MAKING FREE TOMATO PLANTS / JULY 2021 / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

Good morning guys, welcome to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma, these are my allotment diaries. I'd love for you to subscribe to my youtube channel, it would make my day. Maintenance is the name of the game today. Yesterday was watering day but everything seems to be quite flourishing. Somebody said that by not over watering my plot I'm forcing the plants to send their roots down further, which is actually causing them to be stronger plants, which might explain the mini growth spurt they've all had. So that's something probably to think about in the future. I did do the same thing last year and I did notice that after we had a heat wave everything would really flourish even though I hadn't done that much watering and I just thought I had some kind of genius magical touch and watering didn't apply to me. But it does, it's just that my plants were sort of stressed and struggling and sending roots down deep but there you go, they have to work on my plot. I keep hearing strange noises, I think it's squirrels, I think they're about today. Anyway, today is about maintenance because I've noticed that my plot is getting, well, my plot is getting a little bit overgrown and also my neighbours behind me, I think they want to clear all the brambles away and build some kind of cage for fruit, as you do, you know, cage in your fruit. And yeah, so I'm going to start to try and chop some of it down and just like keep keep it under control because you can see like around here, I've just sort of let it go a little bit wild and it's just because it's been so bloody hot, I haven't bothered and stuff and also I just think, oh it's Foxy, it's Foxy, that's who it is, he's chasing squirrels. Hello! All the animals flock to me, you see, like I'm Snow White. I don't know why, do you know what, I was watching some of my vlogs back and I'm hardly the most natural person with wildlife and nature and yet these animals flock to me like I'm Snow White or something, I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to cut it all back today and do some maintenance work and that's what I'm going to do and I'm dreading it because it's so bloody hot, but there we go. I thought I'd start with the old compost heap, which is less a compost heap and more a giant dumping ground because I've just not been using it as a compost heap at all. I sort of gave up with it sometime last year and just used it as dumping dead plants in, which has now left me with this, so this is going to need some sorting out first I think, otherwise I'm not going to fit all that in it, am I? It's slow hot work, I have to say this is miserable and it would be so much easier to do in the winter because all this just dies back and all we're left with is sticks, but I'll keep going and see how much I can get done, but like I said, slow hot work. You can see the progress that I'm sort of making, just trying to cut all this greenery back and then put the sticks into the bags for him to burn for me, but it is knackering and this is more rubbish. I didn't even know there was more rubbish on the plot, it's just madness isn't it? Look at all this, because I've already convinced Dave to do two dump runs to get rid of a great big pile of rubbish there because it was all just on my plot when I took it on a year ago and I can't believe there's more, more to go. It's so disheartening because I contacted the council and I was like it's not my rubbish, can you take it away and they were like no, when you take your plot on it's all your responsibility, so it's just exhausting, that's why it's just been at the back like this, but it feels good to be getting rid of it now actually. I'm quite excited about this new space that I'm having. It's nice that I'm not having to do it all on my own as well, I've actually got some help this time. Right, while I'm on a bit of roll I'm just going to give this a bit of a tidy up and just chop it back and I'm not going to move it anywhere, I'm just going to actually leave it in a pile and just chop it back. Kill ourselves today in the heat, that sounds like a good idea, why not? Oh my god it's so bloody hot, why don't we just do it in the wind? Stop moaning, get on with it. It is amazing how quickly your plot can go from controllable and maintained to like an absolute jungle in this weather, like just a little bit of sun, a little bit of rain and it's just away. But like I said, jobs like that are so much easier to do in the winter if you can just hold on, that would be my advice, but I can understand why they want to get it done now and so I'm going to help out as much as I can, but it's a nightmare in this heat, it might be easier to do next week to be honest. This is what I just did over there, looking a little bit more controlled. I've left it all there, I've cut it down and then left it there for the insects and stuff. I don't know if I like dead dead brambles, but there we go, they can have them. And then around my water butt as well, I just cut down all those because it was all towering up and everything, it just needed all cutting down and looking after really. So I've sort of cut it back a bit and these lettuces in here are dying, so what my plan is, I'm going to take them out and I'm going to plant them into the plot and possibly some of the beech root, but I think that's all probably died isn't it? Oh no, maybe not, I'll have a look, but I'm going to dig all this out. I'm going to plant them here where the okra is because I don't think the okra is going to grow. It's all been eaten, it's just not getting any bigger, so it's not a good sign when plants don't get any bigger. If anything, it'll be giving the slugs and snails another little meal, aren't they lucky, get lots of meals at my plot. I mean they might grow or they might die, but the point is if I leave them in that wheelbarrow they'll definitely die, so at least I'm doing something you know. Another thing that was really eager to get done today, somebody told me on my vlog that if you snip off the bottom plants or bottom stems of a tomato plant and put it in the soil it will grow a new tomato plant. Now I don't really want any more plants so this is going to be more of an experiment, I want to see if it gets roots, so we're going to do it, we're going to do it. Right we're going to chop off the bottom leaves, oh you've got water all over you, that's better. Right we're going to chop off the bottom, so I think maybe like stick him in the ground. How amazing if he grows into a new tomato plant, somebody said that he will sulk for a bit but then I'm used to all my plants sulking on me and yeah hopefully I'll get a new tomato plant out of him, how cool will that be? I'm leaving it there today, I'm probably as red as a beetroot I know, I wish I could grow them instead of just looking like them. I came to the plot today feeling a little bit inadequate like about my plot and about how much I'm growing and stuff, I follow a lot of growers on Instagram who are amazing and I just found myself just looking at them and comparing myself to them and feeling really down about my plot, but now that I've been here all day and spent some time looking at everything and replanting and stuff I'm really proud of it and I don't think it matters how much you grow because last year my plot was way better than this, but it doesn't matter because I'm still enjoying it and I'm still coming here every day and it really like feeling fulfilled by what I'm doing here, so I think that's the main thing, just enjoy what you're doing even if it's just one bed with just lettuce in, like it doesn't matter as long as you're enjoying it, that's what matters. I hope you enjoyed the vlog today, sorry I'm all hot and sweaty, I will see you next time with hopefully some less disgusting jobs and some more fun planting, let's actually garden jobs, so stay tuned for that and I'll see you later, bye!