SEPTEMBER HEATWAVE ON MY LONDON ALLOTMENT PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS UK

[Music] Okay. H interesting. Firstly, we have a little spider. I a little spider. I mean, the spider itself, you can't really see. It's just that little blur there. The web is that big. So, I'm going to do my best not to disturb him because apparently this spider, the brown striped one, apparently they're very friendly and they're gardeners like friends. So, with that being said, I'm going to leave him. Trying my best not to disturb him. Oh, fabulous. And there's another one here. I don't know why they're all setting up home in my greenhouse. That is absolutely not fantastic at all. Oh, god. I really just dislike spiders intensely. I really just do not like them. I watched a Tik Tok recently with a girl who did like an outfit of the day post and then she had one like crawling on her and she didn't know until she'd uploaded the video and everyone was pointing out there was a spider on her. And that fills me with nightmares. The greenhouse is soaking wet. There's another web there. Jesus. Oh god, I'm going to be that girl in the outfit post. I know I am. It's going to happen to me. We're going to have to get out of here in a minute. The greenhouse is soaking wet cuz I left all the doors and windows closed. So, the first thing I'm going to have to do is open a couple of the windows. It's going to be 26° and sunny today. Absolutely amazing weather. Am I going to be able to open this window with you being there? Yes. The answer is yes. Yes, I am. Right. We'll get a little bit of air in here. The only good thing about the fact that it's got so wet in here is that I left seedlings in here and I haven't been here for a few days and actually they've stayed like really watered and they've germinated. These are my calibri I think and I haven't been here to water them but because of the the humidity in here they've kept watered. So, they've all germinated, which is fantastic. Obviously, we can't go near them today because the spider is right over the top of them. But the point is they're alive and they're doing really well, which is just excellent news. Hello guys, my name is Emma. These are my a lotment diaries if I haven't said that already. Um, I vlog three times a week now from now on. Um, thank you for bearing with me for my little break. It was really needed, but I tell you what, I got bored very quickly. I'd gone down to two videos a week, just Monday and Friday, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I mean, I've been doing the Sunday videos, but I'm definitely someone who likes to keep busy as much as possible. I like doing stuff and keeping busy and keeping my mind busy. And so, while I'd cut out the Wednesday vlog, instead of coming down to the a lotment, I've been spending my time redecorating the whole house. So, I've been painting and sorting things out and tiling the kitchen. Oh my god. No, it's fine. Sorry, there was a noise and I thought it was a spider. It's really sunny. It's beautiful. It's going to be beautiful today. So, I'm going to sew some more seeds. I'm going to do some weeding. You know what I did bring? I brought something for Einstein because I haven't been here like as regularly as I normally am. I brought him some of these fat balls for birds which you hang up and I thought it might keep him a bit fed while I'm not here. So, what we'll do first of all is fill that up for him and see if he likes it. I can't stay in here any longer cuz of the spider situation. I just can't do it. I just can't. [Music] [Music] Right. I can hear Einstein, but I just can't see him. So, I have to wait and see if he turns up a bit later. How nice is it to have the sun like beaming on your face? Oh my gosh. Gosh, I've missed it so much. It's literally been like a week and a half since I last saw the sun. Anyway, I'm going to do a bit of tidying straight away. I really want to tidy up my pathways, but I'm not sure if I'll get to that today. We will see. But I'm going to go around some of the beds that I haven't yet tidied and tidy those first. The bees are out. Everything's out. The birds are singing. I mean, my gosh, everyone has just missed the sun, haven't they? [Music] [Music] [Music] These little stumps here, these are all cabbages that I've already harvested. I know it looks like I'm pulling out brassacas, but it's deceiving because what I've done is I've harvested the main ball and then I've left the sort of snail eaten leaves and the roots like in the ground, the stump in the ground because everybody always tells me to do that, but also because I think if you leave the roots of brassacas in the ground, it helps with the nitrogen in the soil. So, it adds nitrogen. And when you harvest brassacas, you're just supposed to cut them, not pull them from the ground. So, I'm going to do that this year. I'm going to give it a go. I'm going to leave these in as long as I physically can to rot down and kind of like disintegrate into the ground as opposed to like pulling them all out. So, we'll see. I will let you know what happens. Um, we can only try these things. [Music] Look at this. This snail here, this is like a snail trap. You fill it with beer and then um you capture all the slugs and snails. Look at all the snails gathered around it. It's like a snail community center. Actually, they look like they're caught in the net. They are caught in the net. And the best thing that I found that works against slugs and snails, actually snails in particular, is netting. It's actual netting cuz they can't I was going to chuck them into the Sorry guys. Oh, you two can stick together cuz they can't get through the net. And it's not even very sort of close together net. I mean, it's that I mean, this is the kind of nesting that I'd normally use as like um for crops to grow up because I think it's too big to protect your crops from most things. Like butterflies could get through that. A lot of things like slugs could get through that probably. There's a spider on you now, guys, so I can't move you. It's really good at keeping snails away. So, if you got a snail problem, net everything. Net it. Net it. Net it. That's my best advice. [Music] Right. And I might just take off some of the dodgy leaves on this lovely seavoy cabbage. Oh, he's so beautiful. I really want to pick him, but I also I really don't need him. At the moment, I'm not really sure how well they store or when I might need him. So, I don't know. It's hard to know. [Music] I'm wondering if it might be worth going and getting a big wheelbarrow full of wood chip. I don't know if you've noticed, I've filmed it a couple of times, but we've got the biggest pile of wood chip here at the moment and nobody's taking it. I mean, not everybody uses it or needs it, but I feel like it's just been sitting there teasing me for a long time. And I feel like my pathways could do with a bit of a top up. So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to weed a section. Which section should I do? I think outside the shed, actually. This is the section that seems to get the most messy. Um, and then I'll top it up with some fresh wood chips. So, let's do that. So, let's pick all the weeds. For the most part, the ground sheet and wood chip pathways do tend to keep weeds away, but it isn't a foolproof method, and I do still get grass and weeds growing. I think it's just one of those things, isn't it? It's just one of those things that you have to sort of deal with. So, I don't know. I can't really put anything in more permanent, you know, or like that costs a lot of money cuz it is just a council run a lotment. So, I'm not going to put paving down or anything, but some people do. Some people have. Here you go, guys. I think this summarizes the issue with using wood chip over ground sheet as a pathway. So, I'm pulling out these weeds. But if I dig a little bit, look at this. Look at that. I mean, this is probably a lot of soil that I've accidentally sort of kicked out of beds and stuff, but also the wood chip, it kind of I mean, it turns into like compost, you know? It sort of, what's the word called? Biodegrades or something. I mean, it turns into a growing medium for plants. And so this is what's a layer down and then seeds blow into it and then it sets seed and then you get all grass and all sorts of things growing in it. So this is just one of the issues of having wood chip pathways. It's what I choose to do, but it's something to bear in mind. Look at that root system. It's something to bear in mind when you get an aotment plot and when you're thinking about your pathways. [Music] Pros and cons to everything, my friends. [Music] Right. It's not the greatest wood chip in the world, but you know what they say, beggars can't be choosers. The problem with this is the chips. The wood chips are very small and there's a lot of leaves in here, so it's going to sort of compost down and turn into a growing material quicker than I would like, but it's what we've got. The top looks a little bit more woody, like wood. So, we'll just have to work with what we've got. [Music] [Music] [Music] there. Doesn't that look better? Now, I would have raaked it, but I actually can't find my rake anywhere. Does that surprise you? No. I have to say the advantage of having wood chip is that you can easily top it up and obviously it's a lot less intrusive on wildlife in nature. Like if plants and weeds are being able to grow through it then it can't be good. It can't be bad for nature, can it? Because it's encouraging wildlife in nature and things are hiding in it. It's also really great at absorbing water. So over the autumn winter time when it rains and gets muddy, I find I can still come here with wood chip pathways, especially if I've topped them up um because they absorb all the rain water and make it much easier for me to uh to come down. That's Einstein. He's just turned up. There he is. There he is. Are you coming? Are you going to come and get some worms? Hey guys, you can take a pause it and take a screenshot of one of these images. That could be your Christmas card this year. Yes, you have an Einstein Christmas card. Wouldn't that be great? Oh, he's thinking about it. He's thinking, how many meal worms will I get in commission? [Music] [Music] What a beautiful, beautiful day it really is turning out to be. My gosh, it's blue skies. It feels very much like summer, but it has that kind of calm and stillness of an autumn nor September day. We're going to sew some seeds. And I have got the giant red mustard, red giant mustard seeds. Um, mustard and things like mazuna rocket do great at this time of year. Whack it in if you can directly into the ground. Um, and also I've got some more kabi and I thought I'd whack it in and give it a go. It's the ballot F1. I might have gr I don't think I have grown these before cuz the seed packet is sealed still. So I'm going to sew these out in the a lotment and let's sew some seeds. I mean it's a beautiful day for it. Let's do it. Right. It's a colobby. I think in here we're going to have to take out some of this. Or should we just leave the borage? I think we should try and leave the borage if we can. We'll take out some of the other miscellaneous weeds. And that borage looks a little bit sad. That borage looks nice. Are you going to stand up though? If you're not going to stand up, I'm going to take you out. Oh, now he stands up. Now he stands up. Right. This is quite a nice little spot for some karabi. So, I'm just clearing the area and then I'll just run my hands over like this. Yeah, the soil looks really good in here. This is great. We're leaving this little borage in. He can stay as long as he behaves himself and doesn't flop over on my seedlings. Do you hear that, mate? Right. I'm actually going to do four rows. That's just because I reckon I'll get one, two, three, about four plants per row. Yeah. That sounds about right. Right. I'm actually sewing thinly, guys, because I don't have many seeds. It's forcing me. Forgotten where the rows are. Immediately forgotten where the rows are. Like literally immediately. What does that say about my memory? Right. Okay. Let's not get into that right now. Right. Mustard. Where's the mustard going? Right. So, the more that I'm looking around, the more I'm thinking that maybe the mustard, which is basically like leaves, um mustard leaves. It's just like um pick and come again kind of leaves. I think I should sew it at home in my vegetable planter cuz I can't see any room here to put any mustard in. A lot of the beds have closed off, so I've like covered with horse manure, so I can't grow into those directly. And then all the other beds have got things growing in. I mean, I've got sweet corn, runna beans, uh, turnips, leaks, beetroot, carrots. I wonder how the parnips are doing, actually. Let's have a little look at the parnips. But yeah, I've got quite a lot growing for this time of year, which is excellent. I'm not complaining, but I'm not sure I can fit anything else in. So maybe the mustard will have to come home with me. Let's check on those parnips. She's walking out. Bloody hell. Came in like a jet then. Bloody hell. It's over there. It's over there on the fence rattling around. I don't know if I got that on camera, but you just swooped right by my head. He came in faster than Air Force One. Honestly, that was insane. Right, let's check one of the worst looking parnips because if these have got parnips underneath the green, then it bodess well for sort of the the better parnips. That's my theory anyway. So, we're going to do just a little bit of a dig as if we're just looking for a parnip. Just like hello, has anybody seen a parnip? That is parnip. That's a very small parnip. That is a very teeny tiny little parsnip. Okay, that's sort of what we expected. Right, let's check these ones because it would be nice to know in advance if I'm going to get one or two Whoppers because I do enjoy pulling up the Whopper parnips even though they don't always taste as good. Ah, yes. Look. Yeah, the bigger isn't always better with parsnips cuz they they taste better when they're a bit smaller. But I tell you what, that's a nice looking little parnip top there. That is very nice. Well done, mate. I'll cover you back up. Shh. Go back to sleep. Go back to sleep. They're doing really well. the parnips. So, I won't harvest them till after the frost because when we have frost, it sweetens up the parsnips. Basically, the parsnips will turn their sugar into starch. Hello, waspy. Please leave me alone. Yeah. As they get cold, as it gets cold, they turn their starch into sugar as a bit of an inbuilt antifreeze to keep the plant alive. And for us, that means they taste sweeter. So, it's always a good idea to harvest things like parsnips after a frost. You don't have to, but it helps. And if you harvest it before a frost, but you want them sweeter, stick them in the freezer and it causes the same process chemical reaction to happen in the parnip. So it turn it starch into sugar. And then when you cook with them, they'll be sweeter. Thank me later for that. Unless you don't like them sweet, in which case ignore all that and do the opposite. [Music] [Music] [Music] Well, I hope you've enjoyed watching my vlog today. If you have enjoyed it, please hit the subscribe button. Give me a like. Leave me a comment below. Let me know what you're getting up to on your a lotments. I'm going to sew that mustard in my home garden. And that video will be up on a Sunday. Might be this Sunday, might be next Sunday, I don't know. I'm back to three videos a week now. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Have a lovely rest of your gardening week. Thanks for watching, guys. Bye.