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This video explains what to expect when you begin your first growing plot and how to get started with confidence. I talk about preparing the space, planning crops, managing weeds, and building good habits that make growing easier over time.
A helpful beginner guide covering realistic expectations, early challenges, and simple tips to help you enjoy the experience and have a successful first growing season.
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0:00
hey everyone and welcome to Gardening
0:02
with Ben in today's episode we're going
0:04
to continue our little series of getting
0:07
an aotment for the first time so we're
0:09
going to talk every episode about
0:11
starting an a lotment how to get hold of
0:13
them and the process of getting started
0:16
so if you've not watched yesterday's
0:17
video make sure you go and check that
0:20
one out where we were talking about how
0:22
do you apply for an aotment so in this
0:25
episode we're going to talk about what
0:27
to expect when you first get an aotment
0:29
now when you first get an aotment you
0:32
can either be lucky and get an aotment
0:35
what's been just given up recently or
0:38
you can get the total opposite where
0:40
it's been left derelictked for a few
0:42
years and most certainly a lot of people
0:44
get them when they derelict trust me I
0:47
get many people commenting saying how
0:49
bad a state their plot is but sometimes
0:53
that's good because you can design it to
0:54
how you want it to be and the first
0:57
thing you need to do when you get your
0:58
plot is take a photo of it because then
1:02
you can see your progress from your
1:04
start date right through to getting it
1:06
cleared and tidied up and make sure
1:08
you're tracking it as you completing it
1:10
and getting it all sorted the first
1:13
thing I would do if I got a brand new
1:15
aotment that was derelict would be to
1:18
trim it all down just trim it down to
1:20
ground level as quite a lot of times the
1:23
weeds have grown and they're massive and
1:25
you can't sort out what needs to be done
1:29
and obviously go around first and have a
1:31
look to see if there's any fruit bushes
1:32
hiding around because you don't want to
1:34
trim them down or any other plants what
1:37
you want to keep but yeah trim it all
1:39
down and then get hold of some black
1:42
membrane uh it lets the water through
1:44
but it doesn't let anything grow or get
1:47
to polling if you can't get black
1:49
membrane sometimes you can get it free
1:50
on Facebook marketplace so have a look
1:53
around and see if you can get any free
1:54
beds cover it all over that is the best
1:57
thing to do cover it all over it'll stop
1:59
the weeds from growing back it'll kill
2:01
them back down it won't get rid of all
2:03
the roots but it'll stop them from
2:04
growing and then the next thing you're
2:08
best off doing is starting on a small
2:09
area and working your way back
2:11
progressively once you've dug it over
2:13
and cleared it got rid of all the roots
2:15
cover it back over until you actually
2:17
need it again because trust me the weeds
2:19
will grow back i've seen loads of people
2:21
get a JCB in clear out the plot left it
2:24
for a few months come back and it's
2:26
absolutely bad again it's not an easy
2:28
job it's not as easy as what people make
2:30
out on Instagram when you see the nice
2:32
photos of the a lotments it's a
2:34
full-time job it's hard work but once
2:37
you get on top of it you can get it
2:40
sorted and get
2:42
started so once you've got it all dug
2:45
over and cleared and you got it all laid
2:48
out that is when we talk about making
2:50
the plan for your plot which we'll talk
2:52
about in another episode so make sure
2:55
you come back for that so the first job
2:57
is trim it down cover it over and just
3:00
clear bits at a time as you need it it
3:03
took me 16 years to get to the top of my
3:05
plot and yes that is a long time but we
3:08
got there eventually it's not about
3:10
overdoing yourself it's about doing it
3:12
in steady steps and just working on a
3:14
small area at once and enjoying it
3:18
because sometimes when you do too much
3:20
you don't enjoy it just do a bit at a
3:22
time and work your way up the plot so I
3:25
hope you've enjoyed this episode make
3:26
sure you give us a follow and stay up to
3:28
date with all these new tip videos that
3:30
we're giving out and yeah until next
3:33
time everyone remember keep smiling keep
3:35
shining and keep gardening with Ben
3:37
everyone
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