I MADE A MISTAKE / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

it's almost as big as my head oh my gosh look at the size of it it's like deja vu I was doing this last year and I'm doing the same bleeding thing again I have to admit that the other day I did make a bit of a big mistake at the alotment [Music] plot good morning guys welcome back to my lotman Diaries my name's Emma these are the allotment Diaries I'm at the other end of the allotment site today I'm just having a little bit of a mooch around it's so quiet at this end I feel like this is the Posh end of the allotment and my end is like the scraggly end hope I don't offend my neighbors by that but this end of the allotment is so pristine and neat honestly it is very much like being on a completely different allotment site when you're at this end I'm on the lookout for anything I can use as like a base for my new Greenhouse which I'm going to get um Greenhouse is a m mely on offer at the moment like they're massively discounted everywhere I was looking at them last night randomly and my goodness they are massively reduced so if you want to get one now may be the time to purchase one if you want to get a new one and there's not many sort of secondhand ones in Marketplace I can't find any so I just thought I better get a new one just to be sure especially if they're heavily discounted I might use the money that I made from my planner and treat myself to a greenhouse um which would be really exciting but I I have found these I think they're like roof roof slates or something and there's a great big pile of them here I'm wondering if these might be quite good as a base but I don't know cuz they're sort of a funny shape and I sort of really what I wanted was um patio slabs is what I'm really looking for um and I don't know if they're available to take some might have just piled them here to use later so I need to check but I'm sort of going to have a look around see if there's any other patio slabs anywhere cuz people do sort of dump them sometimes so one man's treasure no one man's rubbish is another man's treasure woman's whatever got a little bit of a Groove to them so I'm not sure if they would be perfect for a base so we'll keep looking I think ooh I can see it another allotment site being cleared down there this is sort of the time of year where people come and clear them I expect they'll be burning all of that stuff soon but yeah the question is how long will they stay cuz this happens quite often I hope they stay that looks like a very nice sight with a lot of sunshine [Music] right guys how are you all doing today um we are well and truly oh my God is that spider or a fly please pleas we are really in December now so I'm going to try and do some more Christmasy Vlogs coming very soon I promise um I'm doing a bit of a like a garden uh theme for my Christmas table this year and I thought I'd do a video showing you my gu my Christmas table cuz I always make a big deal with the Christmas table even though it's just the four of us it's just me my husband and my two kids for Christmas this year I still make a massive deal with the table so I thought I'd show you that cuz it's sort of gardeny themed so I thought that might be quite fun I have to admit that the other the day I did make a bit of a big mistake at the allotment plot and uh filmed it and when I got home I did know that I've made the mistake but the thing is is I put it on Tik Tok um this mistake that I made and it sort of went a bit viral and it caused a lot of like engagement in the comments and I thought oh that's really good because people are talking about gardening for once and anything that gets people talking about gardening and sharing their gardening knowledge I think is a really positive thing especially at this time of year um it's hard to get people engaged in talking about about about gardening and like you know I still love my lotman at this time of year and I still try and share it as much as I can so I left the mistake in the Vlog in the hope that people get talking in the comments and be you know sharing the potato knowledge and stuff the mistake that I made was that I pulled up a couple of my Christmas potatoes early and I said oh I've only got one potato from them and it's it's the bleeding seed potato that I planted what an absolute Wally um the potato that I pulled out was the potato that I'd actually planted so I got no potatoes from them so far um I realized it when I got home because I'm so used to the seed potato being mushy and like all like disgusting when you pull it out the ground and all slimy and these were like in perfect condition still which means the plant just hasn't grown properly yet but yeah I left it in and uh comments definitely gave me a laugh people just coming out and just being like that's the potato you blanded yeah I thought I'd just let you know that I know I made that mistake I left it in um I'm glad it got you talking I'm glad it gave some of you a bit of a laugh I hope it makes you sort of know that like even I I've been doing this for five years right and I put myself out here online and show all my gardening stuff but even I get it wrong sometimes and that's okay it's okay to get it wrong and to make stupid mistakes and embarrass yourself I'm always embarrassing myself here like consistently and I just don't care and I think you shouldn't care as well so if anything like that puts you off of gardening like making a stupid mistake like that please don't let it put you off please just get on and do it I do it all the time look at that stupid embarrassing mistake I made ha everyone's laughing at me and I still love gardening I'm still going to do it and I hope that that just gives you a little bit of encouragement that you know what just make a Wally of yourself because we're that's what we're all doing really and um it's fine it's just fine so anyway there we go I've admitted my mistake you know about it now [Music] so for this space at the back here which I'm clearing at the moment I I'm definitely thinking Greenhouse it's I've always wanted a greenhouse always always always um and like I said they're very heavily discounted at the moment do you mind do you have to the only thing is I don't know where it should go whether it should go in that space or I should move it along a bit the only thing I'm thinking is visually would a greenhouse look better sort of at the end of the archway sort of visually um both of those areas would work for a greenhouse cuz they get equal light but would it visually look better to have the green house right at the end of the archway sort of framed in the archway or over there slightly off the archway I haven't quite decided I'm not I'm not sure I really need your opinion on that cuz I just don't know it would be nice sort of framed at the back here so there go straight into the green house there's the green house I feel like that's right as opposed to having it like off to the side do you know what I mean just like visually I'm not like a garden designer but I feel like that would look good so the advice that I've got given from you guys so far is just get one as big as possible um so I will get the biggest one that I can a afford and B that will fit here so I've got my tape measure just to sort of figure out sort of size I reckon it could go from there right up to the pathway and then maybe eight yeah all right so I'm sort of looking at like 8T by 6t 8T by 6t does that even exist let's have a little look right so I've just done a little bit of Googling this one here is from somewhere called the trading Depot it's 8 foot 6 by 8T out Sunny aluminum large walk-in poly Greenhouse with a slide door it's 276 79 reduced from £345 98 so it's 20% off um in the Black Friday it sort of looks like that this is not an advert by the way I've literally just Googled this that's just a Google that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of getting I I quite like the idea of the um what what what the panels polycarbonate P panels polycarbonate it's also got rain gutters this one which is quite good but yeah the polycarbonate thing I'm I'm interested in because a lot of people's glass green houses get smashed around here so I think maybe that might be a better way to go for the allotment I think at the end of the archway I really do I think it's going to go there so I'm going to start clearing the space for it enough talking let's do some action [Music] a oh God am I doing this again oh my God if you're sitting there thinking the same as me like how do you even begin to tackle an area like this just know that my entire plot this entire plot was just like that space this is exactly what it was all like and I had to just painstakingly go through it all now luckily I'm not in any Rush this time so when I took on this whole plot I was in a bit of race you know I was racing spring basically and trying to get it all done before the spring but now I've only got this little section here to do so I can kind of take my time a little bit and just relax I say that but I will still rush through it all cuz that's just what I'm like um I'm going to collect all the rubbish up and put it in a pile so we're going to do in a pile oh hi Einstein Einstein always loves when I do these jobs three worms eh see you go there no sea around here mate what we doing around here a these canes are a nightmare to get out the ground oh yes look at that woohoo so once you sort of chopped an area like that back you got to rake it over get all the slight little bits out the way that you chop down and then you need to dig out anything that's like like that which is an absolute nightmare I mean this this is like a blackberry bush must have been growing for absolutely yonks yonks and yonks that's been growing look at it look at the state of it you got to get it all out the ground and you just got to go through it all meticulously and then sort of rake it over again and then dig it again and see if there's any more like big weeds in there and stuff eventually you will get it cleared but it does take time and I do not have the strength it's like deja vu I was doing this last year and I'm doing the same bleeding thing again um it is getting a little bit clearer you can see but I I really do I mean this is the job this is the job of the winter isn't it [Music] [Music] just turned my glove out and there's a load of like seeds in the glove that have come out I think a mouse has been going into my glove and sort of sleeping in it using it as a sleeping bag I can't put those on ever again now can I should I oh my gosh I think he's been using it as a sleeping bag I really do I know what you guys are going to say you're going to say that I should put my gloves in like a little box or something to stop them from getting in it but same time the idea of a mouse curling up and sleeping in one of my gloves and just feeling the joy it must feel to be like oh I found a sleeping bag you know I'm not going to be cold they still work all right it's not broken them or anything how can I be mad at that he's just trying to make do what you can find you know same as I do really I can't believe I put those on that's the bravest thing I've ever done right I've had enough of chopping stuff down we've got all winter to do that I'm going to pull up the rest of my past they are looking so sad oh my gosh you poor things I'm so sorry look at the state of my par nips they look so sad I know you're supposed to wait till after the frost to harvest them but these are way over these are dead so I need to get them out the ground and hope I can still eat them I mean they look really good size they look fantastic so let's pull them all up today right I have a Fe feeling these are going to be quite easy to get out so I'm just going to try and sort pull them out absolutely love pulling up past nips they're so exciting completely dead I can see a couple here so I'm just going to try and S pull them up oh my gosh they're coming up so easy look at this I thought they would beautiful let's get his made up yeah lovely really really nice little sizes oh Beau full let's try you mate they're coming out so easy as well there's always one there's always a dodgy one I know what that looks like I think you know what that looks like as well so we'll just leave it at that teeny teeny tiny past it's all right it's always one or two it's always two just stopping to remind you to wear gloves when handling parsnips because the leaves can cause um a reaction on your hands so just make sure you wear gloves this is a Whooper guys this is an actual Whooper I don't even know if I'll be able to get him up no I can't he's got a mate next to him let's get this mate up let going to get your mate up yeah teeny tiny mate oh my gosh the size of you oh this is going to be the whoer a coming up so easy wow look at him with his octopus legs oh beautiful oh smells gorgeous it smells absolutely gorgeous there's [Music] another wow I know look at the size of this one it's absolutely huge oh my gosh look at the size of it wow that's a Whopper that is I knew you were going to be a big one that's amazing yeah the birds are going crazy Birds going crazy too yeah I know big wasn't it they love it they love pnip day the bird [Music] one I just switched the camera off cuz I was like oh it's pretty much over now I've got them all out I've just found the mother of all parsnips look at the size of this one look at the size of them I don't know how I'm going to get him out I might have to dig him [Music] [Music] wow what a Whooper look at the size of this one that is an absolute Whopper of a pnip I thought I'd already pulled out the big ones but that that's on another level of big that's incredible oh my goodness so many par Snips I know what you're thinking bigger doesn't always mean better sometimes when a crop is too big it actually doesn't taste as great as the smaller ones but there's no denying that that is pretty exciting to pull up from the ground you know bigger sometimes is more exciting it just is and some of these are real Whoppers real Whoppers the pnps they did fantastically this year the parsnips I always sew my parsnip seed in February and then I cover them with a CL and then I sort of leave them alone and they do great every single year and I'm always pulling them up around November December time it's always just sort of worked for me and I mean they're really big and really tasty and they absolutely stink a parsnip which is a good thing you like they good stink they smell or parsnip that's what I'm trying to say they smell absolutely gorgeous so it's worth doing in February if you can and just closing over I think it just works I think they like the cold the seeds to get started with and then they need the warmer weather to grow and then you pull them up in the cold again it's just how they work it's just how they I just figur them out I figured them out so so I'm going to take all those parnets home today make some parnet soup I don't think I'll be eating them for Christmas cuz I think they'll probably go off by then but we'll eat them in December which would be really nice hope you've enjoyed my little Vlog today um there's going to be some Christmas Eve Vlogs coming up next week so please enjoy those and um I will see you again Monday so have a lovely gardening weekend try and get outside if you can I know it's going to be quite cold um but even just going for a walk around the alotment site just seeing what's growing and seeing the wildlife and stuff sometimes that can just be nice can't it so yeah have a lovely weekend see you Monday thanks for watching bye