
soil the more the produce will look
6:32
after you and that is what you want
6:34
really you want great produce coming
6:36
from your
6:38
allotment so next up
6:41
is plan your crop
6:44
rotation now some people don't do this
6:47
but it is a key factor in getting great
6:50
vegetables and it leads on from the
6:53
other segment before enriching your soil
6:56
is
6:57
that if you don't enrich your soil you
7:01
need to make sure that you've planted
7:03
crops in a different place to the
7:05
previous year the reason being is that
7:07
the crops will take out the Nutri
7:09
nutrients from the soil which are needed
7:11
for that plant so if you plant the same
7:13
plant in the same place a lot of the
7:16
nutrition has gone from the soil what
7:18
that plant needs so either enrich the
7:21
soil and add manure back in or move your
7:24
vegetables around obviously it's it it
7:27
would help if you did enrich it as well
7:29
because there might not be the right
7:32
nutrients in the soil from a different
7:34
crop as that might have used them but
7:37
yeah obviously enriching your soil and
7:39
moving your crop around is a key factor
7:43
and that is one thing that I always do
7:45
around this time of year January time I
7:47
draw a plan of my allotment and I plan
7:49
where I'm going to plant stuff this year
7:51
and I make a list of everything that I
7:53
want to try growing whether it be the
7:55
same things whether it be new things or
7:57
whether it'll be trialing things have
7:59
never actually grown before so planning
8:02
your crop rotation is a key factor of
8:06
getting a great crop from your
8:08
allotment and obviously check where this
8:11
sun and where this shade as well because
8:14
different vegetables grow in different
8:17
places next up is a job which isn't that
8:22
fantastic to do but it needs doing
8:25
maintain your tools and structures what
8:28
it means by maintain new tools obviously
8:31
clean them up and store them away for
8:34
the winter if you're not going to be
8:35
using them and oil them up if you've got
8:39
secretar and different Machinery tools
8:42
make sure they're all nice and clean
8:43
ready for the year
8:45
ahead maintaining structures that means
8:48
mean means looking after your sheds
8:50
after your poly tunnels after your green
8:53
houses and we've talked about this in
8:55
previous episodes is that obviously in
8:57
the winter months I do a lot of work
8:59
work on my shed I make sure all
9:02
the polycarbonates fastened down well I
9:05
do any repairs to my poly tunnel by
9:07
taping up any splits in it and if you've
9:10
got a greenhouse make sure that all the
9:12
clips are secure that it's fasten down
9:15
to the ground well just in case we have
9:17
some storms which we have been getting a
9:19
few recently and it's case of making
9:23
sure it's all in good shape and
9:25
obviously you can do different setups in
9:28
your shed like possibly paint it to stop
9:32
it from rotting or whether it be putting
9:34
new shelving up or just tidying up your
9:38
whole shed and making it last an extra
9:42
year because if you don't do a bit of
9:43
Maintenance you could end up with a
9:45
disaster like I did where one year half
9:48
of my shed collapsed and I weren't able
9:51
to grow in my shed for a year as it was
9:55
out of action it was a mess it were all
9:57
falling down polycarbonate was falling
9:59
off it and it had all cracked and split
10:02
wind got in and blown half it away and
10:05
yeah last winter time I spent a lot of
10:08
time rebuilding my shed and making it
10:11
stronger and a better structure ready so
10:14
hopefully it'll last a few more years
10:16
but obviously I will keep an eye on it
10:18
through the winter and do anything that
10:20
needs repairing or
10:23
replacing and the last up is plant
10:27
winter crops and perennials
10:30
so if you're thinking about growing
10:32
winter crops now is the perfect time to
10:35
do it obviously if you've got a poly
10:36
tunel you can grow stuff throughout the
10:38
winter months in the poly tunnel or in a
10:41
warm cold frame or warm Greenhouse I did
10:44
talk about what you could grow in
10:46
previous episodes so if you've not
10:47
listened to that one make sure you go
10:49
back and listen to that one and find out
10:51
what you can actually grow in the polyon
10:53
and Greenhouse at this time of year I
10:55
also talked about perennials and uh
10:58
annuals what you can grow like sweet
11:00
peas and geraniums at this time of year
11:05
starting them off and obviously if
11:07
you're thinking about growing fruit down
11:08
in your alotment or in the garden now is
11:11
the perfect time to be planting any
11:13
fruit in the plot because it is the
11:15
perfect conditions there's wet weather
11:19
and the the plants are dormant they're
11:21
concentrating on growing The Roots if
11:23
you plant them in the summertime it's
11:25
worse off because they're concentrating
11:27
on growing the fruit and the flowers
11:29
so you want to be planting any fruit in
11:32
the winter months and that's why you see
11:35
the supermarkets full of fruit trees
11:37
fruit bushes Etc because they know it's
11:41
the perfect time to plant them now if
11:44
you go to a garden center in summer they
11:45
don't have as many but they'll still
11:47
sell them but it's ideal to plant them
11:50
during the autumn and winter months down
11:53
at the allotment so those are the five
11:56
key tasks of what you should be doing
11:58
down at the alotment or in the garden at
12:01
this time of year I hope you found it
12:03
extremely useful and if you're new to
12:06
this podcast make sure you do give us a
12:07
follow leave a comment and feel free to
12:10
share it as well share it to other
12:12
people share it to Facebook groups the
12:15
more people that listen to this podcast
12:16
and the more it gets out there the
12:18
better I've just had my Spotify review
12:22
of my podcast for over the last year and
12:25
it's amazing to see how far and how wide
12:28
my podcast actually goes and it's not
12:31
just the UK that's big listeners there's
12:34
big listeners in other countries as well
12:36
so if you're from a different country I
12:39
thank you for listening and I hope you
12:41
find it useful where you're listening
12:43
but yeah I am guarding in with Ben if
12:46
you don't follow me on my social medias
12:48
do give me a follow on my Instagram on
12:50
my Facebook page on my Tik Tok page on
12:53
my YouTube the RO called gardening with
12:56
Ben if you're listening to this on
12:57
YouTube as well
12:59
why not click on Spotify and find me on
13:02
Spotify gardening with Ben it's a lot
13:04
easier to find the podcasts and you'll
13:06
get notified when a new podcast is up as
13:09
well so until next time everyone
13:11
remember keep smiling keep shining and
13:14
keep gardening with Ben
13:18
everyone thank you for joining me on
13:21
this episode of gardening with Ben I
13:24
hope you have found some useful tips and
13:26
inspiration for your own gardening and
13:29
allotment Journey if you have enjoyed
13:31
today's episode please make sure to
13:33
follow And subscribe to the podcast so
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13:39
have a moment I'd love for you to leave
13:41
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13:45
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can also follow us on social media on
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13:57
for daily gardening tips and updates
14:00
happy gardening and until next time
14:02
remember keep smiling keep shining and
14:06
keep gardening with Ben
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