ARGUING AT THE ALLOTMENT PLOT / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

We've got one screwdriver here, why would you even start this? I snapped it. Oh my goodness, where are all your mates? Good morning guys, welcome back to another allotment diary from me. My name's Emma, these are my allotment diaries. I would love for you to hit the subscribe button if you're not already subscribed to my YouTube channel, it makes a huge huge difference. Sorry I'm just tucking my shirt in if you're wondering what I'm fiddling about with. I've been bitten like crazy recently, I think they're horse flies, are they horse flies? The ones that give you that really itchy little tiny bump. I just seem to be bitten by them like crazy at the moment, I think it's the weather. So I'm just trying to keep everything tucked in to try and minimise it. But yeah, what was I saying? Hitting the subscribe button and subscribing to my channel makes a huge difference, so thank you so much if you've already done that. Welcome to my allotment diaries, my name's Emma, this is my polycarbonate greenhouse and this is my allotment plot in South London. I vlog all about what I'm up to here, so if that sounds like your jam, follow along. Just got here and I've just watered all of my seedlings because we have yet to get any rain. I think it's been almost three weeks since we last saw rain in South London, so it's a little bit of a nightmare. We're having to get down a lot and do a lot of watering. I think the tomatoes are surviving quite well, they seem to be getting bigger and bigger every time I come in here. I've just planted out some new jappy littles, so I'm just going to go and give those a bit of a water quickly. This lack of rain has been a real real issue, it's been the issue of the year I have to say. It's come at a really unfortunate time because it is July, it's kind of like mid-growing season. There's a lot that I've got out that's new that's going to dry out very quick because the roots are not established yet so it can't kind of suck up its own water from deep in the ground and then there's a lot of new seedlings in there which need constant watering. So it's really come at a difficult time and I mean you can see the real effect of the lack of rain on my nasturtiums because these are like super plants, they're like super super adaptable weeds essentially that we use as plants because they self-sow prolifically. But the fact that a lot of my nasturtiums are just completely drying out, you don't normally find nasturtiums drying out like this because they're such super survivors and all of them have just suffered from the lack of rain. This is my poor new jappy little, this is about a day and a half where I haven't been here to water, he's just been planted in so he's not big enough yet whereas the one behind him which I think is a patty pan, because his roots are quite established now he can find water under the ground but this poor little guy can't. So I'm going to give him a double water, I'm going to water before I leave as well. I don't think there's too much that we can really do about this lack of rain other than obviously come down and physically water but it's just amazing how much we need rain over just watering stuff because the rain really does just help everything you know. It's just amazing that like until something's gone you don't realise how necessary it is and rain is so so necessary in a vegetable garden, it really really is. It's just made such a huge difference to the allotment this year so hopefully hopefully we get some rain soon. Right jobs of the day, I think we're going to start with getting that archway out and putting it up so I've got some more jappy littles at home that need to come out so we're going to venture into the spider shed. I know I'm not looking forward to it but we're going to have to do it. Okay as you can see my shed is not somewhere I have been venturing into very much because it is absolutely full of spiders. Instead I've just allowed this lovely clematis to kind of take it over but today is the day that we need to get out the final archway because I've got one in there somewhere. Oh god wish me luck. Oh my goodness I actually really miss my shed, I really miss my shed. I need to reclaim this back this year at some point definitely it's actually really cool in here as well probably because it's not been open for ages the sun's not been in here but it's down there somewhere and there's so many spiders. Right I've located it so I think I can just oh god it's literally there I can literally see it I just can't get it it's literally there it's literally there it's just above it there's so many spiders I just don't I just oh god oh my god I actually think that's a really good plan. Anything on it? No we got it. That's one crawling on the bleeding door. I actually don't think that was too bad you know. There's so many butterflies here today is anybody else seeing like an influx of butterflies everywhere? I'm seeing butterflies everywhere at the moment. I don't actually think that was too bad of me um considering my fear is horrendous and by the way the shed clear up video is coming but not till the autumn time I will just be clearing it out and reclaiming my shed again I need my shed back I miss it in there I love it in there um so that video is coming but we got the garden archway out whether there are spiders inside this but it is sealed to be fair so I don't think there are spiders inside it let's go. Firstly you don't need the instructions because I've put up about 15,000 of these in fact you could hire me to come to your allotment and put one of these up for you I mean it might take me a little bit of time because I often forget what I have to do but you know what I'll do it eventually for a fee of course I'm not offering for free there's no way I put these things up for free the only thing to remember is that two of the um if you ever put one of these up they're available on like amazon and stuff they're quite cheap um is that two of the long things will have nothing at one end they're the end pieces don't put those together in the uh like this one you see it's got a hole there and then nothing at the bottom and that's a bottom piece okay so as long as you get those bits right you're good I normally do these kind of jobs with um like putting up archways and structures in the winter time because I find like it's quite a time-wasting sort of task and not something I really want to focus on in the growing season but it's always really blooming cold and it's a really unpleasant job to do so actually doing it when the weather's nicer you know that's a complete lie I'm just going to completely scratch my sentence because I was going to say it makes it a little bit easier to handle and to do it doesn't it's still blooming time-consuming and boring I think with these archways they're really good value for money they're quite cheap they're about 12 pounds for an archway and you can reinforce them and stuff and they do last a long time I think my archway here before lasted about three years before I finally had to take it down and that was like with like pumpkins growing over it so they are excellent value for money but sometimes the holes don't line up properly so you can't actually get the screw through like this one I think it's because it's just made so cheaply probably like in a factory where they just sort of print them out they sometimes they just don't it's just not lining up and the screw is just not going in there this feels really long I don't know if I've made this right now I've made so many of them I always sort of feel like I know what I'm doing but maybe I don't but I have to start over I'm throwing this in the bin I mean it seriously I can't take starting over today oh those holes don't line up either so frustrating I'm losing the will to live a little bit now bloody long it's just gone spectacularly wrong I think I forgot I was making an archway and I started making some kind of long ladder that's not right at all I've got that completely wrong oh my gosh this is a job that I thought would take me about 20 minutes 25 minutes I'm on to 45 minutes I've had to disassemble most of the bloody archway remember how I said a few minutes ago um you can pay me to come to your plot and I'll put this together for you yeah scrap that no way there's not enough money in the world that you could pay me to come and do this for you none of the holes match up I don't understand how this got created they must line up at some like that god even piece not lining up why is it not lining up according the cavalry oh that one's the going the wrong way I see the problem I see the problem it's brand new isn't it yeah it's brand new so that one just screws in yeah yeah I just don't know how you haven't told me you're gonna do this so I don't have an I don't have an allen key no no you don't need an allen key you've got anything here you've stolen from my toolbox when you can't do it today you can I do it all the time this is not getting done by hand you can't just not bring a screwdriver or a tool and then go it doesn't work it can anything come with anything come with it's the most moronic thing I've ever no I've I've made like 10 of these oh ---- nothing you've got one screwdriver here why would you even start this I want to cry it's just ridiculous that you put yourself into the situation oh is that what you went oh yeah I'm walking away oh no oh no I snapped it how much was that 15 quid isn't it no it's free my friend gave it to me all right I've got other parts I didn't know Wilkinson still existed I'm gonna just where are you getting Wilkinson stuff from I'm gonna throw the towel in I'm gonna throw the towel in today and I'm gonna use other parts from other ones oh yeah yeah yeah fine just bring the bloody allen key and screwdriver and I've got one for you well this is what we were going for this is what we've achieved I think you just witnessed one of Dave and I's very rare and far few far and few between arguments we don't argue about very much but when I do things like this in front of him he gets very annoyed it's a bit like you guys um I know what I'm like I get it all the time from him at home I never bring the right tools I'm always just trying to put things together myself but there we go right I've snapped one of the pieces but luckily I've got other archways that I can take pieces from so we're going to just do this another day I think I've had enough oh no look what's happened the birds have been pecking at this I didn't think they'd be doing this because I didn't think it was nesting season so the birds really like to use this stuff for their nest and so they come down and clip and like sort of peck it off can you see how like beautifully that is cut I didn't think they'd be doing it this time of year I was completely wrong so that is a little bit frustrating um these are my french beans in here I think they need a bit of a water let's do some oh my gosh is that one coming up you're joking oh my goodness look at this the first one that's amazing hello guy where where are all your mates not one other one has germinated that's a little bit concerning isn't it we better get these guys some water right just sitting under the tree for a bit of shade I don't know if you've noticed but it's not my normal day for coming down to the allotment it's actually a Sunday today which is why Dave's here Dave's just gone off to get us a couple of ice lollies because I think both of us are just overheating I think I gave him way too much stress so I'm feeling pretty stressed myself after that ordeal too so I think a nice ice lolly and a sit down in the shade would be really nice trying to take it a bit slower today ha ha ha what I mean to say is the plan was to take it a bit slower today because it's a Sunday but I can't seem to help myself when I'm just getting stuck in with all those nitty gritty jobs is that Einstein or one of the fledglings I did bring him some um mealworms should we feed the bird I think we should feed the bird right I doubt they'll show up because it's not the morning time and I sort of heard them up in a tree but if they do I'll try and catch them on camera not physically all of my absolutely gorgeous gladiolus are falling over I think it's because of the wind and so I'm going to try and prop them up these are some of the new bulbs that I put in this year such a beautiful colour but such a shame that they're sort of falling down and then all of these ones have been falling down I actually wonder if a fox or a cat has walked through here and kind of pushed them down as well as the wind um but let's try and prop them up we had an argument and now we're having a calippo so all is forgiven all is forgiven because I have my lovely calippo to cool me down oh my gosh this might be the best calippo I've ever had I don't think I've ever needed a calippo more in my life if you don't know what a calippo is by the way it's like an orange ice lolly um it's just really really refreshing to have on a hot day all right we'll take a little break have our ice lolly and then we'll fix those gladioli before they completely snap go mate the ground is so dry and so hard I can't actually get these sticks in the ground oh my god all right I think that would just about keep you up mate right I really want to harvest this courgette today it is so so big I did look up what it is and it is a courgette believe it or not isn't it fantastic it's massive but I think we need to pick this one so the plant has a chance to grow some more so we're going to pick him I mean wow just look at the size of it it's absolutely a monster oh my goodness look at that that is absolutely unbelievable this is like the heaviest thing ever it actually feels as heavy as a pumpkin I know it's a courgette though these are like these round courgettes that I've grown aren't they just isn't it just amazing I'm going to take this home and cook with it so it will be up in my Sunday vlog if you um watch that apparently it's supposed to be really creamy tasting and delicious so I cannot wait to cook with it I have another one growing on the other plant which I'm gonna have to cook I'm gonna have to pick another day because I don't know what to do with two of them um but yeah amazing oh my goodness the sun is completely off the greenhouse it's about five o'clock at night and I don't think I've ever been here around this time at this time of year before um just because I haven't I don't know what the excuse is I just haven't um but the sun is all over there now so it's nice and cool in here which might give me an indication as to why things have been surviving the plants obviously are sort of coping better because of this um and they actually feel notably cooler in fact the whole greenhouse feels cool at the moment it's actually cooler than outside which is fantastic um the tomatoes are doing just brilliantly guys absolutely brilliantly I think I might pick a couple of these for Dave as my peace offering today give him a couple of these ones these ones are cherry red I think they are so so nice when picked straight off of the vine I mean every tomato that's picked fresh is the best tomato in the world they are just fantastic so what a magical sight right let's go give one of these peace offering this is my peace offering your peace offering was a clip oh I give you a tomato in return what do you think very good huh oh my goodness just the best tasting things the taste of summer is fresh tomatoes next time I come I'm going to pot on these because these we've just got too many in here now and they're just going to dry out really quickly so that will be my job next time might also prune some of these tomatoes because they are becoming monstrous again um which is a good thing because they're obviously really happy and we're getting loads of more flowers on there and which is fantastic but I just think they need a little bit of looking after I'm determined to keep on top of them this year they're reaching the roof and trying to go beyond they're trying to get up to space that's their dream obviously to be astronauts I mean who doesn't dream of being an astronaut but um and I will see you again when I see you thank you so much for watching today