BIGGEST GARLIC HARVEST EVER! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

Some plants are actually doing what I wanted them to bleed and do. Can you believe it? I can't believe it! Good morning, my name is Emma. These are my Allotment Diaries. I'd love for you to hit the subscribe button on my YouTube channel. It only takes a second just to go below, hit subscribe and then you won't miss any of my uploads. It's a very hot, sticky, but very wet day in London. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? I know. We had torrential rain this morning, like an absolute downpour, and so I had to get here to make sure that everything was okay, make sure the slugs aren't eating everything. Everything seems to be okay so far. Had a couple of disasters, the broad beans have fallen over, but I didn't really stand them up very well, to be honest, so that's okay. Also, this pumpkin is growing through the net now, so I've got this net on here to stop the birds from getting the pumpkins, but actually it needs to come off now. Pumpkin's all alive. Absolutely amazing. Even the little mini baby boos that I planted out are still alive. Also, this sunflower is absolutely insane. I don't remember the last time I had a sunflower that big on my allotment because normally they just die. So that is really good and exciting news. Lots of flowers growing. I've got, oh, this bed looks so alive. It's just amazing what a bit of rain can do. So I've got my perpetual spinach, I've got some rainbow chard, I've got my, what All of my sweet corns all coming up really happy and the runner beans have taken off. This one has got all the way to the top and the thing is, mate, is there's nowhere to go. There's nowhere to go. You've got to slow down a little bit because I didn't build it any bigger than that. So I don't know where he's thinking he's going to go. And then look at my cornflowers. How incredible are these? Absolutely stunning. I'm so glad I planted these this year and they actually worked. They've all opened up. They are beautiful. We're going to get stuck straight in today. No little daddling about. We're just going to go for it. I brought some cucumbers. Cucumbers are going to go into the polytunnel. Tomatoes not doing very well, but that's the story for another day. I grow tomatoes every single year and this year I just couldn't be bothered. Like I think I've just got bored of them. So I'm really going for cucumbers this year. I'm going to try the cucumbers. Right, we're going to support those broad beans first. So behind these falling over broad beans, I've got my French beans and look, they're doing what I wanted them to do, which is to cling on to this and wrap themselves around. It's amazing how they just do it. Now, because this is resting on something, I really wanted this to be weighed down. That's what I was trying to say, but actually they seem to be okay. They seem to be all right, to be honest. I'm just going to leave them alone. I'm learning my lesson. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Just leave it alone, Emma. Leave it alone. The potatoes are flowering really well. It's doing great. Lots of lovely flowers. They'll be ready to pick soon. I've got some weeds in there. I don't think that really matters. There's weeds everywhere, to be honest. It's just a weedy plot at the moment because of the weather. Then I think at the front here, I planted some calendula and yeah, I can start to see some of them coming up, which is really exciting. That's just to do with the weather, the really extreme heat and then the rain as well. So they're all coming up here. Oh, look at these ones. Amazing. Pumpkins are both climbing on now. I think they're safe. I think they're safe, so I don't think they're going to get attached by slugs and snails anymore. I just feel like they're going to be okay. This one that I turned around, he's happy. He's clinging on now. He's grown the right way. Fantastic. When they get a bit bigger, they get these little furry spiky things all over them, basically, and even on their leaves as well. Their leaves feel quite spiky and it stops the slugs and snails from eating. That's why you should always plant them out later on when they're a bit bigger because then the slugs won't get them. This is my French beans doing really well, climbing up as well. Oh, this is going to be fantastic this year, guys. It's going to be amazing. Other side, pretty good, pretty good. I mean, he's sort of flip-flopping all over the place. I don't know if I planted him too close or something. I don't know really what's going on. What's going on with you? He's sort of falling a little bit. I don't know. I mean, he is starting to cling on, so I am hoping that he'll sort of pull himself up and be okay, but he's a very healthy looking plant, which is good, which can't be said about this one. Mind you, he's grown back. He's got a little bit in the middle. He is growing back. I will leave him. You might survive, but then don't trust me, plant, because what the heck do I know? So he's doing really well. He just needs to get a bit bigger so that he can reach the actual structure, but he's doing all right. He's growing a bit sideways, but I reckon he'll be okay. I reckon he'll twist around. Yeah, good. Right, cool. All doing good. I don't know what this is. Do I say this every time? I don't know what this is. I think it's swede. Did I plant swede? Yeah, I think that's swede, and then I think I planted borage or something in between. Just look at it. I made this. It's doing what I wanted it to do. It's actually doing what I envisioned it to do. They're coming up from the ground and they're coming over the archway, like it's actually happening. Some plants are actually doing what I wanted them to bleed and do. Can you believe it? They're just stunning, and it smells amazing walking through it as well. I just can't believe that this worked. It was in my head, and now it's in reality actually happening. This is dream big. This is my definition of dreaming big. I mean, look how utterly beautiful. I know there's loads of weeds around and stuff, but isn't it stunning? Then I've got all the cornflowers right next to it. I mean, this is just the most beautiful this end of my plot has ever been. I just can't get over how good the plot is looking right now. I just can't get over it. I really have had two years where nothing grew, had so many problems, so many issues, didn't think I was going to get anything at all to harvest, and now this year it feels like my first year again where I just whacked everything in and everything grew. I just feel like a real gardener. Right, we're going to plant out these lovely cucumbers. These are, you know what, I wrote labels on them and they've all just washed away in the rain because I used a biro, like an absolute wally. They've all washed away. I think they're crystal lemon cucumbers, which basically are cucumbers in the shape of like a lemon, a literal yellow, bright yellow lemon. But you can eat the whole thing, including the skin, and they are absolutely, honestly, delicious. My lovely neighbour over there gave me a few of his harvest last year to try, and they were the best cucumbers I've ever eaten in my life, seriously. So I wanted to grow my own. I'm just going to whack them in. I'm just going to whack them in, see what happens. And if the slugs eat them, then they get some yummy cucumbers. There we go. What can we do, guys? What can we do? Right, I've got my bag of slugless, my little cucumbers. We're going to whack them in. We're going to whack them in and hope for the best. I've got a good feeling this year. I'm positive. So like I mentioned, the polytunnel is not the same as last year. So I don't have many tomatoes in here, and the ones that I do have aren't doing amazing. So this is an okay tomato. He's an okay tomato. This one is just bright yellow. He's dying. That means he's just not happy in here. Don't know why. I've got a few tomatoes dotted about. If they want to grow, they can grow. But to be honest, oh, this one looks all right, actually. He's probably my healthiest one. But last year, this entire polytunnel was covered in tomatoes, like filled up with tomatoes. I had them everywhere. In fact, I'm pretty sure I already was harvesting tomatoes last year. This year, I haven't bothered. I've grown them for four years now, and I've just got bored, and I want to grow other things. So this year in my polytunnel, I grew like kohlrabi, and garlic, and kale, and all this exciting stuff that I was just really interested in. Now I'm going to whack in some cucumbers, and that excites me more. Sometimes, oh, I keep inhaling my hair. Sometimes, just because something will grow really well at your plot, you know, if you get bored of it, grow something else. Try something different. It's okay. And if it fails, it fails. You know, it is important to try new things, I think. Right, we'll just whack one in here by the garlic. If the camera decides to focus. Are you going to focus on anything today, camera? You're just going to take the day off, are you? All right. Right, we'll stick one in here behind the garlic. There's no method to the madness today. The madness is literally madness. There is no method. We are just going to whack stuff in, and hope for the best. So cucumbers, I appreciate that you grew. This might be our last goodbye. In which case, thank you for growing to this height, and sorry for your imminent death. And then, you know, I'm not going to completely leave him just to die. I've got slugless. Right, I've had enough of this here. Let's harvest this garlic. I don't know if it's ready. I don't know if it's all going to die. I have ripe white rot on it, so I'm expecting it all to be dead. I actually grew it like over there where the broad beans were, and I had white rot there. And then I grew it in the brassica bed, and I had white rot there. So I think it's safe to say this entire plot is just riddled with white rot. So I'm not going to grow it anymore, I don't think. Technically, this is the correct time to harvest it, because all the time. So it is time for it to come up. Right, always fun to harvest stuff. Let's see what we've got in here. Shut up. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Are you joking me? Oh my goodness, are you joking me? Stop it. Are you joking me? God, it doesn't have any white rot. It's a piece of garlic. It's garlic. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Oh my God, I would literally want to cry. It's literally garlic. I can't believe it. I literally can't believe it. I can't believe it. This is just amazing. I'm literally going to cry. I feel like I'm welling up. Oh my God, I've grown garlic. Oh God, it's perfect. It's perfect. I need to find someone. I need to do something. This is so cool. All right, let's pull the rest up and hopefully we'll get some more just like you. Oh my God, look at this one. Look at this one. Oh my God, it's garlic. God, I'm like yelling. This is unbelievable. Oh my God, what is happening? What is happening? I'm going to have a heart attack in a minute. I'm going to have a heart attack. I'm going to have a heart attack. I'm going to go for this big one. Oh, okay. A little bit of white rot. He's not quite as good. Okay. Okay. No worries. That's fine. It's okay. It's cool. He's okay. He's good. Oh, this is so cool. Wow. Look at him. Just look at this garlic. Oh, I can't believe I'm even saying this. So some of them did have white rot, but only about four. Most of them are fine. Look at these. Absolutely unbelievable. This is the best harvest of garlic I've ever had in my life and I'll probably ever get. I'm thrilled and it smells amazing. Don't always think the worst. Sometimes plants will surprise you guys and that's what I've learned today. I hope you've enjoyed my vlog. I need to go. It's starting to absolutely pour down. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you have subscribed to my channel, come and follow me along. There's going to be lots more exciting harvest to come as well. I hope you're harvesting some fun things from your allotment plot too. Hold the faith, stay with it, stick with it because you never know, you might get some garlic half as good as mine. See you next time. Bye.