MY NEW ALLOTMENT PLOT! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

Hi everyone, so as you can tell by the title of this video, I have a really huge exciting announcement to make and I'm going to get straight into it, no dibble dabbling around. I am, as from today, officially a new allotment plot holder. So I've taken on a second allotment plot, which is the one next door, the one that's completely overgrown. I think I only saw someone there once this entire year. She came down, she had a look at it, she left, she was the owner of it. If you follow this channel for a while, you know that the next door one, it's gone through kind of a lot of changes. So it had all these lovely raised beds put in it, which then got taken off by other people because they just weren't used. Then it kind of became overgrown and now it's just officially abandoned. So I did contact the council a couple of months ago, maybe a month ago, and just inquired about the plot and saw if, you know, is it vacant? Could I possibly take it on? I didn't hear anything back and I didn't push it. I didn't like follow up with a phone call or anything because I wasn't sure. It's a massive commitment taking on another plot, especially one that's in so, it's like so bad. It's so overgrown. I wanted to really, really make sure that I was in this a hundred percent, that I was fully committed, that I had the time and that I really wanted it. So I didn't, I didn't push it then. And then I sent an email about three days ago and was just like, I'm just following up from my email a couple of months ago. Just want to see if I could have that plot. And she got back straight away, like literally within like two hours of the email and just said, yeah, if you want it, it's yours. So it tells me that it's kind of, it's meant to be, uh, when things kind of happen like that and they happen quite quickly and stuff, it just, it feels right. It feels like it's meant to be. I didn't have to fight for it. It's mine. I don't know if I'm just plain crazy or this is like a really good idea. Like I don't know, I'm full of mixed emotions right now. I think it's going to be a massive challenge. That's, that's what I know for sure. It's going to be a massive challenge, but I think it's going to be really good to be able to experience an allotment plot as a beginner allotment again, and actually take a plot from the very, very beginning of it being completely overgrown. And then hopefully bringing it to some kind of order basically. Next year it will be beautiful. I know it will. Um, it's going to take hard work, dedication. Let's go and have a look at the little plot. Let's go and have, I say little, this is not a little plot guys. What have I done? So one of the main reasons why I really wanted the plot next door is because it's so overgrown. It is literally just spilling over onto my plot. And now I've tried to keep our kind of boundary here, cut back and everything. It's not really fair because it's not my responsibility. You know, it should be the plot holders. Well, now I'm the plot holder. So now it's up to me. I can't blame anyone else. Um, so let's go around and have a look at it. So to give you some perspective, some context, um, I'm going to show you my plot from this point of view. Here we go. Here is my allotment I've had for four years. You can see that it's in pretty good order. I mean, it's a bit overgrown at the moment, um, because it's autumn time and that's what happens. Got the boundary there with the fence comes right across to kind of where all that overgrown stuff is there. And it goes right back to my poly tunnel. So then we come along here along the pathway and the plot next door is now officially mine. Here it is. Doesn't it look beautiful? It's a lot bigger than my plot. It feels a lot bigger. It goes right up from the boundary there all the way across to my plot here. So it's a big one. It's a really, really big one. It also has these massive trees coming from, um, this is a house, so that's a fence to like residential areas. So there's nothing that they can do about these trees. It's all down to the people who live in the house, not the council. And these trees cause a lot of shade. And then obviously I've got my trees, which I think I'm going to have to cut back quite significantly or cut down completely. Um, and then we have this tree here, which again causes a lot of shade over the front of the plot. However, it's only the front of the plot that kind of gets this really big bit of shade. The back of the plot is completely in sun all the time. So because I've got an allotment plot over there already, I'm not too bothered. I'm going to put, I think a new shed here. I think we'll have a little grass area, little seating area. I might have my compost bins as well. There's obviously already a ready-made compost bin on this plot. Um, but I think I'm going to build a proper, proper big one. Just absolutely exploding with ideas really. Can't help it. The only thing about this plot is that over the ground, um, they put on this massive ground sheet, which I think covered the entire allotment plot. Um, and it's still there. So it's like a weed membrane. I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing they've done this. I mean, underneath, I'm imagining the soil to be pretty dead, to be honest. Um, because it's been over so long, I might just pull the whole thing off and just have a look underneath it. But I am thinking raised beds and, um, pathways and stuff again, because it is the way I like to do an allotment. I say the way I like to do it. I mean, I've only ever done one. I'm just going to find a stick because there's lots of spiders in here and I'm a little bit worried. So we're just going to sort of use our stick as a bit of Harry Potter wand to get the spiders away from me. Right, let's venture into my new allotment plot. Oh, this is so exciting. I can't believe I'm saying this. Am I crazy? Am I crazy? Yes, I think so. The more I'm looking at it, the more I'm thinking I'm probably crazy. What an absolute mess. What an absolute mess. Oh, it's a great big spider web there. Can't even break it. Can't even break it. It's that big. So you can see the weed membrane is over the entire plot. The entire plot is absolutely covered with it. I think it might be a blessing in disguise because I'm pretty sure when I pull this up, it's going to be pretty, um, pretty empty here. Obviously, there's a fox that lives over here somewhere. So I'm going to have to be really careful, um, because I don't want to disturb him for the winter time. So it goes right back here to the end, right back to the end. And then that's my plot through there. So this is all going to have to be cut back, sorted out, those trees have to go. I think they're going to have to go. This is the part that gets the most sun of the plot. It's all the back of the plot here because there's no trees there. And in summertime, this is where the sun is. So it hits the plot here and this is always in the sun. The thing is, I mean, I know a lot about this plot because I've been next door to it for like four years. I know everything there is to know about it. I know what will grow, what won't grow. I know what to do to it. I know where the sun hits. I know where the shady area is. I've got ideas of what to do with the shady area. So, you know, it's really to my advantage, um, because I've sort of studied this plot for four years. What could go wrong? Gosh, just taking it all in. It's insane. It's just massive. I think most of it's bindweed. Most of it is bindweed and just weeds, but yeah, this, this is going to be a lot of work. It's going to be a lot of work. I knew it was the fox. I knew I could hear you. I knew I could hear you. Are you my new tenant? Are you my new tenant? Are you my new allotment tenant? Yeah. So I've gained an allotment plot and I've gained a fox as well. There we go. I have to say I'm nervous. I'm going to use my cool job, the thicker, the thicker gloves. Um, my discount codes below guys, if you really want to get your hands on some of these cool job, cool job, uh, think green gloves. My discount code is just below in the description bar. Um, someone was asking for that the other day. I'm nervous. I'm nervous and definitely apprehensive. Um, it's like excitement, but it's also because I've done it before. I know what I'm taking on. Like I'm not naive anymore. So I kind of know the work that's going to be involved in getting that up to shape. I think I'm going to start, I'm just going to chop back some of the stuff around my shed. I think that's the best place to start because I want to start, basically I'm going to integrate this plot with that plot. So I want it to be seamless and have a fence around the whole thing. Um, so it's just one gigantic plot and I think, I think that would be better than having two separate plots to work on. Um, so that's what, that's what my plan is so far. That's as far as I've got, as far as I've got. Oh, he's left me a, he's left me a poo. Oh my God. Why has he done that? Why would he poo there? Why would he poo there? He's so annoying that fox. He really is. Right. Officially the first bit of work I'm doing on my new allotment plot. Here we go. Wow. I'm knackered already. Somebody asked me, um, left a comment the other day saying, did you really chop all of your allotment plot down by hand? Yes, I did. And yes, I'm going to do it again. So if you don't believe me, just subscribe to my channel and watch the progress. Cause that's exactly what I'm going to do again. I'm going to chop the whole thing down by hand, composter, dig it all out. Oh, it feels really weird. Like it feels like I'm working on somebody else's plot. It's very strange that it's now mine. Just feels very surreal. Very weird, but very, very exciting. Instantly realizing how much work it is though. I really am. What have I done? I need someone to be down here with me to tell me to stop because I'm not going to stop. I'm just going to keep going. I get this weird kind of determination just to keep going and chop the whole thing down. I think I just love destroying stuff. I think that's just my favourite thing to do. But as you can see, I'm starting to chop down the plot to try and join it onto mine. I think that's the way I'm going to go about it. It's just to start to kind of start from my plot and work horizontally that way to try and just clear it and start attaching it onto my plot. This bit is going to prove an absolute nightmare. But to be honest, as soon as the autumn, like the winter comes and all of the foliage dies back, it should be a lot easier to kind of dig up, especially if we get a lot of rain. Fingers crossed we get some rain because that will really loosen all the soil and allow me to dig stuff out. But yeah, we're getting there. I think because of this, my plans have now changed. So my plan was to grow loads of autumn winter stuff. I think my plan now is to allow the plot to die back and do what it wants to do, mulch it all over and work on my new allotment. I can't believe I'm saying that. It's amazing. Yeah, just work on my new plot and get it ready to plant into in the spring. But very, very exciting. All I'm basically doing right now is just chopping stuff back. So it's very satisfying. And then I'm leaving it all on the ground. It's almost like I'm mulching the ground as I go. So I'm chopping it into small pieces and leaving it on the ground. It'll just stop it from sort of regrowing until I get time to clear it. And then what I'll do is I'll rake it all up, compost it all and start clearing and digging out the ground ready for the raised beds. But we're getting there slowly. So I'm still going by the way. No one's told me to stop, so I'm still going. The weed membrane is making it quite easy to pull these weeds up, so they're not very strong, which is really good. I think this side of the plot is harder because it's full of like blackberry canes and stuff, which is like my absolute nemesis. This side of the plot is mainly bindweed and like some other weeds that are just coming out really easily, like stinging nettles. That's my pile so far. Pile of stuff. I found a double compost bin, which is really good. There's a water butt under there. There's another little bucket there. Lots of canes and things. This is all really good, really positive. There's loads of good stuff under here. I think if I remember correctly, there was a little table and chairs on here as well, which I might uncover at some point. But I think I need to stop because it's getting really late now and I've been here for hours and I could just stay here for like three weeks in a row and not go home and sleep in my shed. Spiders don't even bother me right now. Like seriously, I would just stay here. That's how determined I get when I get like a new project. I just get stuck in. I can't seem to stop myself. I don't know how interesting this vlog will be. I hope it's interesting and I hope that you find it exciting too. I can't wait to share all of this new content with you. Welcome to my new allotment plot, my new project. So follow along, subscribe to my channel, share with a friend if they just got an allotment plot and they need some inspiration, motivation. I'm going to share my entire journey with you. Of course, would I do anything else? I will see you in my next vlog. See you next time guys. Bye.