FREEZING COLD DAY AT THE ALLOTMENTS / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

[Music] can you imagine what why is there two of you why have you gone playing me for a fool [Music] now good morning everyone welcome back to my allotment Diaries my name's Emma these are my allotment Diaries I am taking on two allotment plots now in South London it's one heck of a mass space but I am slowly getting ready for the springtime um things are getting done which is always a good thing such a beautiful calm tranquil day on the allotment plot it's freezing it's absolutely freezing I think it's - 2 today so I am very very cold I'm wearing about 15 layers but it's blue skies it's sun and it's just it's just gorgeous it's just beautiful there's something very calming and exciting about seeing a plot like this at this time of year when it's just empty and nothing's growing and it's just all the possibilities of what it will become in the springtime in the summertime and gosh that's just what I'm feeling right now just standing here just looking at it just looking at both my plots I just feel like really hopeful and inspired and excited is there ever a better sight than an empty allotment plot ready to plant into and then if I come around to this one look at this it's just so exciting I cannot wait look the archway is ready to go the beds are empty think we'll get Einstein fed first go can you hear that it's all kicking off over there I don't know what's going on a bird situation unfolding bird emergency oh dear come stay right there see gosh stop or netting it do the same thing is that fleece I don't know if this is fleece or netting what's the difference between fleece and netting I don't know I should know that same thing no that must be it that must be fine oh dear four years and I still don't know what the difference between fleece and netting is terrible so the reason I have tried to find some fleece or netting or something that will keep out Frost is because I am a little bit concerned about my plants down here on my original plot um so in this bed here I have got some Perpetual spinach some rainbow chard and these are my pride and joy at the moment um because they're the only thing growing and these are my purple sprouting broccolis they are utterly Frozen utterly Frozen I don't even know how I'd begin to bring these back to life and obviously all of these are frozen too now I know that this can handle a little bit of cold and Frost and stuff but I don't know how much it can handle and I feel like it probably can't handle that but that's just me going sort of logically because it's just Frozen if I was that Frozen I wouldn't be able to handle that I can just about handle this sort of like cold now like I'm frozen now you know if it got much colder I think i' be a snowman so I if I can't handle it plants probably can't and they can handle a bit more than me but I don't know I just I got a feeling I just got a feeling that they need helping so I need to get some sticks and luckily I've got my little stick area now so let's go let's go to the stick [Music] area [Music] stick [Music] [Applause] sck one more [Applause] can we all just appreciate the fact that that was the first time I've ever used my new stick area and it was a joy and it worked and it's um it's my new favorite thing ever I think so right we need the sticks to hold up the netting um to keep the frost off of the snow that sounds like a nursery rhyme we need the sticks to hold the net and to keep the frost off the plants maybe I should write some gardening songs to remind you of all the jobs you have to do that'd be a good idea wouldn't it gardening songs with them I I'm procrastinating let's do it I'm procrastinating because I'm thinking how are those sticks going to go in that ground when it's frozen over it's not going to be as easy as I think I'm procrastinating oh no okay okay it's all right it's fine it's fine far I can get that oh no snaap that one but hopefully that still be all right oh it's frozen solid there Not Too Tall anymore is it I've got enough sticks it's all right to break a few I'm going to shake them I don't know if it's a kill them or not but I feel [Applause] like they just need a hug you know just to warm up warm up guys warm up come on all right I think that's going to help going to do anything it's not well we'll just put the fleece over it now it didn't help we didn't need them need the sticks I don't need the sticks do not need the stick H looking at that now I'm thinking do I actually need the sticks I don't think it needs to be raised I actually think it could just lie over it and keep them alive a lot of other people around here have done that a lot of other people around here have just laid like fleece or like netting just straight over their crops to stop the frost they haven't like built structure so maybe I don't need a structure I'm going to take the structure down go never thought I'd be saying that I'm going to take a structure down I love a good structure but I don't think that's necessary so right cuz all we want to do is stop Frost from developing on top of the plants so don't think I need the [Music] s [Music] [Music] now that I'm thinking about it the plants are not in like active growing time so they're not actively going to start growing anytime soon until the weather warms up they're kind of like sleeping they're like hibernating so if I just put it over it like that I don't think it'll disrupt the plants I don't think I'm not an expert but I think that's going to keep the frost off and um give them a good chance that's all you can do with your plants sometimes just give them a good chance and hope for the best that's what I do all the time to be [Music] honest so I know I S of said I might do some planting today and put some fruit bushes in um but the the ground is so heavily Frozen there's no point doing that at all so what I'm actually going to do and I'm quite glad that I've got this time now where I can definitely spend on this is I'm going to start tidying up sh rubbish a little bit what I'm going to do is chop some of it up because it's too big for me to get rid of as it is and stressing me out if I can chop this up enough to get it into bin bags I can collect the bin bags up and start taking them home one by one and then disposing of them that's probably the best thing to do I reckon so I'm going to chop them up really small and make a little pile and then I'll bring some bin bags next time um or use some of those compost bags actually that I cut cuz a lot of you always have a go at me for the way that cut open compost bag so I have started cutting them open at the front like at the top so I can use the bag as a bin bag which I think is genius I love anything like that so thank you for the tips and I have started doing it now this is just one of those reality of allotment life jobs that every alotment will have to do at some point is dispose of rubbish it's not fun it doesn't feel like gardening but it is [Music] necessary there he is my little helper's come my little helper's come cuz he probably feels sorry for me he's like what is she doing now what's she doing with all this oh I don't like seeing you sitting on all that rubbish you know Einstein it's not nice is it doesn't feel nice seeing you sit [Music] there is that you Einstein yeah it is thought it was a rat these big thick black plastic um ground sheet things I found these when I first took on this first plot and they have been an absolute nightmare for me ever since I did try to use them once on the ground and cover them with u wood chip but they don't sit flat they're all like bent out of shape and they're really really thick plastic like this is not made for going on the ground I don't even know what this is made for but it's been a nightmare since I first got here and I've never been able to get rid of them cuz they're so big and I don't know why I didn't think just to cut them up into smaller pieces I think it would have saved me so much hassle but this is the bit of rubbish these ground sheets that I stress about the most and I hate and I always worry about what on Earth how I'm going to get rid of them where I'm going to put them I've just hidden them for the last couple of years i' just hidden them out outside from all the filming but this is the year I'm going to get rid of them they need to go Einstein what are you doing I don't know why he's looking for worms here I haven't done any digging or anything where have you gone I was over there now yeah I haven't done any digging he just wants to be around me he just loves me what why is there two of you have you got a friend Einstein wait which one of you is Einstein which one of you is Einstein Einstein I think it's you I know it could be you there's two of them just for ease I'm going to call both of you Einstein okay I hope you don't mind Einstein 1 Einstein 2 oh my gosh where you going oh yeah so I start collecting it up into uh these old compost bags which I've cut at the top you'll be happy to know I used to go straight through the middle cuz it's fun it's fun to do that but um I do need to think more practically and they do make quite good rubbish bags so I've chopped all of that one up the the uh old poly tunnel cover needs to be chopped up that needs to go that needs to go all of that needs to go the whe Barrow probably needs to go but I might use it as a planter again I don't know not the most exciting exciting aot job in the world is it to clear up the rubbish but like I said it is necessary you do find so much rubbish when you're clearing a new allotment plot it's just everywhere and it does become a little bit disheartening I think because you've you've done so much and you've cleared it all and then you just left with this big pile of rubbish and it's just yeah it's rubbish basically the rubbish is rubbish I'm absolutely freezing but I'm wondering if there's just one more job I can do before I go home I think it'd just be nice just to answer a couple of your questions about this um my giant pumpkin Archway this is what that's this is going to be basically um it's my old poly tunnel frame that's what it is it's not an array that I brought but if I was going to buy an array and it was going to be this big I'll probably purchase quite a good quality one because it's going to hold a lot of pumpkins and I don't want it to fall off or anything like I don't want the pumpkins to bring the whole structure down basically so the idea with the pumpkin Arch this year is that I will reinforce this structure really really well I'm going to use poles chicken wire over across it across the top of it or maybe Garden mesh it's a little bit um Garden mesh and chicken wire are different things and I didn't realize this until I purchased chicken wire chicken wire is like wire basically and it's really hard and quite firm and garden mesh is plastic and it's like a little bit little bit more give to it I think Garden mesh might be better just because the pumpkins will be able to sit on it and not like it will give way a little bit like a hammock do you know what I mean um but yeah I I'll go into that more when I actually make the pumpkin Archway stronger but I'm going to reinforce the whole thing I've got two beds either side of it so we had this giant bed here and then I have that little bed on that side the um little bin thing there will not be there um and I've got a pathway through the middle and the idea will be to plant the pumpkins on the inside and the outside and see which ones do better so I might have a couple of plants on the inside of the pumpkin array and a couple of plants on the outside I reckon I'll get four along each side that might be being ambitious I don't know um but some will be in the middle some will be on the on the outside and then hopefully we'll have an equal number of pumpkins hanging down and sitting on the top as well and it should cover the entire Archway without with pumpkins which would be just magical wouldn't it can you imagine and look at the size of it I mean just look just look at the size of this Arch way can you imagine can you just imagine the pumpkins hanging down climbing over just walking through it like this is quite solid in the ground I've really dug it in yeah it is quite solid in the ground I did dig it in really well when we had that storm and I didn't want it to blow away um but it will need more reinforcing just to make sure the pumpkins don't fall off it or bring the structure down it's also and I'm sure you've noticed we're already getting sun on it um and it's only January and this is already quite a sunny part of the plot so pumpkins need a lot of sun and I think I've chosen a good area for the arch Ray to go I do think it is going to get probably more Sun than my old Arch Ray did over there and that always does really well so I reckon this one is going to be like amazing positivity keeping positivity high at the moment um it's going to be my biggest challenge yet though it's it's the biggest I've ever done it's a lot of space to fill and um it could go very right or it could go very very wrong I'm hoping it's going to go right and I will grow other things in the beds as well the beds are quite big so there will be other plants in there maybe some flowers or something I think there's going to be a lot of flowers in this plot what are you doing up there put me off that's what you doing he's putting me off I don't know they're all surrounding me now but all these mates here what Li it's Taking Liberties now with all the uh the food he got all his mates together gosh Einstein playing me for a full now right I am Frozen I'm actually Frozen my fingertips I can't feel them anymore I've only been here for 45 minutes and it's like I'm out I need to leave so I'm going to wrap up the Vlog there I think today it's going to be a shorter one if you are every time I say um that it's really cold someone always sends me a picture of their allotment plot covered in snow and I'm like yep you win um but it is very very cold here we haven't had snow so far we might get snow next week um I don't know if we will or if we won't if we do then I'm going to have to think of something else to do for these videos because I won't be gardening in the snow um I'm not a fair weather Gardener but I draw the line at snow cuz there's just nothing for me to do I hope you enjoyed the Vlog today if you did do subscribe to my YouTube channel and I will see you again in my next vlog thank you so much for watching and see you next time bye