CRAZY CARROT HARVEST!! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

It's communicating with me. What's America ever done for us eh? Landcress. Oh yes! Good morning everyone, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma, these are my allotment diaries. If you are enjoying watching my allotment vlogs I would love you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Every single subscriber really helps my channel's statistics and it helps to push my videos out there for more and more people to see and hopefully be inspired to whack some stuff in the ground because let's face it, allotment gardening doesn't have to be difficult, vegetable growing doesn't have to be hard, it's just about whacking stuff in the ground and hoping that it grows. The plants have all the power, we are just the gardeners, we're just the ones who just walk around and pretend we know what we're doing but it's the plants that have all the power and they know what they're doing more than we do so trust your plants. It's quite a good saying isn't it? Trust your plants, trust in your plants. I don't really have a plan today, I actually really like coming here when I don't have a plan sometimes. So this morning I woke up, I was feeling a bit anxious, feeling a little bit stressed, not really feeling myself, haven't really woken up on the right side of the bed, don't really know why, sometimes it just happens and I was just drawn here you know, it's a 20 minute walk to my allotment plot, it gets me out in fresh air in the morning, I don't have a dog to walk so my dog walk is basically my allotment walk, it forces me out the house and it gets me somewhere green and full of nature and plants so I love just coming down here sometimes and just not having a plan and just seeing where the time takes me really. I think what I'm going to do is get on with a few allotment jobs that I've been putting off for a long time, really like annoying little jobs that just need to be done and I'm just not doing, I'm just not getting them done. So cutting back the weeds at the back and weeding a few things, feeding my plants because I always forget to feed them, stuff like that basically. So I think we're just going to get cracking and we're going to get on with it and we're just going to get stuck into some really miscellaneous little allotment jobs that just need to be done. Hopefully I'll sort of inspire you to get on with some of your jobs because I'm sure you've got some jobs at your plot that you're just sort of putting off for the longest time, I always do so it stands to reason that other people will as well and yeah let's just get on with it and get into it so and then we'll I've been looking for you for ages, been there the whole time, good stick. Finding all sorts at the back now, that's a good stick. My new clubbing half, what's that doing there? Oh god, waste of time it looks the bleeding same. I don't know what to do with this area here, it's an absolute flipping nightmare. I think the only thing that I can do is when we go into the autumn months, dig it all out put down some weed membrane or maybe some cardboard and then just wood chip the whole area because seriously I don't know what to do with it and it just grows like this every year, it's a nightmare. I've also noticed that this, this here is some string that sort of keeps my polytunnel from flying away and it's sort of come off, it's just torn off of the polytunnel. I don't think these polytunnels are made to last, it really needs to go back on though because I don't want it flying away, I don't know where to tie it though. Tied it to the frame on the inside because there was a tear on my polytunnel but my polytunnel is getting so many tears in it, I don't think they're sort of built to last like for years, this is the second year of it and it's just not, it's not lasting. The fabric is just tearing everywhere and then obviously this window broke, yeah this window sort of broke, I think maybe a bird or some kind of animal tried to get in and then all of these tires are snapping so the fabric doesn't last very long, it gets really weak and snaps so though I would say yes get a polytunnel at the same time, like they're not built to last forever you know. I mean this polytunnel was over £100, I got it for £50 in the sale but maybe you get what you pay for, maybe you just got to pay a lot more to get a good one but yeah I just thought I'd give out that little warning because I get a lot of questions about my polytunnel and I like to keep things honest you know. Right how's things going in the polytunnel because I haven't been in here for a while. Oh look my little mate's back, hello, oh look you're turning into a robin now, look at you, you're getting red, yeah you're turning like, you're turning into a real robin now, yeah you look like a robin, are you getting bigger? Wow look at him he's changing colour, that's amazing. Right so as I've said a few times this year I'm not feeling tomatoes this year, I just find them a bit boring, I've grown them for like four years in a row and yeah I'm getting a bit bored of them but this is just me by the way chatting but I, what's he singing now? I hear his singing, it's communicating with me, I don't know what you're saying, I don't speak robin, no. Anyway they're starting to get little flowers now so this is a good time to feed them, I've also got to look after them a little bit because they're getting a bit straggly and stuff um so let's do that. So first thing I'm going to do is take off all these bottom leaves that have turned yellow because they're not going to be any good for the plant so let's get rid of all of those. We also don't really want any leaves to be touching the floor because that can spread blight and all kinds of horrible, horrible diseases and things and anything that looks like dead, I've just got to pinch off like that because tomato plants don't really care do you mate, you don't really care because they just grow from anywhere and they grow anything. So I've been pinching out anything that's growing at a 45 degree angle, you can't see that, so I've been pinching out anything that grows at a 45 degree angle so you see here where that branch is there and that branch is there, now if there was one growing in the middle like there you just pinch him out and they can get really really big, just focuses the energy on you know making the flowers and making the fruit and not growing into a massive huge plant. Pinch a couple of those off, right okay, oh my gosh I've got tomato, I've got a freaking tomato, that's what happens when I neglect my plants you see, they turn into my best performers, why is that? Look that is an actual little baby tomato growing, amazing, so they come out the middle of the flowers basically, that's amazing, I've neglected you, I've done nothing to you and you have produced fruit, well done, you see they don't need us at all plants, they really don't, so you can see how this one here the leaves are a little bit yellowy and I think it's because I've not been feeding them, so they need to have a nice feed today but he does have some flowers on the top which is really good and then you can see this one behind here, he's very yellow, he doesn't look very happy at all, again he just needs a feed, let's help them out, we've given them life, we need to look after them now, right so here's our watering can filled up with rainwater, here's our tomato feed that's going to use tomato right, obviously it's for, I don't know if you have to shake it actually, I've never read that, it's got a little child cap on it just in case your child finds it and thinks it's tomato drink and downs the whole thing, I mean it absolutely reeks, I don't know what child would do that but there we go, it's got the protection anyway, let's measure it out and then completely ignore the measurements and add in a load more because everybody does it and then we'll just give everything in here a good tomato feed, that's what we'll do, right so the tomatoes have been fed now so hopefully that will sort of bring them back to life a bit, the kale looks like it's probably ready to harvest some leaves today before they all get eaten by slugs and snails but this is doing very very well, absolutely love him, I think he's a perennial plant so he'll just stay here really and just live here now, this is just your home now mate and then this down here, I don't know what this is, I sort of sacrificed it to a few slugs and snails but they haven't done too much damage, I don't know what it is, is it a cabbage, is it, is there a cauliflower in there or is this it, is this a cabbage, it could very well turn into a cauliflower, we'll just have to wait and see but I'm just sort of happy for him to live here because you can see he's been really really munched but yeah he's all right, it's alive and the slugs like him and snails like him and spiders, there we go. I've just picked a load of sweet peas and still absolutely loving my sweet pea flowers and I'm getting so many both here and at home as well, the trick is to keep picking them but it's getting harder and harder at this time of year because they're growing so fast and they're like making seed heads so if they get seed heads, they start to get seed heads, the plant starts to die basically because it's making seeds the next year, when it dies back I am going to just let it develop the seeds and then collect the seeds the next year but until then, oh I'm just loving them, it just popped in my shed because it's just started to rain, I think, I don't think it's going to rain very much but I'm going to sow something and then I think I'm going to get home and what I want to do at home is pick my carrots, I've been dying to pick my carrots for the longest time and I think today's the day to do it so I'm going to pick some of my carrots, I can't stop sniffing these, they're so good, I'm going to miss the smell so much, god they're just the most beautiful flower ever aren't they? Has it stopped raining? Yes, just about right, so I got some of this in my seed craft subscription box so I didn't actually purposely go out and find these seeds, I sort of was given them about a year ago and they've been sitting in my shed, it's called American landcress, I've never heard of it before, I've never grown it before, surprise surprise, but somebody was saying in the comments that have I ever tried putting like a ground crop in the areas of my allotment plot where I'm struggling to grow things and I was like no I haven't, I've never put anything in like a ground crop and they said that it might like replenish the soil a little bit or something to have something growing there and that's like a covering crop so I'm going to whack in some landcress because that sounds like a covering crop, I don't know what it is but landcress, cress land, I mean cress is like those little leaf things isn't it, so what's going to do, we've got some leeks in here and some of them they're sort of alive, sort of alive isn't completely alive though, do you know what I mean, like I don't want them to be sort of alive, I want them to be like alive alive you know, but they're not, they're sort of alive, so I thought well this is a good bed to try and put some ground crop in, so I'm going to put these in, American landcress, so let's let's just whack it in, I don't really know how to even sow it but I just think what we're going to do is sprinkle it over the top and then kind of ruffle it into the soil, obviously not using technical terminology there but I think you get the gist of it, right, right American landcress, what's America ever done for us eh, landcress, that's what they've done for us, given us 700 seeds of landcress, we don't know what it is but then do we know what anything is in America, no, we don't have to know, I'll put it all between the leeks as well, put it everywhere, I don't know where it is now, it's gone, it's like confetti, confetti sowing, you know just do that with the soil and it'll sort of cover some of them, a lot of them it won't and they'll die but a lot of them it will and they'll live, just wanted to try out this quickly, so a lot of you give me advice all the time when you see me watering so if you're just sowing seed you put it on that way like that so it's like that but if you've sown really fine seeds and you don't want them to die you can turn this around so it's up like that and then do it like that, what that didn't work at all, I thought you said I could put it on upside down and then it would sort of works, I thought that was really good advice, I was giving out that advice then before I'd even tried the advice, that's a lesson to me to try the advice first, that didn't work at all, maybe I've got to do it on a bigger scale, let me try it over the leeks, it's supposed to stop little tiny vulnerable seeds from going everywhere but don't seem right to me, yeah yeah don't do it small like that oh I don't believe you, no just water it with water, that's what I say, just water it right I'm gonna pop home now because I'm getting grumpy, I'm getting grumpy and miserable here and I sort of don't want to be here anymore so I'm gonna leave, a lot of you often ask me how I stay motivated to keep coming to my allotment and keep working on it and the truth is when I've had enough and I feel like I'm done I just walk away and leave and if I don't come back for two days I don't come back for two days, I'm trying, I go really easily on myself and I just try and listen to myself because if something stops becoming fun then it's not going to be a happy place anymore do you know what I mean and everybody needs a break from everything even if it's something you really enjoy even if it's your job even if it's like anything you know you need a break from it sometimes so if my body is telling me I need a break and my head is like you need to walk away right now then that's what I'm gonna do so even just coming here and doing like half an hour of weeding and then going home it just it keeps the plot maintained so that it's not going to go crazy and be too much for me but at the same time I get to walk away and have that kind of head space and that's just sort of advice that I'd give but you have to find what works for you obviously I'm going to go home and pick my carrots now I've been dying to pick my carrots and I really think they're ready to pick and I really want to pick them so I'm going to pick them that's what I'm going to do now I'll take you with me so it is the next day and I'm back home obviously really sunny today really beautiful day a couple of things I want to show you so first of all in my last home gardening video I planted I sowed some carrots and what I did was I sieved all of the soil to make sure it's really really fine so the carrot seeds actually germinated and I'm happy to say it's worked you can see that all of my carrot seeds are germinating really nicely and actually I've sown them quite thinly they're quite evenly spaced like they've got quite a big bit of between each other I think this is the best sowing of carrots that I've ever done fingers crossed so we'll see how they how they develop but it's doing really well in this pot obviously I'm watering them all the time because I don't want them to dry out but yeah this is my new little pot of carrots it is time to pull up the row of carrots that I sowed probably two months ago maybe two or three months ago they've done really well and I'm pretty sure there are some carrots under there so I am super excited so here they are I gave them one last water just for old time's sake and that's why they're sort of flopping about a little bit but um if you if I just dig a little bit so say here if I just dig a little bit around look at that there's a carrot there so I know that there are going to be carrots under here I'm so excited to see how big they are how long they are let's pull them up all right we're going to start with this little guy here let's start with this little guy here let's see what we get exciting times oh my god the smallest carrot in the world why is he so bleeding small do you have any idea of the high hopes that I had for this little carrot I thought he was going to be massive it's the smallest carrot in the world right let's get the rest of them up I've had enough now let's get another one up let's choose you I think I feel like you're going to be quite quite a big one oh yes yes look at him this is exciting this is almost as exciting as pulling up um potatoes all right give him a wiggle apparently the correct way to do it is to push down and then pull up but I don't think I'm going to have much trouble getting them up from here to be honest not the small one okay maybe it's the type of carrot I've grown maybe they're only small okay teeny tiny fantastic let's try this one I feel like this is going to be a good one oh yes yes he's a good one yes happy with him ah this one this one's going to be a good one oh no okay but he's still good he's still good that one obviously gonna be miniscule my rabbit will eat that all right oh yes ah I get excited when they're big at the at the top and then they don't go very big but it's okay I'll still eat him oh that was a surprise sometimes I don't expect them to be very big right now my rabbit will eat that one he'll love that one and then they surprise me and they're really big he's not very big right this one actually looks massive he's coming out of the ground so I feel like this is going to be a big one I'm going to set you up right for this one this is going to be the best carrot I've ever grown you ready guys you ready for this okay he's all right he's all right he's quite big he's all right you know yeah okay I mean I'm not massively blown away I thought it was going to be longer but he's a he's big you know he's big oh you're not bad oh you're a bit of a weird one oh look at that that's not right that that's not right that one he's a bit rude all right come down to the back of the garden because it's a bit hot down there and a bit sunny um so we've got some hits and we've got some misses I think overall let me pick out the bit the best ones so the best ones are probably these three which look incredible right they look amazing so good and then the worst ones are probably some of the the funny shaped ones but actually they'll still be delicious and actually my rabbit will like them as well um and also you can eat all the tops of carrots as well and salads which is really delicious so none of it will go to waste oh what's that what do you think of that pippin it's so nice that tastes better than normal carrots does it does it no no you like it right i think it's got pippin's stamp of approval look at you just devouring the entire carrot i don't think you're supposed to have that much carrot no i don't no i don't i haven't got any more for you no no no all you animals you always want more keep licking keep licking right i'm gonna leave the vlog there today with a very happy little bunny uh definitely he definitely approves of my little homegrown carrots so at least somebody's happy with something that i've grown hey pips straight back to sleep again because it's daytime i hope you enjoyed my vlog today i'm going to be taking a week off next week so there's not going to be any vlogs on this channel next week i just need a bit of a break but i will be back after next week uploading three times a week as usual so until then keep whacking stuff in keep looking after your allotment plots and um yeah i hope you have a lovely week everyone and i will see you in august see you then bye