live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
This video explains how to plan a productive gardening weekend and which important jobs should be done to prepare growing areas properly.
The guide covers clearing beds, preparing soil, organising planting areas, checking supports, and getting the garden ready for upcoming sowing and planting. It also explains how good preparation saves time and improves plant growth throughout the season.
If you want to stay organised and make steady progress in your garden, these simple tips will help you plan your work and keep your growing space in good condition.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
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
0:14
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 back to gardening
0:28
with Ben well It's Finally Friday the
0:32
weekend is finally here and that do
0:35
always make um it sense for me because
0:39
obviously I work shifts I work four on
0:40
four off so my weekends fall all over
0:43
the place but actually I finished work
0:46
now
0:47
until Tuesday so I am down at the
0:51
alotment for the weekend I won't be down
0:53
today as I've just finished night shift
0:56
so I'll be sleeping all day today and
0:58
going to the pub tonight but we will be
1:01
back down at the allotment on Saturday
1:04
for hopefully a nice day it's certainly
1:07
been a nice week as well while I've been
1:09
working I've been wishing that I've been
1:11
at the allotment all week but you've got
1:14
to work You' got to earn them pennies to
1:16
buy those seeds and to keep your
1:18
allotment up and running a without work
1:21
we won't be able to do this but as we're
1:24
now starting to get the nicer weather we
1:26
do need to start looking at the jobs
1:29
which we can do on the allotment towards
1:32
getting it all ready for Springtime and
1:35
getting ready for planting outside we're
1:37
not going to be planting outside for a
1:38
while yet the time for planting outside
1:41
will be once the frost is cleared
1:44
because we don't want to kill any
1:45
vegetables off and stuff like that you
1:48
pe some people can be too eager to put
1:50
stuff outside and a late Frost comes and
1:54
Bam you've lost it all and you've got to
1:56
start your seat again so always be
1:58
prepared for the WEA ahead that's what I
2:01
usually say always play it safe when
2:05
gardening because you don't want to lose
2:07
any of your crops what you've been
2:10
growing and yeah it's going to be a very
2:13
busy week for me down at the weekend
2:16
down for me at the allotment because I
2:19
am still continuing with my maintenance
2:21
on my plot I've done round my Plum Tree
2:25
I've sorted all that out that's all
2:27
ready I've planted loads of Summer bulbs
2:29
on there as well and that area is going
2:32
to look absolutely fantastic come summer
2:35
as well as the summer bulbs I'm going to
2:36
be planting some um hopefully some
2:39
annuals and perennials around there so
2:42
we need to keep us eyes peeled on any
2:44
Bargains we see as well as sewing all my
2:47
seeds what I've got to sew uh I am going
2:50
to be getting some lavender plants down
2:52
at the plot uh that's the next purchase
2:55
on my list and I've seen where I'm going
2:57
to get them from um I think I saw four
3:00
plants
3:01
for12 uh which is really good so I want
3:05
to get quite a few lavender plants down
3:07
at the plot because they are a guarantee
3:09
success for the bees uh and the bees
3:13
will absolutely love them and they are
3:17
talking about the bees a lot at the
3:18
moment on the new on my local news they
3:21
were talking about it last night and how
3:24
we can encourage the bees into the
3:26
garden again and that's what I keep
3:28
trying to put across to all my follow
3:29
was uh that we're going to be trying to
3:31
help the bees this
3:33
year so we're going to be getting some
3:35
lavender to plant and then I've also
3:38
cleared down round my fruit trees that's
3:41
all done we've put a new flower bed in
3:45
there which is a nice long one down the
3:48
side of my plot so we need to look at
3:50
what we're going to be planting in that
3:51
flower bed uh because it's not an easy
3:54
to get to one because it's past my other
3:57
fruit trees uh it's between me and my
4:00
neighbors so we need to get looking at
4:02
what flowers to put in there um there'll
4:04
probably be annuals what I put in there
4:07
because um then I can just replace them
4:09
year on year and I like to have my
4:12
perennials near the front of my alotment
4:14
where they're easy to access and to
4:16
maintain and look after and we also need
4:19
to look at getting my broad beans in
4:21
I've not got any broad beans in yet and
4:24
as I keep saying in uh what seeds to
4:26
plant and stuff like that if you can get
4:28
your broad beans in earlier and get them
4:31
harvest in earlier they'll be ready
4:34
before all the black flies start to
4:35
appear and attack them and decimate them
4:40
uh and swarm on them uh and it's nothing
4:43
worse than seeing them covered in Black
4:45
Fly um your broad beans uh I don't think
4:48
they do much damage to be honest but uh
4:50
you just don't want them down uh all
4:52
over your plants so we need to look at
4:55
getting some broad beans in the plot and
4:57
getting that job sorted CU there's some
5:00
varieties out there that you can start
5:02
now as long as the Hardy varieties where
5:05
the frost won't kill them you can get
5:07
some broad beans growing on the
5:09
allotment that is one thing that you can
5:11
plant outside and we're going to in our
5:14
potatoes beds ready uh for planting
5:17
potatoes out in the plot and also our
5:20
onions uh we'll be planting our onions
5:23
outside soon and getting those ready so
5:25
we need to look at getting them beds
5:27
ready getting them dug over and and
5:30
possibly adding a bit of manure into it
5:32
or chicken pallet feed uh just to
5:34
improve the soil of it because I'm not
5:37
really improved my soil while being down
5:39
at the plot for 14 odd years and yeah
5:42
you should definitely improve the soil
5:43
and look after it because if you look
5:45
after the soil the soil will look after
5:48
your vegetables and hopefully you will
5:50
get some decent crops from it so we've
5:53
got that to
5:54
do and this weekend's job is going to be
5:59
mainly doing the maintenance work around
6:01
my new fruit area what I've uh recently
6:05
uh built and got ready in my new new
6:08
fruit area I've moved all my strawberry
6:10
plants to a new patch uh I've planted
6:15
red gooseb uh which I'm looking forward
6:18
to Growing I need to put some feed into
6:20
them and encourage them to grow uh I
6:23
have read that you give them tomato feed
6:27
uh which I never knew so I'm going to be
6:30
looking at doing that giving them some
6:31
smarter feed to help encouraging them to
6:34
grow get
6:36
big and also I've planted two blueberry
6:40
bushes and I've read up that you give
6:43
them acious feed so I need to get some
6:46
of that ordered uh because we want some
6:49
good good uh blueberry plants and I
6:50
didn't know that you had to give them
6:52
acious feed so we're going to get some
6:54
of that ordered as well and I can feed
6:58
my other two which I've had in for few
6:59
years now uh so hopefully that will help
7:03
Spruce them up and get them going pretty
7:05
good uh again like if you look after
7:09
your plants your plants will look after
7:11
you it's a bit like looking after
7:12
yourself if you look after yourself
7:14
you'll be healthy and happy so that is
7:17
what we need to do we need to get some
7:18
erous feed I will put that on my list
7:21
now while I'm
7:22
talking but yeah we've got that to do um
7:25
then we have planted some formless black
7:29
bris so I need to keep an eye on them
7:32
keep them watered and keep them trained
7:35
and get them growing um and then I've
7:38
moved some some of raspber what had gone
7:40
growing in the wrong place uh I've moved
7:44
them down to the side of my plot uh so
7:47
we need to look at giving them a prune
7:50
because they say if you prune the tops
7:52
off your summer raspber cans what grew
7:54
last year what they going to be the ones
7:56
that produce this year they'll help push
7:58
it out better
8:00
and make uh more fuit on it because
8:03
they'll Bush out and they'll concentrate
8:05
on growing them delicious raspberries so
8:08
we need to look at giving them a snip
8:09
off the tops because I have noticed they
8:11
are starting to produce them shoots on
8:13
them now uh so they are waking up and it
8:16
shows that they've taken as well so we
8:19
need to give them a tidy up and sort
8:21
them out and then obviously my
8:23
maintenance work is going to be putting
8:26
all my fence back up because that all
8:27
blew down it it wasn't up the best uh we
8:31
didn't put it up brilliantly uh it was a
8:34
bit of a rush job what we did uh last
8:37
year but I want to get it all sorted and
8:41
get it all put properly because
8:44
obviously this is going to be a nice new
8:45
food area and it's going to hopefully
8:48
produce a lot of fuit and stuff around
8:50
it so if I make it look nice and make it
8:52
look presentable as well that is one
8:54
thing I do like to do on my plot I do
8:56
like to make it nice and presentable
9:00
um I do paint all my wood with uh wood
9:03
paint and everything like that to make
9:05
it look nice and fresh real each year
9:10
and it just makes it that it just gives
9:12
it that added little touch on showing
9:14
that you care about your plot and also
9:17
it treats the wood and stops it from
9:19
rotting as fast uh so yeah it's going to
9:22
be a very busy weekend down at the plot
9:25
uh it'll probably take me all weekend to
9:28
get this uh fruit area done and finished
9:31
and make it look the best it can do and
9:34
then next time when we're off we'll be
9:38
Concentra on my main plot area which
9:41
hasn't got a lot to do uh when I were
9:43
looking at it the other day it's just to
9:45
case sorting out all the paths I've dug
9:46
over all the beds now all the beds are
9:48
dug over they're all ready for planting
9:52
the time comes but we have got uh
9:55
possibly uh another three or four beds
9:57
to build at the top of my plot which is
9:59
exciting because I'm getting that much
10:01
further down my plot now um yeah I've
10:04
got my plot I've had my plot 16 years
10:06
and I've still not got to the top of it
10:08
yet every year I keep working a bit
10:10
further up the plot and clearing a bit
10:12
more and getting it all ready it's not
10:14
about being a rush Jobing trying to do
10:17
too much at once it's taking your time
10:20
in getting your plot ready and just
10:22
doing what's manageable to be honest uh
10:24
there's no point putting pressure on
10:26
yourself when you've got an allotment
10:28
because that pressure some sometimes can
10:30
put you off going and sometimes you
10:32
can't get it all done and all ready um
10:35
so yeah it's going to be
10:38
pretty good once it's all done and
10:41
hopefully come the end of April allma
10:44
plot will be complete it'll be finished
10:47
it'll look brilliant it'll look tidy and
10:49
it'll all look fresh ready for the
10:51
growing season we certainly put a lot of
10:54
effort in this winter in preparing it
10:57
and getting it ready uh one point I used
11:00
to when the cold came Pro well probably
11:04
end of October I used to stop going down
11:06
to the plot of end of October and I
11:08
won't go back to the plot until February
11:11
and then I'd been rushing so much to
11:13
getting it ready uh that I couldn't
11:16
really do any improvements throughout
11:17
the winter and my followers always used
11:20
to say Ben where are you where are you
11:22
gardening with Ben why aren't you being
11:24
to the alotment we're worried about you
11:26
uh so then I decided I need to carry on
11:29
through winter and keep on going to the
11:31
plot so that's what I've done and it's
11:35
definitely helps because you're not
11:37
rushing at the last minute getting it
11:39
all ready and all prepared for the year
11:41
ahead so I do I don't grow stuff mainly
11:44
through winter uh I can't be doing with
11:46
that uh it's a bit too cold for me but I
11:49
do spend my time down there getting it
11:51
all ready for the year ahead and it's
11:54
definitely helped I do think that if you
11:57
don't do it already you definitely need
11:59
to do it and it's one thing that can
12:01
benefit your plot so yeah we have got
12:04
lots to do this weekend make sure you do
12:07
tune in to the podcasts over the weekend
12:09
because you'll be able to find out what
12:11
I've been getting up to down at the plot
12:13
and sharing those gardening and
12:15
allotment tips and I hope you are
12:17
enjoying these podcasts and thank you if
12:19
you are new and you've subscribed
12:21
recently if you've not click that
12:23
subscribe button click the Subscribe
12:25
button or the follow button and you'll
12:27
get notified when you podcast CS come up
12:30
so then you can listen straight away and
12:33
I hope until next time you keep well so
12:36
remember keep smiling keep gardening and
12:38
keep listening to gardening with Ben's
12:41
podcasts so thank you for listening to
12:43
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
12:46
hope that you've enjoyed this episode
12:49
remember to do click that subscribe
12:50
button stay up to date with all our
12:52
podcasts feel free to share them on your
12:55
Instagram stories so that it spreads the
12:57
word about my podcast and we get lots
12:59
more listeners feel free to check out my
13:01
social media sites Facebook and
13:03
Instagram as well gardening with Ben and
13:06
also my YouTube channel to stay up to
13:08
date with all my handy videos how-to
13:11
videos and sharing my tips and advice
13:14
and feel free to check the link as well
13:16
in the description for my gardening with
13:19
Ben t-shirts lots of funny gardening
13:22
design t-shirts in their few to purchase
13:24
at great prices too so thanks again and
13:28
as always remember remember keep smiling
13:30
and keep gardening
#Home & Garden
#Home & Garden
#Gardening