FIRST ALLOTMENT GARDEN HARVEST OF 2023 / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

It must be awful to be pecked to death by a bird, I mean. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma. These are my allotment diaries. Um, if you want to follow along, I'd love for you to hit the subscribe button below and then you won't miss any of my updates on my lovely allotment plot. So we're having a heat wave in the UK and it's not a little heat wave. It's a big old, you know, we're sitting in an oven kind of heat wave. And it's been quite difficult to get down here just because it's been so bleeding hot yesterday. We've got a massive thunderstorm and it really rained like it like torrential kind of rain. And actually all the soil at my allotment plot here is still wet from that. So I think everything got good water, which is really good. So I don't think I need to water this morning because everything looks very damp. However, we did have a couple of a couple of issues and I don't really know what's going on because it doesn't feel like it's from the rain or the heat wave. So I don't want to blame Rocky, the cat or the Fox, but I sort of feel like I need to. So we're going to sort those out first. So situation number one, this is not the heat wave. The heat wave cannot move wood. You know, I know that for a fact, some cannot physically move wood about. But basically broken fantastical. We'll just have to balance it for now. I think second issue of the day, my lovely brassica structure seems to have collapsed. Now this is not because the hoops don't work. The hoops work. This is because I can't do it properly because I always just, I'm the kind of person who does something, but I sort of do it half-heartedly and I don't completely follow it through. So this is just me. So if you've made a structure, it's probably still standing. Mine's gone. Let's see if we can revive this situation. At least they've remained covered, you know, at least the netting is still working. Right. What's going on with you awfully big young friends. Oh, you're getting awfully big. I'm not buying weed in here today. Let's save you from that. I see. Oh, look at you, Mr. Slug sitting right there. Doing really good, my brassicas. They're probably the thing in the plot that's doing the best, to be honest. I don't know what that is. Oh, that's another brassica. Of course it is. Covered in bindweed. Obviously. Oh, this one's sort of snapped and fallen down. Right. What we'll do is we'll remove the leaves that are broken because that can attract all the slugs apparently. That's fallen off. All right, he should be all right now. Just under here is one of our little friends. One of our little friends, the slug. I don't think he can get past that, which is why he's not going onto it. He has managed to climb onto one of the leaves, though, and eaten a bit of it. So we'll have to remove you, mate. The thing is, I don't want to touch him because I absolutely hate touching slugs. They're the most disgusting, slimy, horrible, hideous little things. So what we're going to do is we're going to sort of use like a pair of chopsticks. Just pretend you're like sushi. Oh, it's horrible. Dropped him. All right. Out you come. Out you come. And this is my second brassica bed. And look how well these are doing. So good. I mean, the bed could probably do with a bit of a weed, but this is nasturtium. So I might leave him to grow because that is beautiful. But yeah, all of these brassicas in here doing fantastic. Oh, there's a spider on my camera. Yeah, absolutely brilliant. So I'll leave that. And the netting seems to be doing quite well as well because I haven't seen any damage to any of them yet. Here's the next problem. My lovely sunflower seems to have fallen over and started growing wonky. And they are called sunflowers because that's what they like to do. They like to follow the sun. So if your sunflower falls over, but it remains alive and the stem remains intact, they will bend themselves around towards the sun and grow and grow at a really funny angle like he has. But what will happen now that I stood him up, that will slowly unbend. And it will grow upright towards the sun because they just follow the sun. That's what they like to do. This one here seems to be coming back to life. He's a bit smaller. It's got multi heads. Look at this. It's got loads of different heads. I don't know what's happening to him. He seems to have rebelled against the slug attack. And he's like, right, that's it. We're going to grow loads of us. So he's doing all right. And then that sunflower in there is OK. Structure's still standing. Fantastic. Thank God. I was slightly concerned this whole structure would fall down. But it's not. It's remained up. That's a really good start. One of my pumpkins I've planted in the wrong way. And I'll show you how you can tell that you've planted it the wrong way, which is annoying, because normally I get this right now. It's only one, though. So this pumpkin is growing the wrong way. You see this long stem here. That's growing away from my archway. So if I try to bend him round, it's a bit complicated to tie him in. I might be able to do it. But really, what I want to do is turn him around. I want to dig him up and turn him round, but I don't want to kill him. So I'm in this awkward predicament where I don't want him to die. But I also don't want him to grow that way. I'm wondering if there is a way of encouraging him to sort of grow around, but I don't want to bend or twist his stem because it will snap him. It's really tricky to know what the heck to do. I really want to dig him up and just move him. Maybe I will. Maybe I will. Maybe I'll do that. You could very well be about to witness the death of one of my pumpkins. I really hope not. I'm going to dig a very big hole. You see what I mean? And I think I could sort of just twist him round because he's not that established yet. I just don't want to kill you. I also don't want you to grow that way. It's really annoying that you're growing that way, do you know what I mean? I seem to have got all his roots. Oh, God, did I just snap him? Please don't die. Well, that was stressful. Hopefully what I've done hasn't killed him. I don't think his roots are that established yet. So I guess maybe you could turn them around, but don't do it yet. Wait, wait a week and see if mine's alive. And if mine's still alive, then you could probably turn yours around. Like I said, this is not a copying channel. Never copy everything I do straight away because I don't know what I'm doing. What I will say is that he's one of my best. You've got to big him up a little bit when you do things like this. You're one of my best. You're doing fantastic. And look, there's the tendrils. There's the tendrils. Now they are going to want to cling. They're going to want to cling and climb. This is how, you know, a pumpkin can climb. Tendrils. Right. Well done, mate. We're gnashing, we're gnashing, we're gnashing, we're gnashing. Ah, I spy potato flowers. Potato flowers. That means that these early potatoes are almost ready to harvest because when they get their flowers, it's a way of knowing that your potatoes underneath the ground are probably just about right. So I'll wait for a few of the others to flower as well. And then maybe it's time for the potatoes to start coming out the ground, which also means I need to think about what's going to go in its place. I'll have a think about that later on. Oh, look at this. This is making me think that Rocky's been here. Has Rocky had a party? Has Rocky had a party at my allotment plot? That's making me think that's Rocky business, that is. Maybe he's been around looking for me. Anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah, I was skipping in delight because Sweet Pea Archway is becoming an actual Sweet Pea Archway. All starting to flower. How beautiful are Sweet Peas? When I walked through here on the way in, all you can smell is Sweet Peas. Honestly, they smell incredible. And then this side as well. He's also flowering. Oh, so beautiful. But seriously, I wish I wish you could smell these Sweet Peas because they're just amazing. And also it's a smell that I forget. And then as soon as it comes around again every year, I like immediately remember like the smell. It's like I've got a smell memory for Sweet Peas. Oh, they're just amazing. So I need to pick some of those today. Also, I've just noticed some of my cornflowers are flowering. First time I've ever grown cornflowers and they have done incredible. I know that the bees absolutely love cornflowers. I mean, why wouldn't they? But yeah, I've got the white ones and I've got the blue ones and they are starting to sort of flower. And I can see so many buds, so many flower buds. Absolutely incredible. Just to give you an idea of how tall these plants are. Up to my waist, up to my waist. They're massive. They're honestly so big. And considering I grew them from a seed that I just threw on the ground like confetti, I didn't even like sow them or anything. I just threw them. Oh, love you. Let's get on with some jobs for the day. So I was going to come here and water everything. It doesn't look like I need to do that today now because of the rain. So thank you, rain. I did bring some more plants. They look like the saddest bunch of plants you have ever seen. And most of what I'm growing at home has done really well. For some reason, this stuff has just given up. Like the second I said this morning, I'm going to plant you out today. It's like they all just like protested and flopped over. Have you ever seen a more sorry looking bunch of plants? So this is, come on, mate, cheer up. This is purple sprouting broccoli. This is a giant pumpkin, like a big one. This is a baby boo. He was looking so healthy at home. Now he looks like that. And this is another baby boo. So, you know what we're going to do, guys? We're going to whack him out. We're going to whack him out anyway, because you were just making me laugh. Plant protest, that's what that is. Plant protest. It's like, no, please don't put me on your allotment. Give me to your neighbour. We're going to start with the baby boos, which I'm not holding out too much hope for. But sometimes when you whack it in the ground, plants tend to do OK. So we're just going to hold on to that thought, OK? So we're going to put two out. I'm in the middle of these French beans. Just sort of growing that way. Just put you in that way like that. Sometimes when they get outside and they see all their mates growing and they see everyone else having a good time, you know, and they all have chats at night time and stuff, you know, they perk up. They start growing. They've just got to see that, you know, you're not special, mate. You're just a plant like everyone else. Right, there's not really anything for you to lean on right now because that don't come down enough. So, right, well, good luck then. Exactly the same with this one. Dig in the hole. You can only do so much for your plants, you know, and then they're sort of on their own, really. You know, I can't be here all the time for you guys. I can grow you and then that's it, really. I'm probably nowhere near ready to go out. But you know what? You are out now. You've got to get on with it. Not everyone can be ready in life, you know. Grow or don't grow. If you don't grow, I'll be very sad. Right, the big pumpkin, which is like the giant jack, jack-o'-lantern one, is going to go in here and sort of grow over the side of it onto the wood chip. That's what I'm going to do with him, because these are massive. And I don't know if he'll survive or anything. So what we'll do is just whack him in here. You're cool, mate. Don't listen to me. I don't know what I'm talking about. Just relax. Well, look, there's loads of horse poo in here. You're going to love it in here. You are going to love it. You're going to love your life in here. You know what? You look happy already, mate. You actually look happier already. I won't let those birds get you. It must be awful to be pecked to death by a bird. You ever thought about that? Must be an awful way to die. Imagine having all your limbs pecked off by a robin. Trying to find some room for my purple sprouting broccoli. The thing is, I've got so much of the stuff growing. I'm thinking of just whacking it in somewhere and just seeing how it does. Sometimes somebody said, like, if you hide your plants in between other plants, slugs don't always know they're there. So it's a good idea just to whack it in anywhere. But where? But where is the question? I think just over there somewhere. There's loads of like weeds and stuff here. There's nothing growing. Nothing growing. We're sticking right in the middle here. It might just do really well. Our soil's not as good here. Oh, you can really tell the difference when you've mulched and when you haven't. Mate, I'm just going to whack you in here. I mean, it's your own fault. If you looked healthier, I might care about you more. But you've done this to yourself, you know. I've got to be ruthless. I've got a lot of plant babies to look after this year. So, you know, actually, having said that, you are really growing up. I wonder if you need a stake. All right, let me get you a stick. I'll get you a stick, mate. Not stick, mate, but a stick, mate. Right, here you go. Here's a stick. Here is the stick. You may use the stick to grow up if you wish. Or you can just flop by the side of it like that. Oh, no, you do want it. All right. Well, you're welcome then. You're welcome. What's that? Oh, I thought it was part of you falling off with your pooing then. I thought, oh my God, guys, my plant's just done a poo. Right. OK, there we go. So here is something that I have never grown before. It is sweet potato plants. Never grown these before. I thought you put potato in the ground and a potato came out, the same as normal potatoes. But apparently I've been given these sweet potato plants. This is part of my Sarah Raven Instagram thing. So I've got some spare and I thought I'd throw them into my allotment plot. But I can sort of see. It sort of looks like a mini sweet potato. So I think they are going to give me sweet potatoes. So I'm going to whack these in the back of the allotment plot. But I need to clear it first. And weeding is not what I want to do today because it's like 27 degrees. But we have to. Right. I've never grown these before, so I'm not massively sure on spacing, but I am thinking sort of potato plants, so they probably need a bit of room to give me potatoes. I'm sort of going to go. It's a bit of an educated guess, but I'm thinking that each plant might get to like that big. You know, like a circle, like an average circle. What is an average circle? I don't know what I'm saying. I just hope that when I say average circle, you completely know what size I mean. So who wouldn't? Right. Let's just whack them in. Let's just whack them in and hope for the best. It's our first time, so we can't get too hung up on how to do it correctly and stuff because it's our first time growing them. We just got to whack it in and see what happens. Again, just like the pumpkins, they do seem to have sulked and had some kind of plant protest. So I don't know what it is with my plants today, but they just need to liven up and get life, you know? Anyway, they're out. I just thought, like, considering I've got potatoes just growing in my compost, they can't be that hard to grow. So just whack them in and just see what happens. You know, I'm sure they'll be fine. Right, it's starting to get really, really ridiculously hot now. Not the day to do big, strenuous work. Try and stick to smaller jobs. And you know what? If your plot just turns into a completely weedy mess, but it's really hot like this, just leave it. Don't worry about it. Try and do as much as you can and just, you know, hover over every now and then. But to be honest, I'm expecting at the end of this heat wave, my plot to be a little bit overgrown. And then as soon as the weather cools down, I'll get straight back on it again. It happens, guys. It's a garden. It can never be perfect. My last job of the day before I scurry off home and have a cold shower is to harvest as much as I can. So some stuff is ready for harvesting now. And I've got my little whack it in bag. So cute. And I think the bag makes a lot of sense. You know, whack it in, whack it in bag. It's just a canvas bag, but it's perfect for harvesting stuff. So I'm going to take this around with me and just stuff as much stuff in there as I can. Whatever's ready to pick and harvest is going in and coming home with me for my lunch. Let's do it. Right, we've got a good amount of broad beans, so they look really nice. And some of them aren't quite big enough to pick. A lot of them are really big. So I've picked all the big ones, left the other ones to grow. So we're going to move on into the polytunnel. I think there's some stuff to harvest in the polytunnel. So into the polytunnel. Oh, my God, it's like 150 degrees in here. I don't know if the garlic is ready to harvest, but I'm going to go and get it. I'm going to pull one up and have a look, because that's how I know. I just pull one up. So I'm going to choose one that's fallen down to this one here at the back. It's just to get an indicator of how ready they are, because I've never I never know when to pick garlic and I never know. I've never had a successful one. Holy smokes. Is that a successful flipping garlic that I've just pulled up too early? Oh, my gosh. So I think I pulled him up too early. But you know what? He looks really healthy. He's really hard, doesn't have any white rot, smells of garlic. I mean, he smells absolutely amazing and he looks really, really healthy, except for being on the small side. So I think they're not quite done yet. I think I might get garlic in here, guys. I think I might get garlic for the first time ever. Right. I'm going to leave them alone. I'm going to take him home. Somebody said that you can still eat them when they're this small. So I'll take him home. He can be mine. But yeah, I think I'm going to get garlic. So I'm going to harvest a little bit of this kale before the slugs and snails finally come in and decide to eat it. So I'm going to cut. I think I'm just going to pull a couple of leaves off. He looks like he'll be quite yummy. We'll take you home. And I also want to harvest one of these. What are they called? Kohlrabi's. I think I'm going to go for the one that's by the one that's by the tomato plant. I'm going to go for him. I'm going to take him home. I'm going to try him. Oh, look at him. He's massive. Underestimated how big this plant was. This is incredible. Apparently you can eat leaves as well. So I'm going to take him home. Try him. Let you know what I think of him. Wow. That is amazing. And to be honest. So I asked you what this plant was at the front and you said it's a white kohlrabi. So this one is also looking ready to harvest. But what I'm going to do is leave him for now. Take home my lovely purple one and try him. And then if I really like him, I'll come back and pick him. If not, what I'll do. So if I ever try a new crop and I grow it and it grows really well and I take it home and try it and I don't like it and I'm like, that was awful. What I tend to do is leave them and let them flower because I'm really fascinated by the flowers. Also, vegetable flowers are a particular delicacy to pollinators. Like they just love them. So if you let your broccoli go to flower and it throws up these beautiful yellow flowers, pollinators love it. Like the bees can't get enough of it. So you're always growing for something, even if you're not growing for yourself or you don't like what you've grown or it doesn't quite work or it's not big enough or whatever. Leave it for the pollinators, because there's always something here that's going to really benefit from what you've grown. All right, we've got to sort this out. Obviously lost my scissors. So you're about to see someone sawing a kohlrabi. There we go. Have you ever seen someone saw the top of a kohlrabi? Probably not. Now you have. That's just what we do in these vlogs. We show you what you've never seen before. Hope you enjoyed watching my vlog today. Here's my finished kohlrabi that I'll be taking home. Very excited. Hope it's inspired you to get out in your garden and give it a go. I mean, it's very, very hot at the moment and I'm sweating. As you can see, the sun is so bright. So I need to head home. Don't strain yourself or like hurt yourself when you're out there. Don't worry. Weeds will come up. It's what happens. Just try and enjoy it and enjoy the sunshine while it's here. And hopefully it will keep the slugs and snails away for a little bit. As long as we don't get too much more rain. Hope you enjoyed watching today. I'll see you again in my next vlog. See you next time. Thanks for watching. Bye.