EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES / SAVE THE BROCCOLI! / JULY 2020

Why not welcome back to my allotment diaries. So I've got a bit of a headache today but I came here because it's nice and peaceful and all the flowers are out and it's a lovely hot sunny day so I thought I would just try and come out and get some fresh air, see if I can shift this headache. Had it for like two weeks now, I don't know. Anyway, I had a massive panic yesterday because I realized that when I last came I uncovered my broccoli plants because I had the little plastic bottles over them and protecting them and I forgot to put them back on when I left. So I was like in a complete panic thinking all my broccoli has been eaten and has gone and that's the only broccoli I've got and obviously it's too late to sow anymore so I'm gonna go check it now. So fingers crossed, I still have broccoli plants guys. Okay thank god it looks like I can still see some plants. I really must weed this, this is just getting out of control as usual. That one looks really good, a couple of them been nibbled, oh crikey. Oh god we got some left, thank god. Stresses me out when I make silly mistakes like that because I just think I could have lost all the broccoli just because I haven't covered them so but they seem to be all right. I've got one, two, three, four, five, maybe six, maybe six. I think that's enough isn't it for broccoli? Blimey I don't like it that much. But yeah okay right I think they need a little bit of TLC so I'm gonna do, I'm gonna weed them really quickly because they need, they need weeding and they need watering and they need just sort of looking after really. Maybe some slug defences. This is the one that looks a bit limp, it looks a bit sad doesn't he? I don't know if he's going to stand back up, looks like he's been eaten, been eaten by something. I don't know, no, he looks like he's giving up on life isn't he? Giving up on life. Oh well, out you come mate, bagger off. Sometimes you've just got to be tough on these plants you know. If it ain't gonna live, it ain't staying in my bed I'm afraid, it's not a charity case. You need to grow broccoli or you're out. At least there's no weeds around him now, you can sort of see him a bit clearly, a bit more like clearer, you can see where they are, but hopefully they sort of live, I don't know. It'd be nice just to have like a few broccolis, so maybe I'll put some slug defences down or something. Someone said it might be pigeons eating it, like birds, but that's what the bloody scarecrow's for. Look, she's all the way over there, maybe I should move the scarecrow. Yeah maybe I'll move the scarecrow actually, it's a good idea because that, that will stop pigeons. I actually got scared by my own scarecrow when I got here, I was like who's that on my plot, but it's just the scarecrow so I might just move it now. Maybe I should do a better job there, seeing as that's actually where the birds are coming to eat, so maybe she'll do some good there. Hey Sally, I think Sally's quite a good name for Alright, Sally's busy, let's go find another job to do I think. Right, another job I want to tackle today is to replant some of the runners that are coming off my strawberry plants. I've got lots of runners coming off here now so I'm going to have a look at them. If I can get this crappy bloody thing I've built off it, it's embarrassing. Now I need to get Dave to make me a new one. It's just, watch when I get it off. I found four runners that I think are quite good but I don't want them to grow where they're going to grow, so this is my plan and it's just my plan, I don't know what it's supposed to do, whatever, but I'll show you my plan. So right, let me explain it. Right, step one, identify a runner. Here's a runner, that's quite a good one. Right, step two, put a compost. Step three, put it on the compost. Step four, stick a little rock on it. All right, and then that will grow roots and form a new strawberry plant and when it's rooted into that pot I will cut it and then I'll plant it over there and that's my plan. Right, there's the runners that I found that I think are quite good, they look quite strong, so when they've rooted I'll just snip them and plant them where I want them. I think that's all there is to it to be honest, I really don't think it's that hard to regrow strawberries, I think that is literally it because they literally, otherwise it would just sit on the ground and root to the ground, so I'm just making the ground with a pot, so that's kind of melodic. So I should put that net over because there's no more strawberries now, so I don't need to protect them anymore. I think I should put it over there, I'm going to do that. Right, brace yourself for one of my mad ideas. Oh hello, who's this? I haven't seen you around here before. Don't communicate with it Mel, what are you doing? Stop making contact with these creatures, they stalk me. What's he doing there? He's come to poo, he's come to go to the toilet, I know he has. It's all they want to do in my plot, wildlife, is poo in it, poo in it, dig it. I know he's off, he's gone, he's gone to find another toilet, thank god. I just wanted to show you something really weird is happening to one of my sunflowers, so this one down here, which seems to be in like its height of growth, it seems really happy, but it's a bloody hell, why is it growing leaves in the middle? I don't know if this is focusing, but yeah, yeah it is, look, it's like leaves in the middle of my sunflower, it's like another sunflower in the middle of my sunflower. That is so weird isn't it? I think it actually is another sunflower guys, the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Why has that done that then? It's just weird isn't it? It's just weird, it's like a double sunflower. Don't know if it opens, I'll let you know, but none of the others are doing that. Weird isn't it? Weird. Right, thank you for watching another of my riveting allotment diaries. I hope you're enjoying them, obviously it was a lot easier to get down here during the lockdown because there was nothing else to do, and now everything's opened up, so I'm just finding it a bit, I'm just trying to find my feet, we're trying to get down here and also make videos and stuff and deal with everything else. So thank you for sticking around, if you are, if you're new, I'd love for you to subscribe, look back at some of my old videos, see the progress here, and hopefully I will see you again on Friday, and yeah, have a lovely week, see you later, bye!