ALLOTMENT DRAMA / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

[Music] [Music] good morning guys welcome back to the allotment Diaries my name is Emma these are my allotment Diaries I'm just currently under my pumpkin Archway on my allotment plot just checking that everything's growing okay I think one side's doing good other side as usual not doing quite so good but um it's looking nice it's looking quite full and bushy at the moment which is good my sweet corn has had a massive gross spt look at the size of it look at the size of it we've got all the lovely tassels coming now and we've also got lots of um what they called cobs I think they're called cobs yeah coming on them and they are actually huge I don't even know what variety this is but um I think normally I grow a variety called Swift which is quite short um it's supposed to be relatively easy one to grow this is a completely different variety it's like a real sweet corn do you know what I mean it's like really tall like I could have made a maze out of this yeah it's just done so well and I can't believe it to be honest and that's all I have to say on it I can't believe it but it looks like I might actually get some sweet corn this year which is very exciting I think the idea with them is to give them a bit of shake to help them to pollinate so these things here these are the seeds and then they need to fall down onto onto the tassels onto the tassels here so they need to fall down onto the tassels in order to um pollinate them or something and make them into sweet corn so the idea is to give them a bit of a shake but actually I think we're having so much wind here at the moment that I think they will pollenate each other fine so yeah let's be cool here's the archway what do you think looking so nice and full it's mainly Dy and um runner beans but that's still fine I think it's looking really nice and then if we come through the magical Archway and around here this is what we're going to work on today this empty bed but look look what's happened the gladioli have flowered at last aren't they beautiful such beautiful flowers they're all starting to open up now so I'm really glad that I supported them last time such stunning beautiful flowers I have tried to grow these quite a few years in a row they seem to have really really taken on the new plot so I'm really happy with them and they're in a nice long row the only thing is I won't pick them I can't pick them they're so stunning and beautiful the idea of picking these and then just being gone just fills me with just sadness so I will just be leaving them [Music] here anyway hope you're all doing really well it's actually a Sunday today so it's very busy here at the allotments I'm not how much I will be able to sort of chat when I'm filming um but my kids are on some holidays now so I have to come down when I can and it is a gorgeous day is turning really sunny um and just lovely so I thought I can't miss out on a beautiful day at the clot I just want to say thank you for all the comments on my um Vlog that I put up I think last week about my anxiety it's still very very high guys and I'm still feeling incredibly anxious all the time um no more panic attacks thank goodness but it's just one of those things I think that we have to sort of learn to live with a little bit and sort of live alongside I know it won't last forever and whatever's giving it to me right now I don't know what it is but whatever it is it's just got to run its course I think and then I'll just um I'll just sort of be all right after that to be honest you just got to fight through is what I'm trying to say just sort push through it and um there's light on the other side so that's why we're here today just to do some nice sort of gardening and um feel better so we're going to get straight into the first job of the day which is going to be to build a PE structure and also a cucumber structure now I've taken some advice from other plots around here who have got really nice cucumber structures made of bamboo canes I'm hoping that I can replicate it cuz they look so cool and um exciting don't know how it's going to go but we're just going to go out and we're just going to build it so that's the first job that we're going to do let's let's [Music] go okay this structure is going to take some amount of um experimentation because I've got a lot of sticks to use which is excellent and I've got a lot of ideas but I'm not sure what's actually going to work so we're going to kind of fiddle around with it a bit which I think is the best way of figuring it out so wish me luck okay structure attempt number one [Music] failing at the first hdle guys I can't get it in [Music] [Music] these canes that I'm using these are from my old PE structure that I P I pulled down look at the amount of twine on these canes this is madness this is a sign of Madness this is desperation that's what gardening desperation looks like this absolute mess of me trying to tie it up and keep the peas alive that's insane none of it makes any sense it's all chaotic and random that's absolute desperation in the garden that is got try and untangle them all just to use them [Music] okay right here's what we are left with this is the structure obviously I put the colored balls on to make sure that I don't poke my eyes out when I go past it but I'm thinking let's plant the cucumbers in and let's just see if it needs any additional support cuz I was thinking it might possibly need some netting or some twine going across but we will find out this is what I've seen other people make so this is what I've made so we'll see if it works obviously I should let you know it's a little bit of an optical illusion because the pole at the top is not straight um it looks good but then if you look under KN flet nothing is touching I don't know if that matters I don't know if it makes a difference but um it's not quite what it seems but from an outside perspective it looks right so if it looks right you know I'm halfway there cuz people who walk by will think oh yeah that's right that's a structure so it's only when it falls down or it doesn't work that people will [Music] know see these are two of my best performing cucumbers these are the ones that I've done really well at home I'm really hoping they don't get eaten straight away cuz it's going to be so like devastating this is all I've got left and it's too late to start any so fingers crossed guys [Music] you see I'm thinking now looking at it it probably might need some extra support to kind of like to crisscross along there I could put some twine along it along the bottom but then to be honest you know what we should do we should leave it for a bit and see if it survives cuz what we don't want to do is do too much to it and then 2 days later it gets eaten by slug you [Music] know I'm going to rethink the PE structure I think it might be too much in this bed um with that big structure there and then having a structure there I think might be too much so I'm going to have a think about where else the peas could go possibly in this bed here cuz if I make the structure quite thin it's not going to take up much room but I'm not sure about that bed there what do you think though let me know let me know if I should put the peas in there too I think it might be too much for that bed so I don't know where else the peas could go though that's the problem gosh it's just so busy here today on a Sunday I think Sunday is like typical allotment day which is nice it's really nice to see but it's just difficult to film everything that I'm doing cuz I'm sort of it's very quiet but it's very busy so my voice is really carrying okay the next job that I wanted to do because now I'm going to rethink the PE structure um I think I'm going to take some time to think about where it's going to go before I rush and sort of build it the next thing I want to do is collect some seeds from the chard the chard this year has just flowered immediately like it's all it did this year all it did this year was just send up flowers that's all it did like immediately in like April I had flowers so I was like okay well fine I'll collect the seed and um Reed it somewhere around the plot I don't know where yet but somewhere I need like some kind of paper bag or something don't I to you know what if I shake it into a glass jar and then I can sort of decant it into a paper envelope at home I think that might be a good idea and then what I'm going to do is so Char next year and put it somewhere else on the plot don't know just thought why why waste it you know so this is what my Chard is looking like at the moment he throwing up these beautiful flowers but the flowers are finished it's another one here he's stuck so this used to be like beautiful flowers and now it's turning into seed heads I might be a little bit early collecting the seed actually maybe I'm a little bit early I think it needs to dry out and go Brown I thought one of them had maybe it needs a little bit more time what do you think do I need to let it dry out a little bit more I think I might if I do that nothing comes out so I think I'm going to leave it actually to um dry out a little bit more that's what we're going to do okay but I think essentially the plan was just to put the bottle over like this and kind of shake it into there to get all the seeds but I don't think it's going to come off yet so we'll leave these a little bit longer to go Brown that's fine I guess it's bit early for collecting No Seeds let's do some tomato maintenance behind us okay the tomatoes are not doing too bad this year I actually am starting to get some tomatoes oh sorry there's the power tools coming on on a Sunday so this is um this is the tomato plant that I brought from BQ I think ages ago and we've got loads on this this is one that I Grew From Siege don't ask me what these are but I think if you're a keen tomato grower you'll probably know cuz that's very unusual that type of tomato they look fantastic um that one I think can't see any on there but I can see some on here that looks absolutely fantastic this I know what this is this is either actually it's either two things it's either cherry tomatoes I think it's probably cherry tomatoes or Gardener Delight I reckon they're Cherry cuz they're little and Dinky um oh is being destroyed by bindweed okay right so they need a little bit of rescuing and a little bit more supporting [Music] right I was about to take out some of the suckers so the suckers are um the stems that come out at a 45° angle unfortunately I've left it so long you see this here you see this stem here this is a sucker but at the end of my sucker I've actually got tomatoes growing and more flowers and it's doing very well so I actually think I'm just going to leave the suckers in now I think I've left it too long I believe the only reason that you need to take out the suckers is to make the plants grow taller and to give few more tomatoes and to focus all the energy on the tomatoes and if it has too many suckers it gets too bushy and then it kind of um focuses its attention and its energy on like growing out and growing like loads of leaves but to be honest I think it all just depends on how many tomatoes you want I actually quite like the look of these plants they're looking very happy they're bushy they're happy they're vibrant they're living their best lives I actually think I'm just going to leave them this year unless the sucker is really tiny like that I'll take that off but I'm I'm just going to leave them to live their best lives you can just you can just be your selfish here guys you don't have to worry might just give them a little tomato feed perk them up a bit [Music] okay and that's it I'm out I'm off home I'm not coming here on a Sunday again I've just had some someone come up to me and just like actually I might take you home and uh tell you all about it there so stay tuned for gossip okay guys I've taken a moment I've decided I'm not going to gossip about it all and what happened and stuff but I am just going to say if you are someone who ever has problems with allotment neighbors I totally feel your pain now I've never really had too much of an issue with anyone before like it's always been quite amicable and everyone's been quite friendly and sort of okay and then today was just like a massive kick like I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach um I don't know what makes people so aggressive and so rude at lotman plots but something about them brings out the worst in some people I guess like I said I've never seen him before I've been here for 5 years I've never met him before and hopefully I'll never run into him again cuz I won't be coming back on a Sunday that's for sure well else is dare to say um I'm sorry if you have if you've ever had problems with allotment neighbors that totally fill you it's awful it's horrendous what can we do other than just try and avoid those people in future I think anyway hope you've enjoyed the Vlog today if you have do subscribe sorry I ended on a bit of a downer I guess it is just a lot M reality and a lopment life um I will try not to dwell on it and I'll try to keep getting down here in the weekdays when I know it's safe see you next time guys thanks for watching bye