FEEDING THE BIRDS IN THE WINTER / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

Can you see the sign there saying let's scrap fly tipping and then right next to it. A little bit ironic wouldn't you say. I'm pretty sure they're just leaving all that there to clear their plot and to take it to the dump at a later date because it's easier to put it by the gate. Obviously it's quite a long walk to the allotment so I'm pretty sure that's not fly tipping but it just made me laugh seeing the sign go up and then all of that rubbish in a big pile. Hi guys how are you doing? I missed you on Monday and Wednesday just no Friday and Monday just because of the weather. I told you this time of year it's just miserable and we've had a lot of rain it's been really cold it's just not always easy for me to get here at this time of year. It's a little bit drizzly today but it's supposed to cheer up a bit and it doesn't feel too cold it's actually quite mild so I thought I would come down today and do something special at the allotment today. It's a bit of a special day for Einstein because I don't have, I was going to say I don't have a lot of work to do but I do have a lot of work to do. I just don't want to do it in this weather. If I'm honest I'd like to take a little bit of a step back from doing all the hard strenuous work. I say that now but in a couple of days time you will see me digging out an entire, oh my god did I just walk through a spider web, yeah in a couple of days time you will see me digging out an entire trench or something. That is just what I'm like I can't help myself. Right I expect it's going to be pretty empty today. No one's quite as crazy as me when it comes to coming here. Oh my gosh was there more wood chip? Did I miss a wood chip delivery? Holy smokes I did, I did. Are you kidding me? I've been waiting for ages and I've been here almost every single day and the first time I stay away for like five days there's a wood chip delivery. Are you joking? Are you kidding me? Massive wood chip delivery and I wasn't here the first time that I wasn't here. Gutted, gutted does not cover it and look, look what they've done to their lovely pathways. Oh my goodness look how lovely it looks with all the fresh wood chip. I didn't get any of it. Typical or what? I'm gonna have to end up buying my own wood chip, I know I am, it's so annoying because it's so expensive and I can't find anywhere that delivers for free to my allotment plot. Like I've contacted loads of people but no one's got back to me so I'm gonna end up having to buy a load of bags and drag them here. So frustrating but I'm excited to see the plot today. I haven't been here for a while like I said so let's go see it together. This is now what the majority of allotments look like on my site, all nice and covered over. A lot of people use ground sheet, it's a very effective way of just covering over your bed, stopping all the weeds from growing and warming up the soil early in the spring as well. Yeah loads of people do this and it is honestly fantastic just for covering over beds and then you uncover them again. There's a good example down here actually, she does it really well. Yeah this is one of my favourite examples of covering over your beds with ground sheet because some of them you can see that she's sort of left, she's still got some things growing in there but she leaves the grass around it for wildlife and stuff which I just really like and it's very neat and you can see that the beds are going to be really well looked after under there. She's going to uncover it later on, grow into the beds, just a fantastic way of using ground sheet I think. There's another example using it over your raised beds and putting some bricks down, stopping them from flying away. That'd be so much easier to manage when it comes to the springtime as opposed to just like covering your entire plot and then just trying to grow over the top of the ground sheet which I just think is weird personally but and it's obviously causing me a bit of a headache trying to pull it all back up on my new plot now but yeah there are, there is a good way of using ground sheet and there's a bad way of using ground sheet. Here's another example super quickly just while we're here you can see here that there's ground sheet down but he's cut some holes in and put the strawberry plants into the holes of the ground sheet and that's going to stop loads of things from happening so it's going to stop the strawberries from rotting on the mud and it's going to keep all the weeds away it's going to allow you easily to see the runners on the strawberry plants and it's just a really great way of using ground sheet to grow through the ground sheet but you can very clearly see that this has not been planted on top of the ground sheet he's cut holes into the ground sheet and he's growing into the soil underneath just another great fantastic way of using ground sheet at your allotment plot in a way that doesn't damage the environment too much you know I just think there's a way of using it and there's a way not to use it and just laying it down everywhere in random places and just hoping it kills everything I just think you know you don't want to be growing over plastic so there's a way of using it effectively and a way of not using it right we're on my plot now here we go we're doing it we're doing it wow I worked hard last time I was here didn't I didn't I have covid last time I was here how did I do this so we've built this little wall of sticks last time that we were here what I'll do behind it I've got some ground sheet down I would chip that over so that we stop weeds from coming up there um and this should really help with the environment should help with insects it's a nice little place for them to go it also has cleared this path here so I can now walk directly onto my new plot and here is my new plot how fantastic it's looking really good it's looking good yeah I'm happy with the work that I did last time I didn't realize I did so much sometimes I just get in the zone and I just can't seem to stop um and then I look I come back the next time I'm like oh my goodness look how much I did yeah fantastic right like I said we've got some stuff to do for Einstein today it's not the greatest weather in the world and I don't really want to get too muddy today just not feeling it so Einstein business it should be a laugh as well so stay tuned very very very first thing I'm going to do when I get here um just so that you're not shouting at your screens again is put my keys in my bum bag and zip it up right so as you know I work with cool job gloves I always bring my pair of cool job gloves but this time I'm going for a different one that they sent me so these are bamboo cut resistant gloves and so you can see him there just like what's he doing what is that I think it's a courgette I think it's grating a courgette and I think the idea is that you can't cut your fingers with these gloves they're made from bamboo or something but the reason I brought them is because they're more like winter gloves they are massive I think they sent me a big size yeah large it's cold so I thought they'd sort of serve as like gloves but also hopefully I won't hurt myself today on anything because they're sort of quite strong so if you fancy a pair of those as always I've got the link below to cool job gloves and the just use the discount code at checkout and it should give you a discount there you go so I've got these on today yeah we're going to do some tool stuff some like DIY stuff today oh yes we are very exciting firstly where is Einstein all right let's go rummaging in my shed and try and get what we need the problem is the spiders there's so many in there at the moment and I hate them and I know I know they can't hurt you but I hate them and that's a problem so just don't like them I don't trust them don't enjoy being around them there's lots of reasons why I don't like them but mainly it's just I'm scared of them that's what it is oh sorry why am I apologizing to them so weird right we got the saw now we need the hammer again apologized that's just my natural reaction when I'm scared of something I just say sorry to it maybe it forgives me and run away I don't know we are going to have to tackle that at some point I cannot just have a shed there and not use it like it's just so ridiculous I don't know why they just moved in they've just moved in in their droves this year I don't know why right we've got a saw we've got a hammer is that a saw yes it's a saw yes we've got take off the bum bag let's get to work remember how I said I want to create like an area here for oh god hang on will you just stay still is that all right everyone right everyone hold your breath so that doesn't move okay remember how I said I want to create like an area here for Einstein and I want to use this it's a bit wobbly now though no I do want to use this I want to use this and I birdhouse area so this is what we're going to create today now I think the idea is going to be and this is a very rough very rough you know I wouldn't do an e-course on this or anything you know this is all logic coming from my own brain into reality so the idea is going to be to cut that quite neat you know like straight right then I'm going to put a bit of wood on it I've got wood everywhere so I'll find some wood I'm going to hammer the wood to it then I'm going to stick the birdhouse on top of the wood and hammer that to it and that's what we're going to do and there he is and there he is listening away Einstein doing something for you oh god has he just finally had enough of me where is he where are you I'm going to TikTok this later as well but I'm only going to show it if it goes right so everyone on TikTok thinks I'm amazing and then you come over here and you say I don't know what I'm doing you saw that cross hit it with a hammer what a great idea that is guess the tune that was jingle bells if you didn't know right okay next part of the plan there he is there he is he's here Einstein there you are I thought do you know what I thought I brought all this for you and you've disappeared where has he gone now has he gone I was over there all right cool god I thought I've done all this for him and he's only gone and been eaten by the cat how rude would that have been after I brought you a Christmas present for you to go and be eaten by Rocky what am I building you are you excited what am I building you this is where it gets a bit complicated Einstein don't go flapping around me like a bird because you'll put me off I won't know what I'm doing like I said don't go flapping around me are you up taking risks Einstein how much of a risk taker are you you just pooed in my compost god maybe I should just build you a toilet bird toilet I literally just hit that and a load of mud and water went in my eye I don't think that's safe Einstein at the moment hang on don't go on that Einstein it's a bit of a death trap at the moment I only brought three nails with me which is a bit silly because you should always bring more than you need because it's always more than I think I need because I don't know and if you don't know how could you know how many to bring if you don't know here we go big reveal of my birdhouse I'm just going to plonk it on the top it's so cute it's so cute love it I found it in TK Maxx it was 16.99 reduced from about 35 quid so in TK Maxx you know how everything's like on offer whatever or reduced from real retail price so it's 16.99 isn't it lovely isn't it lovely it's so cute and then after Christmas I can just take the wreath off and it'll just be it's just my first edition for rocket for uh Einstein hopefully not for Rocky my goodness can you imagine look at these guys I hope these guys don't get their hands on it it's not for you it's definitely not for you right we've got to secure it because we don't want him falling off so once again it's nails I'm afraid I'd say that's secure he's only little Einstein he's only like a robin you know he's not gonna he's not unless he puts on a lot of weight very quickly you know I mean like the weight of like a pigeon I've never seen a robin look like a pigeon so I'm assuming they can't put on that much weight but you might after what I put in here look what I brought guys right one of these things I picked up first and I was like yeah I can do that that's fine and that is this that is Robin and Songbird seed mix so there's sort of all different sort of seeds and stuff in there and sweet corn and all the rest of it the other thing I picked up I was like I don't know how this is going to go down I don't want to do it I'm scared of it I hate it it's disgusting but a lot of you said this is their favorite and it's dried I can't even put it near to my face it's so gross um dried mealworms look at them like spaghetti I know he's not a vegetarian because I've seen him eat a spider so I know he'll eat that and he'll really like it and I know at this time of year that they're supposed to really eat fatty things and stuff to like really fill them up so um unless he just likes spiders in which case he's on his own I could just leave my shed open for him couldn't I it would have been easier all right I'll put some mealworms around it oh this is so gross I can't even my god they're literally dead worms oh oh Einstein how can you eat this oh the god they oh hang on a second they smell of peanuts they smell of dry roasted peanuts why do they smell of that are they like this product may contain peanuts this product may contain peanuts it's a hundred percent dried mealworms but it may contain peanuts I could smell peanuts mealworms eat peanuts then why is that smell why why would it have peanuts in it that is so weird that's so weird no I wasn't expecting that I tell you what all the things I was expecting with a bag of dried mealworms I wasn't expecting peanuts I'm almost tempted to eat one no I won't I can't do that sorry I can't there's some things I'll do and some things I won't I won't do that right mealworms oh that's so gross no that ain't right that's disgusting it just is just gross where is he where's he gone Einstein it's not here it's always blooming here where is he it's always here and then today he's not here can I just say right I knew I knew he wouldn't turn up today he's been here every single day and I've even seen him today right I've actually seen him I knew he would disappear the second this was done I just knew it I just knew he wouldn't bother turning up he does it on purpose I knew it I knew it plays with me all the time I'm gonna rake something because he might he sort of associate that with food so I'm gonna rake something I blooming knew he wouldn't show up I knew it I knew the second I knew it so leaf piles getting nice and high though I forgot how many trees I've got now um because I've got a new one on my plot over there and notice I don't think it's strictly mine but all the leaves fall down so I've got more leaf mulch over there which is great really I mean it's free and it's good for the garden so I'm not going to complain right I've been here for ages and he's not showing up can you believe it can you believe it I do all that for him do all that for him and does he show up no he doesn't show up to his own party what kind of bird does that hey Einstein that's who Einstein I'm all set up and ready to film him but he's not here I can hear him is that him where are you he's not showing up guys it's just not here there's loads of them but I don't think any of them are Einstein I think they're impostors traitors anyway sod the bird anyway we made it for him he might he will come and eat that you know I'm sure he'll like it he's just not here today it's just very odd for him not to be around but I guess the weather has been really bad and I've not been here for a few days so um I was going to check on the sprouts next week early next week I'm going to harvest my sprouts ready for Christmas and what I'm going to do is I'm going to put them all in the freezer and freeze them now I know that they have had some frost and snow obviously sprouts and a lot of brassicas they get sweeter um when they get cold because um they turn their starch into sugar to try and keep themselves alive it's like their own little antifreeze so if you can harvest like things like um brassicas and even parsnips and carrots if you harvest them after the frost they're usually a bit sweeter so I know we've had some frost but I'm still going to whack them in the freezer for a bit but they are absolutely fun flipping tastic what great sprouts and the thing is I didn't even sort of do very much to this bed I mean you've seen me other than pulling all the leaves off the bottom of them you know I've pretty much left them untouched they're not even staked or anything really I mean this one here look he's just growing straight up all by himself behind me here I've got some savoy cabbage which is delicious and that's going to be part of my Christmas harvest as well um I love savoy cabbage I think there's something about the texture of the leaves it's just really nice and if you cook it right and you don't overcook it it has quite a nice little crunch to it which I just love so I've got a couple of those all three actually that I can harvest I don't know what that is is that another cauliflower yeah it's a very mini cauliflower possibly I could harvest him or I might just leave him for the I'm going to leave it there today because it is miserable weather it is raining and I can't do too much here today because I'm just going to get covered in mud I just wanted to really quickly say that sometimes I do get the opportunity to work with brands on these videos and I have taken a couple of brand deals which will be coming up over the next couple of weeks so they're going to be basically a minute of the video of me talking about a brand who I think you'll really enjoy and it's relevant to my channel and I think it's something I just want to talk about I don't hate them very often as you know it is Christmas so I've had quite a few offers I've only chosen two that I want to work with and they'll be going up in the next week it's just going to be a minute of the video and then the video will be a normal allotment video for you to enjoy so I really hope that you'll enjoy that and find some interest from it and find some use from it I do create a lot of free content I know that sometimes people don't enjoy the adverts but you can just skip forward a minute and then enjoy my usual free content for you and yeah I just wanted to let to give you a heads up and let you know that I've just taken a couple of brand deals I think you'll like them it's only a minute of the video and I'm going to be putting up lots and lots of content over December as well as much as I can considering the time of year for you to enjoy and watch and give you a bit of joy in your life so thank you so much for all your support as always of these videos thank you for buying my planner thank you for buying my merchandise thank you for leaving me such lovely advice and comments and stuff it all goes in I really appreciate it I wouldn't be here without you guys I wouldn't be able to make all these videos without you guys and I hope that you're enjoying my channel and yeah I will see you again on Friday for another allotment video it's not going to rain tomorrow so I'm going to get down here and do some proper work on that plot over there so stay tuned for that and I'll see you again on Friday have a lovely rest of your gardening week see you later bye