MAKING PROGRESS ON THE NEW ALLOTMENT PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

They are looking around and inspecting everyone's plot. Oh my nemesis, right on my fork. Good morning everyone, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name's Emma, these are my allotment diaries and as you can see by the name of this video I am taking on my second plot today so all the work that I do will be on my new allotment plot which is right next door to my old plot. There's still lots and lots of work to do so I can't wait to get stuck in. I feel very excited today and energised for some weird reason, don't know why. Maybe the weather's got something to do with it, so last night we had the most torrential rain in the UK, it was literally horrendous and it's knocked down a couple of like, my bunting is now gone, my fence got knocked down and I managed to put that back up but it was just horrendous so I'm so glad that I took the pumpkin archway down the other day because I think it probably would have fallen down. Today's weather is just such a massive contrast to the last time that I was here, the last time I was here it was really dark, really gloomy, really miserable and it kept raining on and off and today it's just absolutely beautiful, like it's so still, it's so quiet, you can hear the birds, there's blue sky, sun, it's just glorious and I'm just, maybe that's what's pumping me up a bit, making me more energetic, I don't know. But yeah, let's go have a look at the new plot. So my old plot is here, it's looking pretty original plot, I think we'll call it the original plot, I like that better. The original plot is here, it's looking pretty wrapped up, ready for going to bed over the autumn time really, not too much left to do on that plot. Is there a spider there? No, still got to watch out for spiders guys, spider season. And then if we just walk across a little bit, I'm now on my new plot. So as you can see, it's still a bit of a mess but you know what I was thinking on my way here, I've actually, I've seen a lot of other people's plots who have still got their plot and it doesn't look, and it makes my plot look a little bit better because like they haven't kept up with their plots this year for whatever reason and their raised beds look pretty much like that and they've like kept their plot, they haven't even, it's not even a new plot you know. What I'm trying to say is that there are worse plots out there, mine is not the worst plot on this site, even as it is right now, it's not the worst plot. So I think what I'm going to do today is start digging stuff out. Right, I'm ready, got my gloves on, got my giant hoodie on. This is what I actually wore when I dug out my original plot, just like great big hoodies every day and leggings, it's just the most comfortable gardening sort of outfit to wear really when you're having to like stretch and bend and squat you know. What a sight I must be. Look at that lighting, isn't that beautiful? Isn't autumn lovely? Because it's been raining all night long, I'm hoping that the ground is going to be nice and mushy so it's going to be quite easy going with digging it out. I think I'm going to use a shovel and a fork and just start trying to get some of those big horrible blackberry canes out, just all over here. So you can see there's a lot of canes in the ground, I think they will come out, I think they shouldn't be too difficult to get out, there's also some ivy that all needs to come out too and then these I think are little, ow, god, that's a horrible, horrible root. These here, I think these are raised beds made out of plastic which I don't like, I don't love them, so I'd like to get rid of these I think and try and figure out how to flatten all the soil everywhere and stuff because I don't like them, so that's what we're going to work on. Right let's see if my theory of rain loosening up the ground is correct or not, I think it is. So somebody did ask me a question saying why don't I just do no dig, well technically the whole thing is no dig because it's got ground sheet down and everything's just grown up, I think a lot of the weeds they just need to really come out, the plot's been abandoned for so long that if I've got any chance of growing on it for next spring I need to start actually getting rid of stuff properly and this root here is one of my nemesis. You see this white one, this horrible one, this is I think is either ivy root or bindweed, both of them are horrendous, bindweed is just something it will regrow from absolutely anywhere on the root so you have to get the whole thing out and ivy is horrendous as well. If I dig about in here I have a feeling that the darker stuff is actually ivy root and some of the lighter stuff is bindweed. You can see how stringy and long it is and how difficult it is to get the entire thing out because you're always going to miss a bit and when you miss bits it respawns, it grows back again, it's like Minecraft you know when you hit respawn and it all just comes back again and that's ivy root but yeah you've got to get the whole thing out and it's very hard to and they can get quite big as well so that's little, that's little ivy roots, this is a big one, oh no that's not, that's a bit of metal, I don't know what that is, that's another bit of metal, I'm talking rubbish, that's metal, that's like metal bits but it can, it can get quite big as well, you can get big bits, this bit here, this is definitely bindweed, that's bindweed, oh my nemesis, hate the stuff. Here you are, look at this one, look at him, come on then, you want him, it's a big one, you keep you full for a week, that one will Einstein, it'll really fatten you up, it's got too many, it's too much choice, it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet, you don't know where to start. There he is, I don't know if you can see him, he's just sitting up there. Einstein's been keeping me company, I say I'm digging away thinking, oh new allotment plot for me and he's looking, he's watching me thinking, brand new all-you-can-eat buffet opening, just around the corner too, yeah and it's free, all he has to do is keep me company, um yeah he's been loving life, just eating all the worms and stuff. I was right about the ground being really easy to dig in at the moment, it's fantastic time for digging, so I think what I'm going to do is tackle that one. I think the best thing to do, see I've done this little bit here, this little section, all right Einstein, I've done this little section here, the best thing to do is to work in sections, so the next section is going to be this raised bed and getting rid of it basically, so that's what I'm going to do now. Well Einstein, be careful, I've just woken up a bee, I was just digging and then a great big fat bumblebee came out, it's like a queen bee or something, oh god, Einstein be careful. You see the massive bumblebee, I was just digging and he was under the ground, don't really know what that means, oh sorry mate. That's the thing about a new allotment plot, you know like especially when it's so overgrown like this, wildlife is going to be displaced at times, because like it happened on my old plot as well, I had loads of wildlife and it all just had to find a new home, eventually you'll be able to come home again though mate, I promise. Okay, well I did get pretty far with this bed, I've dug out quite a few of the canes, but because I found the old bumblebee, I think I'll leave that now. Einstein can have a little munch, whatever he finds in there, and we will move on to, I think, what should we move on to guys, what do you think Einstein? Might just move on to another bed and just try and find a new bed. I don't know what this is, I feel like it's not weed, I feel like it's something that's been put in here on purpose, it probably grows into something amazing, but it's very invasive, the roots are absolutely horrendous, oh there goes my glove, yeah so this needs to come out, it's taken over the whole bed, I don't know what it is. Look at him, right on my fork, I need that Einstein, do you mind? I'm stumbling a little bit, whenever I start to sort of stumble around the plot a bit like this, it means I'm absolutely knackered, I've just been digging and digging and digging, I think actually this is the first time since I've been, I've taken this plot on and worked on it, I've actually noticed the difference before and after, oh it's you, leave Einstein alone you two, no fighting, no fighting, hello, hello, you're all coming to see me today, yeah don't you, don't you look at Einstein, I don't want any fighting with you two, here is the difference that I've made, I actually can see the difference that I've made today because I've started to dig out these things which I think have made a big difference and then I've sort of raked over all this and it's the first time that it's really starting to look clear and yeah I love it, oh my god, did you just jump up at me? I don't think I caught that on camera but he literally just jumped up at me, what's that all about then? I'm skulking off now, sulking, that's a sulk that is, I don't know what I've done, anyway I've made really good progress with the plot today, very very excited, I think I might pick some of those apples over there because they're looking really red and really good, right I might pick an apple and have a snack, I think I need a snack, time, it's don't die time, that'll do, no bugs, don't want to eat a woodlice even though that would probably be more protein wouldn't it, eating a woodlice, but not today, so good, so juicy, so I've had a couple of questions, I asked you on my last video of my new plot, if you have any questions for me leave them below and I'll answer them, I thought I'd answer them in a video just because I've been so busy recently as you can imagine, I just haven't had a chance to sort of answer in the comments, I do get quite a lot of comments which is fantastic and amazing but it's just I haven't had the time recently just to go through and respond to everyone, I'm quite a slow typer, so one of the biggest questions that I got across all of my social media channels actually was how did I manage to get this plot so quickly when the waiting list is so long, the honest truth is I don't know, this is a London plot, I'm in south London basically and I know that there is a waiting list and the waiting list is quite long but if you walk around my allotment site you'll see there are loads of plots a bit like this one was, completely overgrown, it's just not not been allocated, no one has them and I think a few people did come to look at this plot and for a while it did have an owner remember, so there was somebody tending to this plot, and they just didn't do a very good job, they didn't turn up, they didn't come back, so it all got overgrown but since then there have been a few people come and have a look at the plot and they're sort of walking around it and having a look and looking at the trees and discussing it and then they go and then to my knowledge no one's taken it on, so when I emailed the council about this plot I basically just said, I explained my situation, I said look it's been overgrown for a long time, it's coming onto my allotment plot, it's right next door, can I just take it, I'll have it, I'll look after it, and I think they were so relieved that somebody actually wanted the plot that they just said yes straight away. As far as I'm concerned, you know, if somebody else wanted it they would have taken it by now but a lot of people who are on the list and you know they've come around, they've looked at the plot, they didn't want it and it's sitting here completely unused, so I took it on, there we go, I mean if you want an allotment plot then maybe I think what the advice that I would give is don't wait for a perfect plot because there isn't one and even if a plot looks really overgrown and really crazy you can put it, get it under control and you can have a really productive plot, you know, like don't be afraid of that hard work, not that that's the reason why people didn't take it, I don't know why they didn't take it to be honest, they obviously didn't want it as much as I did so it's mine now. Second question is how much are the allotment plots? So I paid £110, £120 for my plot last year so I assume that this one would be a similar price so together it's about £220, £230 something like that and that's the whole year and it includes all the water here as well so the water's on a tap and they turn it on and I pay for that as well basically but I think it's a pretty good price, it's quite a lot of space, my garden isn't anywhere near as big as this at home so I'm just really thankful to have it and I think it's a fair price really for a London allotment plot. Those are the main three questions I think I've had so far so how did I get it so quick, how much is it and what do I intend to do with it? What I intend to do with it is basically what I did to my last plot over there. I love the structure of raised beds and things like this, I love being able to grow into designated spaces, it just makes me happy. Oh I've got some questions about the pond as well, the pond is still here, this is the pond, you can see the duckweed has really taken over but I think that's a good thing, I think that's a good thing. I don't know why, I just think it is. I might extend it or I might build another pond, I haven't decided yet, there will be a wildlife area in the other pond, obviously I don't want to you know forget about the wildlife. Oh yeah I just wanted to address one more thing, somebody left me a comment in my last video where I showed you the polytunnel that kind of collapsed and they looked at that frame and they said you know what that would make one heck of a pumpkin archway and I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, I'm seeing it now, the pumpkin's going over, that would be absolutely incredible, I could put that on my new plot and I'd basically have a ready-made archway, that would be amazing, I could have sweet peas up it and everything. That idea actually excites me more than a polytunnel, I mean I've done a polytunnel, I've you know grown the tomatoes, I've eaten the tomatoes and to be honest my neighbour's grown all his tomatoes outside this year and they've done fantastically. I like the idea of the giant archway, I think I might be doing that so thank you for that comment. I just met one of the like plot inspectors, he's coming around and like inspecting everyone's plot so I went and had a chat with him and said oh you know I've just taken this one on, please don't like judge it, but god why am I so awkward when I talk to people, like why am I so cringe, I hate that I just don't know what to say to people, that's why I do YouTube and stuff you know, that's why I don't have a real job. They are looking around and inspecting everyone's plot, that was another question that I got about plot inspections, the committee go round every so often and see your plot once a year, I think it's normally September, October time and they just see whose plot has been cultivated and who perhaps has let it go and then they give you a letter and say hey you need to look after your plot more or whatever, but yeah there are plot inspections and they are happening now so luckily I got off the hook with my new plot, but yeah let me show you a little bit what I've done today because actually it's quite a lot and I'm quite proud of it. So all this, all this here has been dug out and then I've started digging out these horrible raised bed things here and then if you just look at the plot it's actually looking just so much clearer and that's my great big pile of stuff over there that I need to get rid of and these are my little logs and trunks that I'm going to build stuff with so it's looking really good, I'm really happy with it. That sounded very sarcastic, I am very happy with it, I've done a good job today and I need to go home because I'm like stumbling around the place because I'm so tired and knackered. Well I will be back again after the weekend so I'll see you again on Monday with another exciting allotment adventure. Enjoy your plots, I hope this has inspired you and motivated you to to get working on yours and I'll see you on Monday. See you then guys, thanks for watching, bye!