I'M GETTING TIRED OF THIS! / Allotment plot DISASTER again!

Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? So this is what's happened today. I feel like something's been in here and grabbed my trainers and ran out with them. So something's definitely been in the greenhouse. I've kept the door open for the last few days because we are in our third heat wave and it's very prolonged this heat wave. Though today it is a little bit windy so it feels a little bit easier to be down here. Everything's doing fine and he's not done any damage. I say he because I'm assuming it's the fox. I don't think the cat would do that. I feel like it was the fox. Anyway the greenhouse is looking really good. Got some very exciting news in the greenhouse. Got some tomatoes going red. Found a really cool crop which kind of came out nowhere on the way in. But firstly there has been a tiny disaster. How many times will I have to say that on this allotment? I feel like every time I come down here I never quite know what I'm going to find. And I'm starting to, I mean that's starting to really irritate me more and more with every passing year. I like growing stuff and I really want it to be successful but every time I come down here it's like, because it's so far from my house I just can't protect it all the time and I don't know what's going on and it's starting to irritate me more and more. If I had a really big garden at home and I could section off half of it as an allotment plot that kind of fulfills the need. So I just feel like it's a natural progression for me to grow into my home garden and I think it'll be easier and I think I'll be happier. But let me show you what's happened. Also these guys keep coming into my greenhouse and somebody wrote to me and said that brown butterflies signify hope and strength and positivity and like something good's going to happen. He's panicking now. He's panicking now because he doesn't want to be on camera. It's the pressure of what I've just said. Come on then. Where's it gone? Where are you? He's hiding. So this is what's happened today. I came here and these are my sweet peas which have finished and they've sort of fallen over which is very frustrating because I was leaving them for all the seed pods to go brown though some of them have, a lot of them have actually. But it's fallen over. It feels quite odd that it would have just sort of fallen down even though it has been quite windy here because it was quite dug into the ground quite deeply. So I'm not entirely sure how that's happened but it could be foxes. I think the other damage was probably foxes. I have seen a couple of baby foxes, they're called cubs, playing like play fighting on the allotment path and they are quite sort of boisterous when they do it. So it could have been the foxes. I think what we'll do is we will collect as many seeds as we can and then we're just going to take it down and compost it. I mean that's all we can do. It did very very well this year. I was so so proud of it. Honestly it's done amazing and look how many plants there are and how much there is to get rid of. That's insane. I'm just a bit frustrating it's fallen down at the end but I suppose all my structures do eventually. I'm going to collect as many as I can because there's all different colours here. So I'm just collecting the brown ones. I could collect a few of the green ones actually. I might collect a few of the green ones just in case they are okay. I think one of the best ways of keeping these and looking after them is to keep them in the pods. What was that? Oh it's the wind. Okay oh my gosh. It was like a weird alien croaking sound. I think it's to keep them in the pods because if you think about it, the seed pods are perfectly designed to hold and look after the seeds until they fall onto the ground and then start to sprout. So I think if I just store them in the pods, I have a feeling that's a good way of storing them. Right we're going to go and pull it all down and compost it. That's going to be quite the job. Sorry no what is that noise? Did you just hear that noise? It sounds a bit like a weird animal. What animal would that be? What is that? You heard that right. I don't know why I'm trying to communicate with it. I do not want to talk to it. Right let's get out of here. It's just peeling away from it like peeling off wallpaper. It's actually really sad. There's also a lot more seed pods on here so I might try and collect a few more before I compost it all. Look who's turned up and I'm just literally scared. It's the fledgling. It's the baby. He's come to see me. Oh my goodness. I literally just scared him by dropping all of those poles there. Oh he's come to see me. I don't have anything to feed him because I've run out of mealworms. I haven't bought any more yet. Oh it's plucking it. Look who it is. Where you been? Hey where have you been? We haven't seen you for ages. What have you been up to eh? They've all come back to see me and I don't have anything to give them. Anything to feed them. Do you reckon this is a newbie? This is a new one. He just looks a little bit like a baby doesn't he? It's very inquisitive. I like to think that all the robins are passing down generational information that this plot is safe for them and that I'm like a robin feeder because they all tend to sort of swarm to me. I don't really know why. I don't like encourage them or anything. They're the babies back now. They just seem like drawn to me. I'm pretty sure they're passing down this information. Look at this little guy. He's so beautiful. Right well I think the compost bin is a little bit filled up now. I'm not sure I can get much more in there. I might just chop it all back but not yet because right now we're going to clear this bed and I think the fledglings will like that. What's that crow going on about? I think the fledglings will like that because they can come and get some worms. Crows eh? Every single bed on my allotment is so so dry. We just need some rain. I don't think it even matters how much you try and water right now. What we need is rain. Soil's just like dust so this is going to need a mulch before I put anything in. I was going to plant some Christmas potatoes in here but I think it needs a good mulch before I can do that. So I have to bring some compost down and mulch it over properly. I have found a couple of secret surprises in here. Do you want to see them? This is a rhubarb plant that's been growing underneath the sweet peas. As you can see it really needs water so I'm going to get it a drink but I think the sweet peas have protected it a bit giving it some shade and stopped it from completely dying because it is still a bit green. And then over on the other side I found a couple of potatoes because I think I did plant potatoes in here before didn't I? Yeah look a little teeny tiny one as well. So I think this bed would be really good for some Christmas potatoes. Just behind it I've got my main crop and I'm basically going to be planting another main crop just behind it and these are doing really well. So I think it sort of likes this sort of half shade half sunny bed area. So that's what we're going to put in there but not today because it just needs a good old mulch and a good old water. I'm really hoping we get some rain soon but just not looking likely. It's not too hot today and that breeze is really nice but it is still a bit sort of sticky hot. You know where you sort of get a little bit red in the face and sticky. Just not pleasant. Are you still in here? Do you need some help? I'm pretty sure you don't want to be stuck in here. It's too hot in here. Come on. I spent my whole summer rescuing you guys. Nope this way. This way. Look you're almost there. Silly thing. There you go. Now go and tell all your mates that that is the way out okay. It's because I've got this greenhouse cover over the roof and so the windows sort of are open but they've got a netting over it so they can't get out. The only way they can get out is the door that they came in. Can they remember where they came in? No they can't. All right I did bring with me some more seeds to sow today. So I actually bought my main crop potatoes but we won't do those today. I want to plant in some more really quick to harvest salad crops so I've got some spring onions and I've got some more lettuce and I think more spring onions. Two different types of spring onions. Yeah okay why not. We'll do two different types. So I've got the long white Ishikura which are just like the long normal looking ones and then I've got the white Lisbon which is sort of more of a bulb on the end an onion bulb which are really nice actually. Right I want to stick them in here if I can. It needs a good old water before I do put them in and the soil isn't great in here but because these are salad crops they won't go too deep. The roots won't go too deep so I think they'll be okay in here. We will go and get some water first and water over the bed and then I've got these to show you as well. Right let me show you these super exciting crops because I really didn't notice these until this morning when I sort of did a little bit of weeding. These are turnips and I planted them. Look at the colours. Oh my goodness me look at those colours. I planted these a little while ago and I sort of didn't really hear from them again. You know didn't know where they'd gone what they've been up to and here they are all growing. I actually think I'm going to pick them today because I don't think I think they're too clustered together. Look at them. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? Such such beautiful gorgeous crops. So vibrant. I just love growing them especially the purple ones. They are so so cool. There's definitely something I can do with these. Oh maybe not that one. That one's been a bit eaten. Such gorgeous gorgeous crops. Really fun to grow but I really didn't think my luck was in this year because they all sort of disappeared and turned out they've been growing away all along. Right so I've got two packs of lettuces, two packs of spring onions. We're going to do rows of lettuce spring onion, lettuce spring onion in the hope that kind of keeps slugs and snails away because they don't like onions. Apparently. I mean I think they do. I think they like everything but we'll do a row of each. Hopefully the spring onions will look after those lettuces for me. I think I might give that another water over. Right I'm actually going to take these home with me as well and I'm going to sow them at home in my home bed because I think they'll do better. I think it's so difficult to take care of small seedlings at the allotment plot. That's another thing that I'm really frustrated about because I've got this beautiful greenhouse here and I've got all these seedlings and I struggle so much to keep them watered. You've given me some wonderful advice by the way which I will start to implement as soon as I get to the garden centre. I'm going to get some trays to go under the seed, the seed trays to retain the water and to be able to water from below. I'm also going to continue to mulch when I can. You've given me some excellent watering can recommendations for seedlings so I'm going to try all of those but it is just so difficult I think to be here to water all the time and look after it. So much easier in my home garden. Let me, oh my gosh, I'm really sweating. Let me show you the tomatoes quickly because we've finally got some red ones. Now this is an exciting day on the allotment. We've finally got ourselves a ripe tomato that we can eat today. We've got a couple more down here, three and then we've got one down there, two down there I can see actually, fantastic. This one here is starting to change colour. These are a fantastic shape, aren't they? I absolutely love the look of these ones and they're just doing so well with all the pruning that I've done. I can really see all the fruit on the plant. It's not sort of hidden amongst all the leaves. Oh my goodness, that is the taste of summer. The taste of summer that I was waiting for. That is absolutely delicious. I'm going to have another one. That is absolutely gorgeous, perfect. I think those ones are cherry reds and there's nothing like the taste of a tomato freshly picked from the vine. With tomatoes, unless you go to like a farmer's market and get them sort of fresh, they usually come in the fridge, don't they? In the refrigerators, in the supermarket. When they go in the fridge, they lose a lot of their flavour. So you're kind of tasting a tomato but you're not tasting it in all its glory. When you grow it on a plant and you eat it from the plant, it's like the most tomatoey tasting tomato you've ever eaten. It's one of those things, one of those things that once you try it, you can never go back again. It's that way forever now. Right, let's get out this greenhouse. My camera is overheating. I can see it in the screen. I'm going to pull all these broad bean plants up because they are definitely finished now and they've just been sitting here for ages like rotting, which doesn't look very nice. I feel like we're still doing the big mid-season clear up. A lot of this side of the plot needs a proper sort of weed and a clear out and stuff. If your plots are like that, you're not alone. With these heat waves, it's been so difficult. Even I found it really hard to get here and whenever I have got here, I haven't prioritised keeping on top of weeds and stuff because it's just been too hot. I've just been watering and doing a few bits where I can. So don't panic if your plots are looking a bit overgrown. Soon as the weather comes down, which it will eventually at some point, at some point in the year, the weather will drop and then you can just come and just do weeding sessions whenever you can. You will get back on top of it, I promise. If you need any motivation to convince yourself to weed, one of the things that I like to do, and this is a bit niche and a bit weird, but I like to imagine that Gardeners World have contacted me and they want to come down and film my allotment plot. I just think the thought of Monty Dawn coming down and seeing this monstrosity of a weedy allotment plot just fills me with dread and it's enough to kind of, if I just imagine, imagine they're coming next week. It really spurs me on. So it's just a really good tip if you hate weeding and looking after your plot. And it's okay if you do hate weeding as well. You don't have to love everything about gardening to love gardening. You can hate certain bits. You know, I hate bugs. I hate spiders. I try and get along with them, but I don't like them and I don't really enjoy weeding. It gets on top of me and it's boring. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to love every single aspect of your hobby. You can just love it overall, you know. That's okay. Right, well, I think I'll leave it there today because I'm absolutely shattered. Does my face look really, really red? It's like cloudy and it doesn't look like... It doesn't look like the warmest day on camera, but it's actually really humid and hot. So I need to go home, have a cold drink. I've got some work to do today, so I do need to get going. I have... Those Jappy Littles that I planted are still alive, by the way. Still alive. Excellent news. I've got some more to go out. I'm thinking of putting up, because I've got another archway in my shed. What was that? I saw so many weird creatures here today. What was that? What was that noise? Another thing I don't love about gardening is all these creatures that sort of sneak up on me. I'm going to put another archway up and plant the rest of my Jappy Littles on the other plot. So we're going to do that next time, not this time, because those archways stress me out. But we will persevere and we will do it. So I will see you again on Sunday for my Sunday morning vlog. And then I'll see you back on the allotment on Monday. Have a lovely gardening weekend. Let's all hope for a little bit of rain soon, because everything's looking very dry. See you next time. Thanks for watching. Bye.