OVERWINTERING THE PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

[Music] good morning everyone welcome back to my allotment Diaries my name is Emma these are the allotment Diaries um if you have never seen any of my Vlogs before and you have got your first allotment plot or maybe you are looking to see beyond the gates um allotments are very sort of enclosed private places aren't they with lots of iron gates and padlocks so if you've never seen inside an alotment before and you have one nearby this is what's in them it's just people like me muddling along trying to grow onions and stuff so that's pretty much what I try and show you on this channel just the realistic kind of look at allotment life if that floats your boat do subscribe to my YouTube channel it would be a great help and it'd be lovely to have you here right okay with all that said today the temperature is about to drop in the UK quite significantly we are due a lot of Frost maybe possibly some snow some sleet things are going to change quite rapidly we've also had quite a lot of rain over the last couple of days and we duw a lot more rain so rain Frost snow sleep colder temperatures um all of these things mean that we need to start really really preparing our Gardens for the winter time and making sure they're going to survive it basically um and just doing all those jobs that I sort of been putting off because you never quite know when the weather's going to kind of turn you know especially in this day and age like what is spring anymore what is summer did we have a summer was there a summer this year cuz I don't remember it um so it's all just sort of a bit up in the air so today we've got a few sort of last minute winter preparing jobs to get on with let's go and have a little look around what's alive and what has died oh yes we haven't played this game for a little while what's alive or what's died right we're starting with the Christmas potatoes which I whacked in way too late but it's all a bit of an experiment over here so let's have a look I imagine they're probably okay at the moment yeah they're really good at the moment are they a little bit of a funny green color is that cuz they got the fleece on them don't know really doing good though they're a bit of a funny green color they're sort of not all the same green I wonder if that's cuz I got the fleece over it and we've also had like a lack of light and Sun obviously no Frost damage so far looking really good good do you know it might actually be an idea just to Earth them up a little bit because sometimes mulching around crops can sort of help to overwinter them a little bit so if I just mulch around them and then put the fleece over they'll probably die anyway but you know what we'll try we'll just try it I think we'll just sort of Earth them up a little bit I would I would normally do this a bit later but we're going to do it now cuz the frost is coming guys the frost is coming I need to protect you wonder if it would be worth like putting some leaves over them as well maybe I should get some leaves that's quite a good idea let's do that too [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] time will tell guys and I will let you know how they do [Music] right I'm actually going to do a job that I have actually never ever done at my lopment plot before in its 5 years of history that I've got the plot and that is to dig up my daer tubers and to keep them safe and wrapped up over the winter I've never done it not because I'm lazy well maybe a little bit because I'm lazy um but also I just didn't think I needed to I thought they would just survive in the ground but they haven't they haven't and I've lost quite a lot of cheers and also also I'm having a lot of trouble with the Slugs and snails around them they just absolutely love them and so this is like my best performing daily of this year and it's not even that big sorry mate but you're not you're not I mean it's beautiful but it's not that big and I didn't get many flowers so it's a bit of a disappointment I'm going to overwinter the tubers and then grow them in pots next year and when they oh sorry mate hold his head off sorry um you I'm going to kill you now anyways don't worry about it yeah I'm going to over I'm going to grow them into pots and then when they get big enough and they can kind of protect themselves and slugs I'm going to plant them out next year so that's what I'm going to do um so let's chop them back dig them up sort them out quite excited to do this actually oh my God I keep snapping I'm so sorry I am excited to do this job because it's something I've never done before so I sort of feel like I just like doing things I've never done before right okay let's chop them off with their heads off with their heads oh my God brutal absolutely brutal that [Music] was there he is how burit to how your very to [Music] all right so I've got all the uh the da is here the next job is going to be to get as much dirt off of them as I can so I can actually see I was twoo here I think I've actually broken this one into two so I think this is now two daers which is quite nice there we go we got two plants for the price of one so we'll get as much of this off as we can okay just snapped that bit you shouldn't do that don't try not to snap it and then as we go this is a big one look at this we're going to check the tubers for any ones that go squishy or any ones that are damaged and if they are damaged or squishy I'm going to pull them off because they will not be any good to us that's a weird right they all sort of seem okay I actually can't believe that I guess I pulled them up in time really that one's a bit no I'll take that one off that one's starting to go a teeny tiny bit moldy so I'm just taking that one off right right next thing we're going to do is give them a little bath I've no idea why this water is bright green it looks like radioactive liquid I don't know what's going on we're going to Bath them give them a really good wash make sure we got all the mud off of them this is where waterproof gloves really come in handy for all the sort of winter jobs like this I think leaving any mud on it will probably make them rot or grow or something I don't know but I think you just need to wash them and I'm going to leave them here to dry let's do the big one it's quite fun you know enjoy this relaxing nice little bath all that mud off of you mate lovely scrubby dub dub dub we're going to wash that mud right out of yourtube is going to wash that mud R of YouTubers that looks clean to me I don't know how clean it has to be I don't think it has to be like cleaning your kitchen floor you know I don't think you have to eat off of these all right such weird looking things aren't they little octopuses welcome back to your home octopus wonder if they feel at home in the water right next thing I'm going to do is wrap them into some newspaper this is the Metro we don't really buy newspapers in my house um oh what's this the Metro is always free at the train station I got my husband to pick some up for me right yes so we're going to use the newspaper to um wrap them up in let's do it bit carried away then I don't normally read newspapers but I saw saw that on the front just made me interested right okay it's how they draw you in isn't it how they draw you in oh use Staples in these do they they do I thought they were just together okay cool all right there we go that on [Applause] there I think the idea of newspaper is that it's still breathable um but it will keep them dry and it will also keep them warm and protect from the frost I think I'm just sort of educatedly guessing educated guess that is I think it's right though I not travel page it's my favorite page though [Applause] one sh oh no oh that was a disaster how did I do that right we're sticking them in the shed what do you think the odds are that I'm going to forget what these are and end up throwing them away probably hopefully not though cuz it is pretty obvious there something wrapped up so depends how forgetful I decide to be let put them here ideally I want to get a little carable box or a crate or something and stick them in that I think I'll do that eventually but for now we'll just stick him here in the shed out of Harm's Way so like I said I know that like one of the main reasons you do it is because of the frost and the cold but for me personally on this plot it's about the the rain and the bugginess and that new plot over there it's not had hardly any natural organic material dug in yet like it's brand new do you know what I mean so it gets very do boggy Dobby gets very boggy and wet um and like marshy is that a word marshy marshy like a marsh yeah like a is a marsh a thing my gosh I'm second guessing myself now what's a marsh I think a marsh is a thing let's see how that goes I've never done that before oh is it going to rain don't do this to us come on I did actually bring some more tulips with me that I found at home that I brought to plant out here this this year and just didn't do so the varieties are Antoinette absolutely stunning look at that it reminds me of rhubarb and custard cuz it's sort of like pink and yellow so gorgeous and I also got these which are pink diamond these are a bit of a later a later Bloomer a late bloomer um I really want to get them in now because if it gets really cold in the week I'm just not going to want to do it just not going to want to do it I know what I'm like [Music] [Music] snap myself in the face with that oh it's time to go home you smack yourself in the face with the da you know it's time to go home [Music] right there you are I've shredded a bit of that newspaper and added it to my compost pile I think it counts as a brown material I know I know it's got colored ink on it but it's not going to be perfect you know I don't think there's a huge risk of like chemical spread with a little bit of colored ink I think it'll be okay I netted over my uh The Chew liip bulbs as well I only found two that have been Dug Dug up by the squirrel and eaten but having said that as I was planting them I didn't find many tulip bulbs in the way so he might have just eaten them all to be honest so it's all netted over now I might get some more and whack them in the ground it's actually better to plant tulips later in the year as opposed to sort of earlier in the Autumn because they they sort of originate from Turkey don't they I think tulate bulbs and they sort of they don't like the wet and Boggess and stuff so it's better to get them in a bit later yeah that's sort of uh the main jobs that I wanted to get done today feels quite productive I'm just very aware that when the weather drops and it starts to get very cold I won't want to spend that much time here because because it' be blooming cold to be honest so I want to be nice nice and warm at home with a cup of tea I think so I'm going to try and get down here you know a few more times before the end of the year I think well quite a lot of times actually let's be honest I do love it here come rain or shine and I'll be making lots more Vlogs for you to watch so if you've enjoyed the Vlogs this week do subscribe to my channel leave me a comment let me know if you're enjoying them and um I will let you know when The Gardener World online stuff goes online and uh Link Link you to it straight away if you haven't brought one of my allotment planners now might be a good time to do it it before the Christmas time comes and then normally what I do is I plan my lopment for next year over Christmas it just makes me feel really inspired and motivated at Christmas for some reason to think about the new year and the spring and what I'm going to do so if you haven't got yourself a planner do go and order one and I am working on an allotment handbook I don't know if it'll be up before Christmas I'm going to do my best if it is up before Christmas it will be sort of early December so look out for that as well that's everything that I wanted to say so I'm going to head on home now hope you've enjoyed today thank you so much for watching bye