HARVESTING HAS BEGUN! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

[Music] good morning everyone welcome back to my allotment Diaries my name is Emma these are the allotment Diaries um this is my allotment plot on South in South London um just to give you some context as to where I am in the world in the UK um I hope you all had a lovely weekend hope the weather was quite nice I haven't had it yet because I'm filming this in advance but hopefully I had a nice weekend too it rained last night it rained last night which really stressed me out it always rains at night and I think when it rains at night time that's the worst time for it to rain um in terms of Slug and snail attack because they love it at night time it's dark there's like hot the Predators can't see them it gets all rainy and wet they can come out they can munch on everything overnight and then by the morning time they've all gone back to bed or wherever they go in the day I don't know the snail club or whatever and um everything's dead so hopefully that's not the case I'm going to go and check on my pumpkins now and see if they're still alive after last night's rain wish me luck okay all pretty much alive I think I can't really see any slug of snail damage I can see a little bit on this one a little bit but not at the top which is quite good this one seems to be struggling a little bit it's had a bit of a snail attack there and on this side it's the same thing so these all seem to be doing really well but this one right on the end here he seems to be the one struggling I guess they can get to the ones on the end easier the sweet corn and both the sunflowers are doing really good they look absolutely fine haven't checked on the sweet peas for a while let's have a look what's going on these ones at the back seem to be doing okay but all of these ones around the front are in fact dead so I think replacing them all sort of didn't really cut the mustard to be honest is that saying cut the mustard why would you cut mustard don't know I don't know I don't think replacing them work so what I'm going to have to do is plant something else there I'm thinking runner beans or something just to have something covering this beautiful teepee I made because it seems like such a waste not to have anything growing over it you know i' love the idea of a lot of TP here so I'm going to have to put something else in so guys I get a lot of recommendations from people um lots of comments from you guys who watch the videos and then give me advice or send me stuff like on private messaging and stuff but can I just say I have never had the amount of messages about this one thing that I've had recently and that is because I've gone on and on and on about the Slugs and snails everyone has been emailing and messaging me to say to use porridge oats apparently this is an absolute foolproof Slug and snail deterent it stops them it kills them it just absolutely protects your crops like no like nothing else so CU you know usually I'll get like three or four comments or something like over the course of a week of people recommending one particular thing but no no it's literally been I've been inundated with people saying try porridge oats apparently it's an absolute miracle for stopping the Slugs and snails so we're going to use it around some of the things that are getting really badly attacked so that I can really see if it's wor if this works or not if it works this is genius these are so cheap to buy this is just a Morrison's own brand um really cheap I don't think they're fussy about the brand if they are they can get stuffed you know I mean they are getting stuffed that's point we want to stop them getting stuffed right so we're going to put these around some of my more vulnerable crops we'll give it a go and I can report back and let you know once and for all the porridge oats work so this is where I'm going to start with the POR experiment because this lovely da here is just being absolutely eaten to death um which is such a shame this one over here seems to be doing a little bit better so we're going to start here so from what I've seen from other people people doing this you're supposed to make like a circle around your most vulnerable crops and make sure there's no gaps in the in the circle no breaks in it the idea I think is that they come and eat this cuz they can't resist it and I absolutely love it and then they sort of die which is quite sad but you know I guess eat dying from eating porridge is better from than being chopped in half you know I don't know I don't know let's not get into that debate again a um but let's just hope that maybe that deters them a bit I'm going to put it all around my pumpkins as well because why [Music] [Applause] not that is an entire bag of porridge oats all over the pumpkins and over one of the da is only one da I've done because the others seem to be okay it seems to love that daia don't even know what that da is but it loves it um yeah officially in the oat the porridge oats Club so there we go I'm officially in the club I'll let you know how this goes well I don't particularly feel like this job today but I do feel like I should do a little bit of weeding just around Einstein's area because it has got very overgrown the reason I haven't been doing it and there is a reason guys I'm not just being lazy I actually scattered like three packets of of wild flower seeds here and it seems that nothing's happened like I can't see any of these being like wild flowers they just look like weeds to me there very well could be some wild flowers scattered in between here I know the Primrose are still here and a lot of the um the little violas are planted in pansies and things but I can't see anything that looks like wild flower seedlings so I'm just going to pull a bit of it up I think and just get it under control of it make it look a bit neater cuz it isn't a lot plot and you have to remember that it has to be sort of under some kind of control and anybody looking at that might think it's not and I've just left it to go to crap really so let's give it a little bit of a weed [Music] see [Music] [Music] and the Sun is slowly disappearing throughout this Vlog big surprise that I think we're only supposed to get sun first thing in the morning and then it's going to go away for the rest of the day I wish it would just come back and stay I really do I really do anyway I know I said it been raining yesterday and I've just done L loads of watering but I do think when you plant out very very little seeds like um spring onion and leak seeds they dry out very very quickly so I want to make sure because we had that heavy Sun this morning that they haven't just dried out that's how quickly they can dry out and die so you've really got to keep on top of your of your watering if you direct so anything um I think there are a few things that this plot ready to harvest that I've kind of missed I've missed so I'm going to go around and just have a little look because I think I've been so busy um thinking about the next thing to plant and the bigger crops that I've sort of neglected the fact that a few things have are ready to sort of pick so let's go have a look so firstly I was looking at the broad beans and thinking gosh they're very tall now they're getting very bushy and very tall I reckon we might have some broad beans on here so let's go have a look around around I'll let you know if I can find any oh there definitely some oh the snail there's definitely some BO beans on here I don't know if they're ready to harvest yet but there's definitely some BR beans there he is wow there you go it's a broad Bean let's see what they're looking like inside they're a little bit small at the moment but maybe they still taste all right if they're small no actually they are okay need start it out yeah really good just starting to see the broad beans begin to appear this is very very good news this means we're going to get a crop so no matter how straggly and sort of bad they are sort of looking in terms of like their appearance W look at that my gosh and we are starting to get some beans on them so that's good oh yeah look here we go some little tiny ones develop in there fantastic you see looks on everything guys looks on everything the broad beans look a little bit dismantled I don't know a little bit disheveled Maybe um but they are producing BR beans so this is great news okay the other thing I thought I saw was radishes let's go have a look would it surprise you to know that I actually forgot what these were I sort of whacked in a load of seeds really early in the year only two of the seeds that I whacked in germinated and I think both crops are radishes so these are radishes but these are nowhere near ready yet but you can tell the radishes because they got the little red stems on the bottom they're those little sparkler ones the little Bright Lights whatever they're called sparkler bright lights with the red the red radishes these are the same variety but they're they were planted a lot earlier in the year they just grow radishes they're amazing very easy crop to grow from a seed radishes right let's see if we can look see he looks a bit ready doesn't he wow look at him wow wow radish he's I probably pulled him up a bit early actually he could have done with a little bit more growing but he's had some slug damage unfortunately which is a shame but how cute how cute are these little radishes I buy these all the time from a shop from shops um all throughout the year which is terrible really but I think you can grow them all throughout the year actually so I'm pretty sure it's okay I don't know but I absolutely love them I love roasting them actually and they taste really good when you roast them uh with like a tray of like like um carrots and parsnips and stuff and you whacking some radishes just whole and um they kind of go all juicy and nice I love them I wish I could taste him but I feel like it's had too much slug damage never mind I mean we've got lots more growing but yeah it's exciting we are starting to get some crops are there anym I was thinking I might pull up one of the uh garlics um these have been growing these are the first thing I put into my new allotment plot the first thing I made bed I sorted it all out and then I whacked in some garlic garlic uh what they called bulbs yeah little cloves I don't know garlic so I struggle with garlic and onions at this plot behind me because of white rot get so much white rot all over everything um and I've been advised not to grow it again but I thought because this is technically a new alotment plot I might just give it a go and see see if it works I I don't know if I've got white rot or not so I'm going to pull one up and have a look basically and just see what's going on I think I'm going to pel up this one this one's quite a big one he is looking quite fabulous the leaves are starting to go to Yellow so he's almost sort of ready to harvest anyway but I think it would be good to know if I'm going to get a whole crop of white grot or not so let's pull him up right let's give it a go let's be brave okay okay spping egg okay oh my God it's really good why did I pull it up why did you let me do do that oh my gosh it's really good oh my gosh I'm going to cry oh it smells like garlic oh my gosh that might be the best bit garlic I've ever grown in my entire life wow oh gosh I was not expecting this at all I have never grown I've never grown garlic before that hasn't been covered in white RW or something or just had some kind of bug on it or this is absolutely Perfection I actually feel like I've pulled up at the right time because I think if I'd left it any longer it probably would get some kind of bug on it or something but that is an absolute beautiful bit of garlic that is good I don't know what to do with it I don't even know how to harvest garlic I think I have to let it dry don't I I got this mud off of it right look like he's got crazy hair now is that right um I I'll try and get the mud off of it but I don't want to get him wet I think you have to dry it out um I need to look this up because I just was not prepared for garlic harvesting today he smells beautiful it smells of garlic which you'd expect but that's still that's a miracle at this alotment plot you are perfect you the most perfect thing I've ever grown in my life I can't believe I'm going to cry over garlic generally feel like I'm going to cry of garlic okay this is really good cuz what it means is that the other garlic there is probably going to be okay cuz if this isn't got white rot and it's the biggest one that's probably all going to be okay so I'm going to leave it for longer keep looking after it and I hopefully get a really good harvest of garlic and onion this year can't believe I'm saying that it's first time ever what I've seen people do with their garlic they sort of hang it they sort of hang it and wait for it to to dry people plat it and stuff but I don't think I have the expertise to to Plat it will that hold if I yeah I mean I put up these little washing line things and with the um intention of hanging things to dry like hanging flowers and stuff I think that's what you're supposed to do I think you're supposed to hang it but I'm going to Google it the second I finish filming and figure out if there's a better way of doing it but yeah I mean wow garlic oh my goodness just chilling out in here with my little garlic friend and also just just also to top it all off is there a strawberry I can see there ready to harvest is that strawberry cuz I can see some red strawberries there is that is this going to be the greatest end to the greatest day of my greatest life let's not get too excited because we know it's probably going to be eaten oh yes okay okay well they've had a lovely time in that one fantastic can you leave me this one guys isn't that all right okay that one's also been eaten what about this one you been a a little bit I can maybe get away with eating you under here this one's not quite ripe you know what we're just going to turn this day into the greatest day of my entire ire life and I'm just going to eat this strawberry oh my goodness look stunning we're just going to go through we're just going to eat eat the little Rog strawberry I can't see any slugs or bugs in it so and if I do eat one it's one less of the plot so there we go right let's go for our first taste of a fresh strawberry grown this year I'm so excited it's just summer it's just summer in a bite it's summer in a bite okay it was all worth it everything I've done at the allotment plot was worth it all the stress I've gone through it was worth it just for that one bite of a strawberry I can't tell you how good it is I just wish the Slugs would stop eating them all before I get to them um oh my gosh amazing amazing that is the greatest end to the greatest day at the alotment plot that I probably had so far and probably didn't come across that way but actually I've just really liked coming here today walsing about picking a few bits doing a little bit of weeding a little bit of watering and then just you know going off back home again I mean that is the dream that's what I've been thinking of from the day I first got my new plot and it was a complete overgrown mess I've just been dreaming of the day where I can just WS about and pick a few things and just do a few little jobs and then go on home and today was that day it happened it's here it's happened I've done it and um it feels amazing so just know that you can do it you can reach your dreams I know the slugs are C crazy this year but you might get yourself one strawberry out of like 11 out of 11 plants one strawberry but hey is be the best tasting strawberry you ever have I hope you've enjoyed my Vlog today if you have subscribed and I will see you again in the week on Wednesday and again on Friday so see you then guys thanks for watching bye