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5 Essential Allotment Tips | Practical Advice for Growing Success
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Nov 13, 2024
🧤 5 Allotment Tips Every Gardener Should Know! Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your plot, these five tried-and-tested tips will help you make the most of your allotment. 🌿✨ In this video, I share practical advice on planning, planting, soil care, pest control, and staying consistent — all based on real experience from the plot. Simple tips, big results! What’s your top tip for fellow allotment growers? #AllotmentTips #GrowYourOwn #GardeningWithBen #AllotmentLife #UKGardener #GardenAdvice #AllotmentHelp #BeginnerGardener
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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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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 episode hello
0:25
and welcome back to gardening with Ben I
0:29
hope you all well as you can see this
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has been published nice and early so
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that means I must be back at work and
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it's a pre-recorded
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episode so that you can still listen to
0:40
the podcast because obviously I'm not at
0:42
the allotment today so I can talk about
0:44
different topics and talk about
0:47
different things with you and also
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yesterday I uploaded a podcast to my
0:53
other podcast channel uh which is called
0:55
gardening and allotment tips and that
0:58
one's got Link in the description of
1:01
this one you'll be able to find that
1:02
link and I was talking about all the
1:05
different types of melons that you can
1:08
grow in the UK and if you can
1:10
successfully grow a melon and I've grown
1:12
melons before but did I actually manage
1:15
to get any melons from them that is a
1:17
good question so make sure you give that
1:19
podcast to listen to and that's on
1:21
gardening and allotment tips podcast
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it's called and yeah the link is in the
1:26
description of this podcast so you'll be
1:28
able to find it
1:31
so what are we talking about today well
1:34
yesterday night I shared a post on
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Facebook and Instagram talking about
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diff the best five allotment tips and
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that's coming from me gardening with Ben
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uh all those tips were set out by myself
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and these are five vital tips what I
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would say are critical for having an
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allotment and the first one on on the
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list is draw a plan out now I've talked
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about this before in an uh podcast but
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creating a plan for the allotment is
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very vital and the reason why I think
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it's vital to draw a plan out of your
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allotment is because then you can think
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about what you're going to grow where to
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be honest the best thing to do is write
2:24
down all the seeds or all the vegetables
2:28
that you wanted to grow this year
2:30
and then draw out all your beds on the
2:33
plot and design exactly where you're
2:36
going to grow your stuff and obviously
2:39
you don't want to be planting stuff in
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the same place it was previously because
2:44
it might have taken all them nutrients
2:45
out of the soil and you might not get as
2:48
good crop as you would hope from so you
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need to plant out plan out where you
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want all your different crops and it's
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good to keep that crop rotation
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happening and and then it will encourage
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better crops and better produce really
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um so yeah it's always good to control
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plan out um hence one of the reasons why
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I
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like proper beds I've created them out
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of wood they're not raised beds I've
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just marked out the beds in wood so that
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I know where the beds are and I can put
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that on my plan I can put the squares on
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my plan and I can write down exactly
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what I'm going to grow in each bed and
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things like your spring onions and your
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radishes you can stick them in between
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rows of many other different vegetables
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they're just like space fillers uh if
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you'd like to call them but your main
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crops like your cauliflowers your
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cabbages your sweet corn the big stuff
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that will take up plenty of room you
3:52
need to plan out exactly where you need
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to grow them and some magazines will
3:56
tell you to grow stuff near other stuff
3:58
so that they can cross pollinate and
4:00
help produce the better crops but yeah
4:03
it's good to create a plan of exactly
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where you want to grow stuff and it's
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good to see it all in writing really
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because then you know exactly what
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you're going to be growing this year and
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you can work towards getting the best
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crops from that
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produce the next stuff the next tip is
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grow in moderation now if you're new to
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an alotment and you're just taking on a
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plot it's exciting it really is exciting
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to be growing in your first year and
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sometimes you can get too excited and
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you can try and grow too much and it can
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become daunting it can become
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challenging and you may struggle to keep
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up with looking after it all so again
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when you're buying seed packets they
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don't come with just 10 seeds in of what
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you actually need like you just cook
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with like 10 cauliflowers gr you get a
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packet of seed seeds and they've got 250
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cauliflower seeds in now who would want
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250 cauliflower seeds it baffles me why
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they put so many seeds in a packet but
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there we go uh and I I I fall victim to
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this every year rather than just sewing
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10 seeds I will sew a whole packet uh
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trust me I do it every single year and I
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shouldn't do I need to learn not to do
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that and I think I might try this year
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to actually grow what I need so hold me
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to that and keep me grounded and see if
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if I can actually stick to my word this
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year and only grow what I actually need
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to grow for the allotment uh but we'll
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see we'll see about that see if if we
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manag to do it or not but yeah uh that
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is one of my main tips try and grow in
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moderation as the years go on try and
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grow up more stuff it's good to try
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different varieties of stuff as well try
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growing stuff what you wouldn't have
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actually bought in the supermarket try
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growing different colored vegetables
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that you wouldn't see in the supermarket
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also don't always try growing different
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colored vegetables from people like on
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eBay because they will be fake products
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there is purple cauliflower which I've
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talked about many of times in my podcast
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and there's multicolored carrots and
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there's white radish and there's black
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Tomatoes but just be careful who you buy
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stuff from because sometimes they may
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not be that color especially when you've
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grown them and then they turn out to be
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red tomatoes and not black Tomatoes not
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that I've ever done it uh but I've seen
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so many people post stuff online of them
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being scammed by buying different stuff
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what they shouldn't do so yeah try and
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grow in moderation and try and not Excel
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yourself the next up on the list is is
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water in the morning and not at night
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yes you heard it right water in the
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morning and not at night now I only
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learned this the other year uh which it
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does actually make sense uh the best
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time to water is before the sun comes up
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in the morning um you're possibly
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looking at 6 7:00 in the morning uh when
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it starts to get to summer because the
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sun will come up pretty fast and it will
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get hot pretty fast so look at getting
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up out of bed 6:00 in the morning 7:00
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in the morning get into the alotment and
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getting it watered before the belting
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Sun comes out the reason for this rather
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than doing it at night is one main
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reason what every Gardener hates and
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that is slugs yes the slugs come out at
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night do you ever see the slugs in the
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daytime no you don't you only see the
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slugs come out of at nighttime and
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that's when they are most active and if
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you've wet all the ground the Slugs will
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be in heaven because they tend to go to
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where the wet ground is and that's what
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will attract them so don't water at
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night water in the morning and your
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plants will take in enough water
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and food from the soil in the daytime
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and then the Slugs won't attack your
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plants as much at the nighttime so that
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is one huge gardening tip that I've
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shared with you there so water in the
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morning not at night if you want to stop
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the sluggs from getting all your produce
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so next up on the list is if I can get
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my mouse to work is protect everything
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from pigeons yep pigeons are an absolute
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nightmare um whenever some somebody gets
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an allotment on our site I'll go and
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introduce myself I'll go and talk to
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them and I will tell them any issue with
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what's happening on the site if there's
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an influx of rabbits are for instance
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and just give them a few tips as well uh
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it's a good way to get them started
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because I wish somebody did that for me
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when I first got the allotment I I learn
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it all for myself but I TR to try and
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help the people that move onto the
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allotment site because it's good it's
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good courtesy it's good to help people
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out because they won't what they do in a
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lot of people so it's good to give them
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advice and tips now the reason why I say
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Protect everything from pigeons is
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because they will decimate your
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plants if you plant brassas like your
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cauliflowers cabbages brussel sprouts
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peas broad beans and they're shooting up
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out of the ground the PE the pigeons
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will eat them to shreds if you think oh
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I'll come back tomorrow and I'll net
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them trust me the pigeons are sat there
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in the tree watching you plant them
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thinking o delicious food delicious food
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we're going to have some nice tea
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tonight thanks to gardening with Ben but
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no you need to make sure that you net
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them up as soon as you plant them and
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make sure the netting is high up so that
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the pigeons can't bounce on them and eat
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through the netting because they will do
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that as as well they'll PE poke the
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beaks through the netting so you need to
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make sure that it's high enough so that
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the pigeons can't get to the vegetables
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now I spent £80 on a piece of netting
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yes £80 on a piece of netting but this
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piece of netting covers the full length
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of my plot and what I do every year
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before I start planting out is I fasten
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this piece of netting over the top of my
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plot down the sides I've got King wire
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uh which goes up to about 7 8T high and
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over the top I have my netting and that
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stops any pigeons from getting onto my
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plot whatsoever so I don't have to keep
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taking the netting off the beds at all
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to weed or anything because the netting
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is above my head at all times and I'm
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6'5 so it has to be really tall uh
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obviously but this chick obviously the
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chicken wire lets the small birds
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through they can pop in and out like the
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robins and the blue tis and stuff like
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that they can come and get the worms and
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everything but the pigeons cannot get in
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one bit and it has worked a treat it
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being the best investment that I've ever
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purchased and I can't remember where I
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purchased this netting from I just went
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online I measured the size of my plot
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and I purchased a piece of netting the
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size of my plot and I've had this piece
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of netting for about 10 years yeah it
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may be starting to get some holes in it
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and stuff like that but I just use some
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cable tires and I fasten the holes up
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and stuff like that so yeah and then I
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just take it down in Winter because I
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don't want it to get damaged in the snow
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and then I'll put it back up again say
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May June time before I start planting
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everything out and it's been the best
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investment that I have ever purchased so
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if you're wanting to protect your crops
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from pigeons put a piece of netting
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right over the top of
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it and last but not least is get an
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allotment with a water supply
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now yeah you might be looking around at
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allotment sites on thinking about
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getting an allotment but the main
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critical thing I plead with you is to
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get an allotment with a water supply on
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and yeah you may have a friend who has
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loads of baths uh that you can use on
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your plot or use wheelie bins or water
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butts but you will never have enough
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water water however many bins or baths
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or water barrels you have you will never
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have enough water there was a
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drought two a heatwave not a drought 3
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years
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ago and it didn't rain all summer uh
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they even talking about putting stand
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pipes back out uh the council because
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the reservoirs were running low um but
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people on all allotment forums were
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having to take water from home to the
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allotment to water their vegetables
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because they've not managed to save
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enough through the winter to water all
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their vegetables with so if I can
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encourage you to get a plot with water I
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certainly will do we're not allowed HST
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pipes on our side but we're allowed HSE
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pipes to use to fill the water buts back
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up
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with so that's all I do I've got plenty
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of bins around my plot I fill them up
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with water and then just water the
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plants that need the water and obviously
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if you're using a host pipe it's bad
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because you're watering a bigger area
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and the weeds will grow back fast you
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best off using a wheelie bin or a water
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book and just watering around the plants
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and that's only where the weeds will
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grow they won't grow in between all the
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paths and everywhere from you trailing
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the water hose pipe everywhere to the
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plot you will only be able to water
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what's at actually needed so that has
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been five of my main gardening tips
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today my allotment tips I'll hopefully
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do some more allotment tips further on
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in the week as obviously we won't be
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talking about what we being up to on the
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allotment because obviously I'm not at
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the allotment now until Saturday so
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hopefully fingers crossed the weather
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will stay nice when I recorded this on
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Tuesday the weather has been fantastic
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today and it's been
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absolutely gorgeous
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so I'm hoping the weatherman sees my
15:02
shift
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pattern and he keeps it warm for me for
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the weekend I wish anyway but yeah one
15:08
can live and hope uh but yeah thank you
15:12
for listening to this episode this
15:14
podcast episode if youve not followed me
15:16
on YouTube have a look for gardening
15:18
with Ben on YouTube and I'm starting to
15:21
share more and more videos of what I'm
15:24
getting up to down at the plot and I've
15:26
just uploaded a video of my plot tour I
15:30
take you on a plot tour and I'll show
15:32
you exactly what I've been doing and
15:34
what I've got growing at the moment at
15:35
the allotment and how it's all coming
15:37
along because I am really happy about
15:40
how well my plot is coming along at the
15:43
moment and i' I wanting to share it with
15:45
you so please do check out my YouTube
15:47
channel gardening with Ben and subscribe
15:50
to it as well so then you get notified
15:52
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subscribed to this podcast yet please do
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click that subscribe or follow button uh
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if you're new to this podcast uh and
16:01
then you get notified when new episodes
16:03
come up and like I said I've also got
16:06
the other podcast Channel as well
16:08
gardening and allotment tips podcast
16:10
there is a link in this description and
16:13
there's episodes on there just talking
16:15
about one specific Topic at a time uh I
16:18
use that for just talking about a
16:20
different thing each episode so my
16:22
recent episode is talking about growing
16:25
melons in the UK so have a listen to
16:28
that one as well so until next time
16:30
remember keep smiling keep gardening and
16:33
keep listening to gardening with Ben's
16:35
podcasts so thank you for listening to
16:38
today's episode of gardening with Ben we
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17:26
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