UNBELIEVABLE ALLOTMENT DISCOVERY! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

Absolutely unbelievable. Did you just poo in my watering can? Good morning everyone, welcome back to my Allotment Diaries. My name is Emma, these are my Allotment Diaries. I'd love for you to follow along if you're new to my channel. You can just hit the subscribe button down below, it makes a huge difference to my channel and I would really, really appreciate it. It's sunny in the UK! I didn't think we were going to get any more sun this year. It has literally been the worst August I think ever and end of July. I actually can't remember the last time we had sun. I know we had some, I think it was way back in June or something when the weather was actually warm and nice and sunny. It's just been raining, we've had storms, we've had a lot of wind as well which is quite unusual for this time of year. Normally the winds come in springtime and then summer's normally pretty kind of calm but this year, no, it's just been windstorms, storms, thunder and lightning, torrential rain, it's just been horrendous and yesterday the temperature was so cold I actually had to get out my big winter coat and wear it to the shops. Today, you can instantly feel the temperature is warmer and it's just so weird the way it does that, isn't it? But I'm here for it, the next few days are going to be sunny, warm, lovely so I'm going to be down here as much as I can be. How are all your plots going at the moment? I was about to say, how are all your pots going at the moment? Maybe you're growing in pots? How are your pots going at the moment? My plot is looking really lush, really amazing, really fantastic but nothing to do with me guys, I'm afraid. Definitely still not an expert and I think this is all down to the weather. We've just had, obviously it's still been quite mild because it is summer, we've had a lot of rain and stuff so I think it's just taken care of the plot for me but let me do a little bit of a show you aroundy thing. Show you what's growing, what's a growing. Oh, just a really, really super quick thing. This is from my new allotment collection and you can find it just below the video. This is the jumper, the women's jumper in green. There's lots of things for men, women, children. This also comes in pink, check it out if you fancy an allotment jumper. There you go. So peaceful today, look at the lighting. Isn't it lovely? It's because we're in August now and the sun is slightly lower, it's a bit like that autumn kind of sun and everything looks really golden and really glowing and just really beautiful but yeah, it's definitely reflecting on my allotment. So peaceful here today as well, I absolutely love it so far. I mean I've only been here like four minutes but yeah, this is an overview of my allotment plot at the moment. You can see the lighting is just hitting everything just in the right way. There's a few little jobs I want to do today just while I'm down here but at this time of year there's not tons and tons to do actually. Now that I've filled in the gaps with some more seedlings and stuff it's mainly going to be about sowing in modules and stuff over the winter and next spring basically. But anyway, last time I was here I fed this big pumpkin and I do think it has helped. So this is my big jack-o-lantern and you can see that the leaves are still a little bit yellowy but definitely a lot less yellowy and I think we are getting a lot more green on this now so it's looking really healthy. This is my pumpkin down here. He's definitely going to be eaten or die, 100%. There's no doubt about it. I don't really know how to protect him when he's there so I'm just hoping he just survives really just magically. But yeah, I fed this with my homemade stinging nettle feed and it does seem to have done really well. This one here is a jack-o-lantern and unfortunately he does have a bit of mildew which is a fungal infection that pumpkins get quite easily actually and what I might do is just take a few of the most infected leaves off. Did anybody in my last vlog see where I put my scissors? Because I cannot find my scissors. I found them guys, don't worry. I found them. Sitting at the back of the plot. So with powdery mildew, get the worst ones out. This should improve the airflow a little bit as well actually. Just thinning them a little bit. You can see on the leaf here, it's kind of got this white powdery stuff all over the leaf. This is powdery mildew basically and it's just a bacterial infection like I said. It's caused because of a lack of ventilation so when all of your plants are really close together the airflow can't go through it, so air can't flow through it basically. Let me try and get this right. Air can't flow through it. So it's an airflow problem basically and that's why it spreads so quickly and there are a few things you can do. What I do is cut off the worst of the leaves and hope the plant survives. I think there are some sprays you can get. I think you can spray a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and something on it and that kind of is supposed to help. Or milk as well. Some people put milk on it. That's never worked for me to be honest. Once it gets hold, it's got hold of the plant basically and the best way I find to deal with it is just to chop the leaves off. But don't panic. It won't kill your plant straight away. It takes a while to kill it and if your plants are quite established it's probably a good idea just to chop the leaves off that are infected and then just let the plant keep growing which is what I'm doing now basically. Actually, there isn't as much as I thought. A lot of these leaves here look really really healthy actually and actually I'm still getting new growth which is quite amazing for this time of year. I have noticed a few snails trying to conquer my pumpkin archway. Probably on their way to the pumpkins which is not ideal. Come on. What is with these Tom Cruise snails this year? I didn't think they liked heights. I don't know why I thought that though. I don't know why I made that assumption. I've just literally assumed that snails don't like heights. I don't know why I'd think that though. There's nothing to suggest that a snail doesn't like heights. Maybe they love it. But yeah, there's a few scaling this archway. Look at this guy in here. Absolutely unbelievable daredevils. Absolute daredevils this year. Clearly they don't mind heights. Also, I think this big one that I had to cut a hole for I think this plant is a baby boo plant because it doesn't look like the other pumpkins. It's got a different shape to it and these ones are turning round as well and I think this is a baby boo. And look, there's some more over here as well and I'll tell you why. Have a look at this one. So it's quite a round, big shape. And then if I come round here this is a different pumpkin plant and I reckon that one's a Jack B. Little because he's shorter and flatter and looks more like a standard pumpkin. So I reckon this is a Jack B. Little and him over there, I think he's a baby boo. But who really cares, right? The point is they're all growing and it looks fabulous, so I'm happy. One of the jobs I was going to come and do today was water my new seedlings because I was thinking it's going to be really warm over the next couple of days with no rain I don't want them drying out. However, it rained all last night so I think they're all watered. I don't think they'll be... I was just about to say I don't think they'll be coming up because I only planted them the other day but lo and behold, they are actually starting to grow already. Oh no, but something's been digging. Oh, if that's Rocky, I'm going to be so mad at him. Look! This is my row of radishes. I literally only planted these in probably two or three days ago and the whole row is germinating and coming up. And then over here, I think I put in some spring onions. I'm not sure if they're coming up yet. I'm pretty sure they won't be too far behind. Oh, this might be one actually. That might be a spring onion coming up. Oh my goodness, I actually can't believe how quickly the radishes have germinated. If you've ever wondered why we always sow in rows, it's so that you know when your crop is coming up. Because if I hadn't sown these in a row, they would have been dotted about everywhere and I would have assumed they were like weeds. But because I put them in a row and now I can see the exact row coming up, I know that this is now my row of radishes, basically. It also just keeps things organised, makes it easier to weed and makes it easier to see where all your crops are and stuff. So there's a few reasons why we do it, but that's one of the main reasons. It's just so that you know that if things are coming up in a straight line, they're probably seedlings that you've put in on purpose because weeds don't normally grow in perfect rows, to be honest. They're just not like that. They're a little bit spontaneous and sporadic. So my brassica beds have been largely neglected by me for the year. I want to say neglected, but actually, to be honest, they do tend to take care of themselves, brassica beds. But I've just noticed, oh my gosh, I've just noticed something really, really exciting. I've got a purple cauliflower growing. You guys are going to love this. Look at this in here. It's got no damage on him at all. What on earth do I do to protect him? Oh my goodness. I'm actually proper freaking out, but I can hear people here and I don't want to be the weirdo who's like screaming. I don't want anyone to rush over and think I'm being attacked by a bear. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh my goodness, look at this. Look at this. There's a slug. There's a slug trying to attack it as we speak. We definitely need to get some kind of defences going here because this, this is unacceptable. Can't believe I'm picking this up with my hand. I need to protect this guy at all costs. So, a couple of things people told me and the one that I like the most is to peg it shut. Basically, so they can't get in. Probably, but I think that's what I'm going to do. That's what I've seen other plot holders do, peg all their cauliflowers closed. So I'm going to do that. But he's in the wrong place, you know. So although you're fabulous and I love you so much, there's sprouts here. These are sprout plants and these aren't supposed to be here. What are you doing here? You're not a sprout plant, what are you? Here's another purple cauliflower. Oh gosh. Right, you're all in the wrong place. I don't know what you've been up to. Notice how I'm blaming the plants and not me. Right, I'm going to go and see if I've got a peg and peg that one shut and try and save him. Right, so I've never tried this method of protection before. This is the first time and I really, really, really hope it works. I have seen other plot holders do this. So I'm really hoping it's a normal thing to do and a lot of you recommended I do this, like I said. So, you sort of peg it up together so they can't get in there. But I guess sort of try and leave enough room for it to grow. I think it will still grow. The idea is that they can't get in, but I think they will. I just think they will just get in. Maybe this is more of a protection against the birds. I don't know. I really hope that does enough. You're probably going to be one too. More sprouts. Let's see what's on the other side then. Let's see what's on this side. Oh, you might be purple sprouting broccoli actually. Are you purple sprouting broccoli? I think that's all broccoli this side. Okay. I was just looking back at my comment section on one of my videos a few days ago where I was asking for a little bit of advice on brassicas and somebody has put a comment saying that I should lay down blackberry canes and stinging nettles around my brassica bed and they said that not only does it... Hello, Robin. Why do they scare me so much, these animals? There he is. Can you see him? Just there. Did you just poo in my watering can? I don't know if I caught that on camera or not, but he just literally sat in my watering can and then did a poo. What did he do that? That was very rude. Yeah, go in my brassica bed and eat the slugs. Go on. Go and eat all the slugs and snails. I don't mind if you do that. You're welcome to them. So, yeah, somebody said put blackberry canes and stinging nettles down. Apparently, it keeps the slugs and snails away and also it feeds the soil and feeds the brassicas, so I thought I'd give it a go. There's a lot of aeroplanes today. Sorry, I do apologise. It's funny because I watch... Who do I watch? Oh, gosh, why can't I remember her name? Jessie. Jessie at Plot 37. I always have her on in the background. There's no point singing now because she's already taken a poo. The damage is done. Yeah, I watch Jessie from Plot 37 in the background all the time. She's always on in my house and she's always going on about the aeroplanes going over and she has to pause her vlog all the time. I'm exactly the same Jessie. I have to pause my videos all the time to let the aeroplanes pass, so we must live fairly close to each other, I think. Look at him trying to sing now and be friends. I just don't know if our friendship can recover from this kind of incident, to be honest. Luckily, I've got lots of blackberry canes over here, so I'll pick a few. Gloves on, they're really spiky. Maybe the person who said this just doesn't like me. They just wanted to see me stung by blackberry canes. Ow! Oh, God. Right, they're in now, so if they do something great and if they do nothing, then so what? It's not going to harm anything. I think it's a good idea, so thank you for that tip. If you've got any more tips on how to protect your cauliflowers or broccoli while they're still developing, please let me know. I've pegged it up now, and I'd love to know any more tips. The only thing that I'm not convinced will work is putting things on the ground, just because the leaves are so big. The slugs and snails will be able to get onto the leaves and just go in. They're such big plants. That's the only thing I don't think will work. Slugless is sort of useless now because the leaves are just spilling everywhere. Any tips that you've got for protecting the actual head of cauliflower that's developing, because they can have the leaves, I don't care. They can eat all the leaves. It's the cauliflower I want. Just let me know in the comments, and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. I've had a lot of messages from you guys asking me how my tomatoes are getting on. I think a lot of us are struggling this year because a lot of you are messaging me saying your tomatoes are still green. Well, mine are all still green as well. I haven't had one ripe tomato, even the ones that I'm growing at home that I started earlier than the ones in the polytunnel, even they are still green. I think we're just having a really super slow year for tomatoes. I know that some people have managed to ripen theirs, and that's amazing, but mine are nowhere near. I haven't really put the effort into tomatoes that I normally do. To be honest, they just grow like no tomorrow. It doesn't really matter if you do nothing to them. They're just great plants, and they just grow, they just take off. They don't really need our help, but as you can see, absolutely none of them, none of them have gone anything other than bright green. They look fantastic, they look healthy, so I'm really not worried about them at all. I'm a little bit worried about you though, because you're a little bit flimsy. Hang on, let me wrap him around a bit. My string support hasn't been the greatest this year, so my support idea was basically to wrap it around twine. It's OK, it's not worked brilliantly, but these ones here have survived. The others have needed sticks. That's got no support at all, but he's not even growing. Yeah, I definitely won't be doing the string support thing next year, because I just didn't do it right. It's just not worked for me, but this one is supported OK, and the tomatoes look amazing. They're just not turning red. I don't know what to say. My bean harvests are crazy this year, so I've got runner beans. These lovely runner beans that I've been picking so many of, they're insane, and also these delicious French beans, which are just so good. I'm just eating these all the time. I've also picked today nasturtium flowers, and some of the smaller leaves, and I find that if you just put a few of these into a normal salad, it just adds the right amount of pepperiness and spiciness to it, without it being too overpowering. I've also picked lots of borage flowers as well, which look so pretty on avocado on toast, which is one of my favourite lunches ever. I've got a whole collection in here of beans and flowers and nasturtiums, and I'm just picking so much from my plot right now, it's amazing. This is what I always dreamed my plot would be, just me waltzing around with a little wicker basket, picking things for lunch and stuff, and now it's happening. I can't believe it, it's amazing. It's such a great, satisfying feeling, and I hope that you're picking lots from your plots right now as well. Thank you so much for watching today, I hope that you've enjoyed my vlog, I hope you've enjoyed our friend the Robin over there having a lovely sing-song as well. Don't forget to check out my lovely new merchandise, if you fancy getting yourselves one of these lovely little allotment jumpers, there's lots more in the range as well below, and you can see it just below my video now, which is quite cool. I will see you again in my next video, have a lovely week, I hope you get out in the sunshine, and happy gardening! See you next time, thanks for watching guys. Bye!