STARTING A NEW ALLOTMENT PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

Right so day two of digging out the new allotment plot. Good morning my fellow allotmenters, welcome back to my allotment channel. If you're new here my name's Emma, I have got an allotment plot here in South London and I very recently, literally last week just taken on my second plot which is right next door to my plot and that is what I'm going to try to get into shape ready for planting out in the springtime. So it's very overgrown, it needs a lot of work, it's a lot bigger than my allotment plot at the moment, it's a massive massive challenge. If you are interested in following my journey with my brand new allotment plot do subscribe to my channel so you don't miss any of my uploads. I'm going to be uploading a lot of what I'm doing with the plot basically. I think I will condense them into how-to's later on, as soon as I figure out how to do it I will post a video on how to do it. It's been a long time since I turned an allotment plot from an overgrown mess into something like productive and actually like with structure in, so it's yeah it's harder than I remember. Luckily I do have a few advantages of the plot, firstly I've observed it for four years so I know where the light shines and I know what needs doing and I know the trees need to come out and stuff like that, and secondly it's covered in a weed membrane which actually is a blessing because there's no weeds underneath it and it's just what's grown over the top like bindweed and a few blackberry canes and stuff like that so it's really good. So I was here over the weekend and I did do a little bit of work on it with my husband, I brought him down he's very excited, oh my god is that a massive spider web in my shed? No no no no we've got to leave, we've got to go, we've got to go. They're everywhere this year the spiders, actually the spiders have been bigger than ever before which I think is like a result of our British summer, something to do, I was reading an article online about it but basically the spiders are bigger than ever. Anyway we had a massive storm last night, I forgot to tell you um and it has affected my plot, we had like really heavy rain, it's amazing what damage rain can do particularly to the plot at this time of year when everything's falling down, you know like the rain has pulled down this borage plant which was already kind of on the way out but the rain has really just you know pushed it down um and then we've got the pumpkin arch that needs to come out very very soon. The plot here is actually looking all right and and you know what it's looking better than ever because my second plot is that one there which just looks awful so let's let's go over and see what I've done. So you might notice the difference from last week, I have chopped down a lot more of it um and you can see that there's more of a clear kind of pathway onto it now which is really good. I found, I found all of these um like logs, like tree branches and stuff like that which are really good, really strong, really good condition um and this is everything that I've pulled down so far, I'm just putting it over here in a pile, hopefully that'll die back soon but this is um the size of the plot, it's absolutely massive, you can now see there's a clear pathway through to my old allotment plot so I am starting to integrate the plots together, I want it to be kind of seamless, I want it to look like one gigantic plot so most of this will have to come out at some point which is a shame but a lot of you were commenting saying does it have to come out, I just I think it does, it's too big, it's too overgrown, it gives too much shade and um I will leave some of the tree obviously because the birds love it but I can't keep all of that, it is a lot, it is a bit like a mini forest and it's just not gonna work with an allotment plot growing vegetables, however look what I found in here, I found a little tree which is definitely staying, this is an apple tree, I think it's a gala apple tree, not 100% sure, had absolutely no idea that this was here, like no idea whatsoever that this was here, I have to watch my step here because it's not cleared, it's a little bit dangerous but yeah I think it's a gala apple tree, if it's oh god is that the web, I keep putting my hand in the web, um if it's not a gala apple tree I don't know what it is but the apples are delicious and they are perfectly ripe at the moment as well which is amazing, I think to know if an apple's ripe or not you just twist it, yeah it just comes off, yeah they're really really good apples, they um we took a couple home and washed them and ate them and they're absolutely delicious, um the only thing with this tree unfortunately is that he's a little bit bent over, he's just been neglected, he hasn't been staked and he's sort of fallen over a little bit um and now he's sort of grown that way so I don't know whether the idea is to prop him up more or try and get him to go straight again, I'm not really sure, that is a mystery but it's a very fun find, I'm very excited, there's also a bunch of pallets over there I've just seen which would make a very nice bug hotel, if I could keep this as a bit of a wildlife area even once I've removed some of the tree that would be really nice, also seems to be a fire pit thing, what they called an incinerator over there which is very exciting but yeah a lot of this needs to be all chopped back still as you can see, it is exciting, it is exciting what you find in an allotment plot, it's almost like you just uncover something and um everything on the plot you inherit it's yours so the apple tree is now officially mine, you know it's not like I have to dig it up and give it to the old owner or anything, it's mine, anything I find on this plot is mine, that also counts for things like rubbish or um anything that I have to get rid of but it also counts for things that I can keep and I can use so it's really exciting, I find it exciting anyway um we are planning a dump run, we've got to get rid of a load of rubbish and stuff like that but today I think I'm going to work on my new plot because I'm too excited, I can't stop, I was here for hours at the weekend, I just could not stop, my Robin's back, oh there he is, he's sitting up there keeping watch, singing away, I think he's happy because he knows he's about to get a lot of worms, right so day two of digging out the new allotment plot, um not all of my videos will be about my new plot, I am going to focus on this one too because this one's got a lot of work to get like ready for the autumn time as well, um what do I need, I need my thick gloves so I've got really thick ones, like I always say guys I've got a discount code for these gloves below, go and check it out, my discount code is emmaglove, emmaglove and the link to them is below so you can get some money off these, they're very very good quality gloves, I've also got my rusty shears for chopping things down but I also brought with me, you'll be happy about this, an actual rake with an actual handle which is always useful to have a handle, my other rake does not have a handle, this one has a handle so that's good for raking stuff up obviously, don't know why I said that, there we go, a better quality shovel, this is from my home garden so I've got a couple of tools here which I think will hold me in good stead, I'm not a massive tool person, like I don't really understand tools, if I can do it by hand I'll do it by hand but that's just me, I don't know, I think I'm just a bit afraid of tools, I just don't really understand them you know, a lot of you guys keep leaving me comments saying like where do I start with my new allotment plot, what do I do, the truth is I don't know, I just get stuck in and just do it, I think one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is firstly to remove weeds that are really big and really well rooted and get rid of them because those are the ones that are going to cause you problems, so things like brambles, bindweed and these awful horrible ornamental grasses, I've got one behind me, so a great piece of advice actually that I can give you right now and I think this sort of applies to life in general as well as most as most gardening advice does, do the worst job first, do the job that you are putting off putting off dreading first because once you've done it it really motivates you, so the job that I'm dreading is taking out these blooming ornamental grasses, I don't want to do it, I hate doing it, it's such a slog, I'm going to do it now, I'm going to do it first, it's going to be the first thing that I do, that's my advice, that's why I'm not a life coach see, I don't know what I'm talking about really, you don't need a life coach, just get an allotment plot, that's your life lessons right there, that one right there, that's been taunting me all weekend, that was taunting me, I hate him, I hate him, yes you can hate a plant, it's fine, I'm dreading him, so I'm going to get him up now one of the reasons why I think this plot has failed so many times and it has had like three owners since I've had my plot, so three owners in four years, but one of the main reasons I think it's failed is because people don't put in this level of work and I really don't want to come across as you know I know it all or condescending because it's really hard work and I know it's incredible hard work, it's backbreaking work you know, but it really is no good just to cover it with a weed membrane and hope for the best and turn up twice, two or three times, there are weeds in here that really need digging out from the root or they're just going to regrow and respawn everywhere, I just don't think anyone who's taken this plot on has actually had the commitment and the determination to get it into shape and to keep it into shape as well and I think that's the only problem with this plot is that it just hasn't had the work that it's needed, I just think that's all it needs, it just needs some love and attention, that's what I intend to give it, blooming raining now isn't it, oh look who it is Mr Rocky, come on out the rain then, come in out the rain, you okay rocks, yeah I mean rocks are hiding in the shed now because it's raining, it didn't say it was going to rain today but then it did, so what can we do Rocky, what can we do, well actually do you know what I am actually just going to go out and work in the rain but you I'm not sure what you're going to do, no, when I get a new shed I'm going to get a little bed for Rocky, a little area for him, yeah I am, I can't do it in this shed because it's too small and also I'm just a bit scared of my shed because it's just full of spiders, oh sorry rocks, I just want to keep going, I just don't want to stop you know, I just don't want to stop you, well I keep finding a lot of these like logs, I want to say trunks, tree trunks, I think this means that whoever was here probably a while ago actually before my time, before my time, probably did trim the tree back a bit and they sort of used it as a mini sort of fence, so it was all just lying along here between our plots, I actually didn't know and look you can see there's loads still in there as well, that's a lot of natural material to build either a fence around here or some structures for growing stuff, so it's really good, it's really positive, you know that I love a good natural tree trunk, yeah I'm really happy with that, so I am discovering quite a lot, this is the next beast that I hate, that I'm really dreading and I feel like this should be my next challenge, it's another blooming ornamental grass, isn't it nasty, it's horrid isn't it, oh my gosh look at the size of it, I'm going to give it a go, look and stay at me, look at my hair, oh my god, this is allotment reality at its finest, the good thing about this plot at the moment is there's so many different jobs to do that as soon as I get bored of one I can move on to another job and I really feel like chopping something down, so I think I'm going to go around there and just chop a few things down and see if I can discover anything new, because that's quite fun and that's always quite motivating I think, so I feel like Einstein is the one that's trying to tell me to go home now, I've been here for three hours guys, are you trying to tell me to go home Einstein, we've done a lot guys, we've done a lot, we've been here for three hours, we've got out some of the worst of the weeds that are sort of joining our plots together, and yeah I think actually I feel like I've actually made good progress today, yeah I really feel like I can see the plot starting to take shape, I can see what I want it to be, which is really really weird to say because obviously it's still very overgrown, but yeah I'm getting there, look at the rainbow, oh wow, I feel like this is another sign, this is another sign guys that I'm on the right track, I really hope these vlogs are going to be inspiring to you, if nothing else hopefully they will motivate you to get on with your plot, to inspire you, maybe just to show you what other people are getting up to on their plots, and how much work they're putting in, because sometimes you don't know how much work other people are putting in, you know, so hopefully now you can see how much work I'm putting in, but I don't feel like anyone else has put this level of work into this plot before, and I really think this is what it needs, it's obviously a massive massive space, but I really feel like it's going to work, it's just going to be incredible for me, and it's really going to give me a lot more room to work with. So in the next vlog I'm going to be working on my old allotment plot, starting to take some of the crops down, harvesting the rest of the pumpkins, all that malarkey basically, I hope you enjoy these vlogs, if you do subscribe to my channel, let me know anything in particular you want me to talk about, you want me to show you, you want to see on a new allotment plot, any information that you want to know about it as well, I'm happy to give out, and I will see you again in my next vlog which will be on Wednesday, see you Wednesday guys, thanks for watching, happy allotmenting, bye!