PLANTING OUT BROAD BEANS / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT VLOGMAS

Hello everyone, welcome back to my version of Vlogmas. My name is Emma, these are my allotment diaries. I'm going to be here for 24 days in December, coming up with lots of ideas for spring, things that you can do in your plot, and having a look back at my year on my first allotment plot, so I'd love for you to subscribe to my channel. I'm going to be starting the plot all over again, probably in February, getting going with the sewing and everything, but I will be back in January too, but one trying to say is very badly. I would love you to subscribe to my channel and follow along with my allotment diaries. We've all got into gardening this year, or lots of us have got into gardening because of the old pandemic, and I am a first-time gardener. This is just my diaries of what I'm doing, what I'm getting up to, and I hope that it inspires you to get going as well, because you don't have to be an expert to sew something, to plant something, to start a garden, you just have to have enthusiasm and passion and just go for it. So my whole method here in the plot is the whack-it-in method, which is basically just the idea of throwing stuff in the ground, giving it a water, giving it a feed, and seeing what happens, and learning from mistakes, trying not to read too much, because sometimes when you read too much about something, it becomes really daunting and really scary, so I kind of like to just throw myself in at the deep end and give it a go, because it's just a natural thing, isn't it? It's just a human thing, gardening, like, it's just so, like, we've just done it for generations, you just put seeds in the ground, you have to do it to live, so how hard can it bloody be? That's what my motto is, how hard can it bloody be? That was a longer intro than I thought it was going to be. Right, here at the plot today, I'm going to start my broad beans. Now, it's December, but somebody did tell me that you can start sewing broad beans in December under cloche, so I'm going to do that, because I've never really understood why people sew stuff really early instead of waiting till spring. People say you get a better crop, you get an earlier crop, the crop's stronger, it's hardier, so I'm going to give it a go and just see what happens, and also I'm itching to plant something, so I'm going to get planting with my broad beans, and I need to decide where they're going to go. That is the plan of action. Here are my broad bean seeds, they are called, I don't know if you can see it on camera, but they're called They look good enough, I don't know, so I'm not going to soak them or anything. Sometimes seeds like this do tell you you can soak them overnight and then they germinate quicker, but we're not expecting quick germination because it is December, so I'm just going to whack them in somewhere, and now I just need to decide where to whack them in. I don't think that broad beans need a structure to grow up, I think they can just do with a cane or something just to support the plant, so I'm not going to put them in the bean area because that's going to be for beans that need structure, but I might put them opposite the bean area, what do you think? So this section here is going to have all bean structures, so I don't want to put it there because I don't want to waste any of the structures on broad beans. I think here, I think here, yeah we're going to whack it in here. Right, does this need digging over or anything else, or do you think it'll be all right? Soil looks all right, got some bindweed in it, but bindweed's bloody everywhere, so yeah I'm going to do it here, let's do it, let's just do it, let's just do it. Right I think I'm going to sow 12 of them just because I don't expect them all to survive, I expect about four to survive to be honest, but we're going to do about eight, no about 12. I wish I knew where my gardening gloves were, ironically I tidied all my shed out and now I've lost half my bloody stuff because I like put it in different places, I should have just left the shed alone. See, people think it's untidy, but at least I know where everything bloody is. Right, okay, the old whack it in method, here we go, right the old whack it in method where we basically just whack it in the ground and see what happens. Oh there's strange beans, they're like magic beans, like a bit of fairy tale. Seven I think, seven, last count now. What I was thinking of doing basically is just poles that I just place that will make this little bloody long enough. Right let's see if I've got some more, I don't know if that's going to bloody do anything, it looks like I've got a dead body under there or something, doesn't it? It's a bit weird, how am I going to peg it down? Rocks and pegs I think, right let's try that, rocks and pegs. Actually I don't know if I should water them first, you're sort of meant to water everything aren't you? Yeah I think I'll water them, I think I'll water them. I don't know, just because it's December doesn't mean a plant doesn't need water does it? Does it? No, I don't think so. Yeah we'll give it some water, I mean I know I said about the whack it in method, but you've got to give it a chance didn't you? You've got to give it a fighting chance. I can't remember where I bloody planted them now. Peg it and stuff, I don't bloody know if it's going to do anything to be honest with you. I don't, it don't look pretty does it? I mean look at it, it just looks like I said like there's a dead body under there or something but I mean I don't know if I keep them warm enough to grow, who knows? I mean it's all an experiment here so it'll be really interesting to see if they do grow and if I get an early crop that would be amazing and you know it's just nice to have something growing in the spring other than all the daffodils everywhere. Oh I really didn't feel like coming here today, I just was in a bit of a crappy mood this morning to be honest and a bit down and fed up, I just didn't really want to come out but I'm really glad I did now because it feels quite nice just to get something in the ground you know and like to sow some seeds even if they're not going to work, just feels quite nice. Someone also said that I could start my sweet peas now, I might do that as well and have them on a shelf, it'd be nice to have a shelf outside actually, I wonder if I could make a shelf outside, let's have a look what I've got. Yeah I'd like to have a shelf here so I can have like seedlings on there and stuff but I just have my wood piles running low, I've got to find some more free wood, I might have a bit more at home from the loft. I like to have bits of wood around because I like making stuff, I don't know if you're the same but I just like to have a little stockpile of like wood poles and netting and stuff like that, yeah I just you know I find it quite nice and then if the urge takes me I can build something but I might just have to start on the inside then, that's okay I'm going to be here every day anyway. I'll move the Christmas tree and I'll have it on this shelf here, let's sow some sweet peas then. Right this will be interesting actually because the sweet peas seeds that I'm using are actually the seeds from the plant from last year, I feel really sad saying this but I've never actually grown anything from something that I've planted before, like all the seeds that I always buy, I always just buy them. This is definitely going to be really interesting to see how many plants I can get next year out of plants that I planted last year. A little seed squirter this is. Oh squirrel's been in here, this is squirrel business. Remember I planted those bulbs, he's been in there. Look little sod, little sod's trying to find my bloody, I'm gonna have to net them with something I think, I'm gonna put some netting over him. Oh little squirrel man, right these are done. Put this net over it, stop squirrels getting to it, they'll get through, they'll find a way. Nature always finds a bloody way, if it really wants to eat it, it'll eat it. I love my staple gun, if you haven't noticed, it's the best thing I ever bought at the I think it works, I can't believe it. Bloody staple guns, they're just the answer to everything. Used to be duct tape, now it's staple guns. I'd like to see him get through this, actually I wouldn't like to see him get through this, that's the point of it all. Bloody squirrel, oh bloody squirrel, I'll sort of stake it I think. That looks crazy, oh it's like a weird birthday cake for squirrels. There we go, hopefully that'll keep the little rascals away. Last thing I'm going to do while I'm here, because I want to go home, it's so cold today, it's bloody freezing. I found these old pillowcases at home, I'm just going to put my dahlias in them, because I haven't got anything else to put my dahlias in guys, I've got nothing, I've got no pots and nothing, so I just figured this is better than nothing. These are old, so I can sort of ruin them. I'll just whack that in there I think, the point is you want to stay dry and warmish, I don't know, I don't bloody know. To be honest I'm probably just going to have to buy some more dahlia bulbs next year, but they're not expensive and I mean they grew crazily in the first year, so it's not the end of the world. I mean next year I probably won't bother digging them up, I'll just leave them, just leave them where they are, right there, oh it's falling apart, at least they're in something now, it makes me feel moderately better, and I'll put a little bit of leaves around that one, keep him warm and dry, there you are mate, please don't die, please don't die, just don't, just stay alive. Am I the only person who talks to my plants? I can't be, I don't hear anyone else talking to their plants here though, but no, maybe it's just me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the vlog today, it was really nice to get out and plant something, apparently you still can in December, so anything I can plant I'm just going to plant, because I've just got the itch to plant stuff. I'll be back again tomorrow, I hope you enjoyed the vlog, and subscribe to my channel, leave me a comment, share it with your friends, and I will see you next time guys, thanks so much for watching, bye!