SEPTEMBER ALLOTMENT JOBS / Cosy September Autumn Allotment Gardening 🍁

She's hiding from something. I don't know what it is, but she's hiding from something. Look, my salvia has started to flower and grow back. I'm doing something useful. There she goes. It's a vegetarian day today, you know. Now that, my friends, is a wood chip pile to be proud of. My gosh, there's one, two, three massive piles of it. So I'm definitely not going to run out of wood chip this year. Morning, guys. Welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name's Emma. These are the allotment diaries. Look at that sun this morning, that glorious sun in the greenhouse. Oh, my gosh. It's that perfect kind of early, very, very early autumn light. I wouldn't say we're officially in autumn yet because it's not the 20, is it the 22nd of September? The autumn sort of meteorologically, meteorologically, officially starts. But I think it sort of starts September, October, November and then December, January, February is winter. Yeah, that sounds about right to me. So it is sort of very, very early autumn days and it's just gorgeous. The bird food behind you has been broken into again and eaten. I've hidden it under a tea towel at the top of my shelves in the hope that that would deter any animals. And obviously, I have massively underestimated all of the wildlife's intelligence levels and I have probably insulted every single creature on this allotment now because they found it and they got in. But at least something was using it and eating it. I mean, the point of it is that wildlife eats it. So technically wildlife are eating it. So I can't really complain, can I? Right. I've got some seeds with me today because I'd like to do some seed sowing, which is quite exciting. I have a plan for when the tomatoes go. I don't think they're ready to go yet. We're going to keep them holding on. They're looking sadder and sadder every single day as the temperatures are just dropping and dropping. They're sort of drooping a little bit and looking sad. There's still a lot of green tomatoes on here. So I'm sort of going to hold out for as long as I can. Maybe we'll get a little burst of heat and then they can ripen all their tomatoes for me. I don't know. I mean, would you take these out yet? I feel like it's too early. We're at the stage now where they're snapping and falling down. And I just cannot be bothered to prop them back up again because we are sort of on the edge of their existence now. I mean, they look a little bit sad. I don't know if it's looking sad on camera, but I can just sort of tell we're getting a little bit droopiness, but you can see, look, all the tomatoes still on there. So I really want them to sort of, I want to hold on to them for as long as I can. I think it's too early to pull them all out. I've actually completely forgotten when I did that last year, when I took them out, I think they went in earlier last year, so they might have already been out by now. But I put them in a bit later this year, so maybe they'll go to the end of September, do we reckon? I'll try and keep them hanging on as long as possible. But we're going to put some brassicas in here, I think. No, some salad, salad crops. Brassicas outside salad in here. That was the plan. Right. I don't know if I've got anything to feed Einstein now because, you know, they've ransacked it. He doesn't really like this stuff. This is the seeds that I got, which is specifically for robins. And he doesn't really like it. I think because he's an allotment bird, he's more of a wild robin. So he kind of likes his worms and his insects and things and not really seeds. I think he's really interested in seeds. I'm going to give him a few, a few of these anyway. He's not going to be happy with it and he's probably going to hate me for it, to be honest. Otherwise he'll just pester me the whole time that I'm here, he'll just pester me. So there's a few little seeds here. It's a vegetarian day today, you know, I have to get some more mealworms again. It's vegetarian today, Einstein. Oh no, what's happened to these? Oh no, I had loads of brassicas in here and they've all been munched. That's a bit annoying because we've had so much rain. I don't think I even told you about the amount of rain we had yesterday. Literally the entire day it just rained. Oh, did you hear that? That's Einstein. He's over here somewhere. He's not happy. He doesn't sound very happy with me, does he? I'm not entirely sure what's eating these. I feel like it might be pigeons. So once again, we might have to net these over. Let me see what I've got. All right, there we go. Another bit of dodgy netting to cover them over. It could have been slugs because of the amount of rain that we've had, but I have a sneaky feeling that it is the pigeons because the damage, the damage just sort of looks like the leaves have been stripped. You see what I mean here? Like a slug would do that. It would have little holes in it. It's only got one hole in it. I think it's been stripped and that's what the birds do with their beak. They strip it all. That's why I think it's birds. I sort of hope it's birds because they're easier to protect against. Right, there we go. Hopefully they'll do okay. The pumpkins are in there too, but they're not getting much bigger. So they can just grow and have a nice time this year, I think. This is my Cavlonero kale that was getting completely destroyed by something and I thought it must be birds. So I've netted it and actually I can see within the netting that a lot of the leaves are growing back and they're not getting any further damage despite the fact that we've had a lot of rain, which tells me that it's probably not slugs that are getting these. It is the birds stripping the leaves and the netting has definitely worked. So that's why it's so important to net your brassicas, especially things like kale and kohlrabi because they just really love the rubbery texture of the leaves. Birds just love it. There you go. That might be a fun little trivia fact about birds. Birds love brassica leaves. If that ever comes up and who wants to be a millionaire and it's your millionaire question, please share the money with me because I've given you that fact and that fact is very obscure. Not a lot of people know that. They enjoy a range of food, including brassica leaves. So there you go. So hopefully, because this has all been netted now and they were getting my kohlrabi, you can see the kohlrabi in there, all the leaves have been stripped. Hopefully now they'll all grow back and this bed's looking pretty healthy, isn't it? I'm really happy with this bed. I really am. Despite you, you're not really doing any help at all, but you look quite good sitting there. Yeah. Thumbs up, mate. Come on. I mean, he hasn't got a nose. I don't know what he's supposed to be doing. I don't know what this is. I think it might be kalettes. We'll just sort of have to wait and see. And then we've got the cauliflower and the kohlrabi. What's happened here with the net? Oh no, has that cat been in here? You're not even watching for the cat, are you? Honestly. I haven't really checked on these carrots. I think they sort of stunted in their growth a little bit because of the hot weather and now they've sort of got going again, but it just means that they've been in the ground for a really, really long time and haven't sort of made much progress. So I don't know if that affects the overall crop. It'd be really interesting to see if they can still develop into carrots, even though they've kind of been sitting there for so long. It's all new to me, this stuff. This stuff is very unusual. Usually you put crop in the ground, it grows for so long, and then you pull it up and you get a harvest. This year, I put a lot of things in the ground, including seeds, not heard from them again, or they just stopped growing. And all of a sudden we get the rain and the cooler temperatures and everything's shot up again. And I just don't know what kind of difference that makes to the crops. There's nothing going on under there. There's nothing. You're just, you're all foliage and no substance. That's what you guys are. Sorry, but it's true. But I mean, look at all the foliage. They've all come up and then at the back, I've got all the beetroot coming up and these are seeds that I sowed ages ago and they've only just started to germinate. How crazy is that? It's almost like they were just waiting for the rain. So it's all been, I'm just, I have no idea about timings anymore is what I'm trying to say. I have no idea. Yeah, it's not necessarily like a bad thing. It's just that I don't, it's just so weird that you sort of put things in the ground and they've just taken so long to, to do anything. But then suddenly they start doing something and it's just like, what? Like, where have you been? You know, just chilling, I suppose, just, just taking it easy. Been on holiday, I suppose. Anyway, it's always a Also, I feel like a lot of people, I've had this allotment plot for six years. My first two years, I still have very young children and I was working a full-time job. So I was sort of here very sporadically for my first couple of years. So properly I've worked this plot for about four years. Sometimes I get the impression that people think I should know more than I do at this stage and that I should be like a pro allotment professional now. And I should just understand it all. It's just not worked out that way, guys. I can't, I don't know why. I'm doing my best. Put stuff in the ground. I really hope that it grows. I, I have some knowledge now. I'm not as clueless as I was before. I do understand what certain conditions, certain plants need, where to put things, you know, all that wouldn't work there because it's got too much shade. I'm not looking to become a pro professional gardener. And if you want that, this is not the channel for you. There are so many allotment gardeners out there who have horticultural degrees and who actually understand everything. What I'm trying to do is be a fairly good amateur gardener. That's my aim. I think it's more attainable for me. A lot of horticulture doesn't interest me at all whatsoever. All the different grasses, all the different names for different grasses, like the look of them, read the label and see where it can go and stuff. But like, there's so much of it that I don't, I'm not particularly interested in. Latin names, certain plants just have absolutely no interest in them whatsoever. I'm not looking to become a horticulturalist or I would have done a degree by now. I would have done a qualification. I'm just looking to become a very good amateur gardener, somebody who can just pretty grow like a pumpkin archway pretty successfully and grow tomatoes. But that is what this channel is sort of all about. It's about becoming a really good amateur gardener. So we're sort of keep out all of the overly technical stuff because I don't know it and I don't intend to know it. And I stick to kind of the really basic facts, the things that you need to know to grow stuff. So if that floats your boat, maybe you're in the right place. This is the area I am tackling today. This is my little sort of perennial flowery area under the apple tree, which I've got some like lavender in and some other sort of perennial flowers. We're going to sort of clear it today and make it look good. A lot of the comments that I get about my weeding technique is that I don't always dig out the root. I promise you that I do. I don't always show it on camera. Some things like bindweed, I will just pull out because to be honest, it would take half of my life to dig all the bindweed out in this plot. It's just a nightmare. It's been a nightmare since I got it six years ago. So I'll never be able to get rid of all the bindweed. So I just tend to pull it out and try and weaken the plant. But the other things like dandelions and the other weeds you see, I do tend to dig them out. I don't show it on camera because you would be surprised of how many people turn off on these vlogs whenever I start weeding, especially if I show it in detail. So you'll sort of see a couple of shots of me just sort of pulling some green up like that, throwing it in the wheelbarrow and that's it. I think people find weeding quite boring, but let me show you what I normally do. So I just literally dig them up. So we loosen the soil with the old shovel and then because it's been raining, it's actually quite easy to get all the roots out at the moment. But even if I do this guys, they are all going to grow back. I'm not naive anymore. Weeds will always be a part of this allotment and that's it. I think what will help with weeds on my allotment, particularly in this area here, is mulch, really thick mulch, because that will suppress all the weeds and also keep moisture in the ground and save me from having to dig everything up all the time. I've said it before, I'll say it again, what this plot needs is some serious mulching. I've neglected it over the last couple of years. The mulch layers have been too thin. Mulch is going to be a big thing that I do over the autumn time. You're not going to stop hearing about mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch, especially if we have another really, really hot summer next year. Mulch is going to help massively with retaining moisture in the ground, which is exactly what this plot needs. Look, my salvia has started to flower and grow back. Oh my gosh. This is, I think, the salvia hot lips, because it's like a bright pink and I just love it. It died all over the summer because of the heat wave. Look, it's all coming back and it's flowering. It's just looking so good. I really love this plant. I really want it to survive. Here's how we're looking here now. I think it's looking a lot better. I've got a lot of the weeds out and I've cleared away a lot of the dead perennials. A lot of them have died in the heat, unfortunately, so I have to get some more. Some of them are doing so, so well, though. I've done my best to keep as much of these fallen leaves on the floor because a lot of insects are probably hiding under them. I want it to remain wildlife friendly here, so I've kept as much as I can on the floor, but I've really thinned it out. I'm wondering if this apple tree needs a little bit of help as well, if it might need a little bit of a prune. I won't do it today because I need to Google it and look it up and see what I need to be cutting off. I have an idea, but I don't want to get it wrong and kill the tree. Yeah, I do feel like the apple tree might need just a little bit of looking after. It is amazing how much better it looks since I have been pruning it. I pruned it about three times since I've had it and it definitely does look better. It's standing up more on its own as well. It's not sort of leaning so much anymore, so I think it's just really happy. Oh, I've got it propped up, haven't I? I forgot. You see this here? This is propping the apple tree up, and where it's been propping the apple tree up for so long, the tree is starting to go straighter, so I really think I've rescued this tree. I didn't really get many apples on it this year, but I didn't really get any blossom. Do you remember I was saying everybody else's apple trees are blossoming and mine's sort of taken the year off? It definitely did take the year off, guys, and it's just given me about five apples, so there's not even that many on the floor. There's about five. You come back to see me today, have you? Yeah? What are you looking for? Not Einstein. He's not been down. No. Oh, she's come back to see what I've been up to. You come to see what I've been up to? Yeah? Does it all look different here? Why is she slinking like that? What's going on? Grasshopper. Are you protecting me from that mean old grasshopper? Yeah. Finally, she's doing something useful. There she goes. Go on. Right, I've got another gladioli bulb to add to my little pile as well. I think I probably will end up buying some more of those as well, just in case these don't grow, and I need to find a better position for the gladiolis. Can you see me okay? The sun is strong today. Now you're too low. I've got some seeds, so let's see if we can get some of these in the ground. The one that I really want to plant, I don't think you can see me, the one that I really want to plant is the turnips. It's the Milan purple top, which is kind of like it's white at the bottom, and it's got this purple sort of top to it, and they're so, so beautiful. When they grow properly, they are so stunning. So we're going to whack in some of these, and I actually think we're going to whack them into the bed at the back that's got the cornflowers in, because at the moment it's been mulched. It's had all this lovely compost put in it, and nothing's really growing in it, so we might as well use the bed while it's there. This is the bed I mean, so it had all the cornflowers and sunflowers in. I've sort of allowed the cornflowers to self-seed, if you watched that video a few videos back, and I did plant some of this in here, and only one has survived, or two, two have survived. Nothing else survived in this bed, so I think we'll plant the turnips on the other side. Plant them in the other end, keep them away from the stench of death, so that they don't, you know, panic. We don't want any seedlings to panic. Smooth this out a little bit, so we've got a good growing area. That looks all right. I think these will do fine. You know what we're going to do? We're going to scatter them, sod the rows. I can't be bothered to do it in rows today. I think I'm just going to scatter them. I'm going to break every single rule today. Loads and loads of turnips, and what we'll do is we'll ruffle them all in. There you go. We will give it a bit of a watering, even though this soil is really quite wet. I think I still will water it in. I'm going to have to put something over it, because she's going to... What are you doing? What are you looking for? What are you hiding from? Are you okay? She's hiding from something. I don't know what it is, but she's hiding from something. What? What is it? Over there. She's scouting it out. She's doing a very good job. I wish she would do this for the rat that's living in my greenhouse. I wish she'd just go in my greenhouse and catch that mouse or rat or whatever it is, but look, I think this is all for grasshopper, guys. She's a very busy little cat. I am absolutely thrilled with how that area has changed the look of this plot down here. It looks so much neater. Seriously, how fantastic does that look? What do you think? I think she's quite impressed with it, you know. I really think it's made a huge, huge difference. I'm actually really happy with what I've done today. I think just moving around in little sections and really clearing them and sorting them out. Gosh, that sun. It's lovely, but oh my goodness. Yeah, I think it really helps. I think it's really helping to keep me motivated. I'm physically seeing the difference in everything I'm doing here. I'm seeing how much clearer it looks. It feels more organized. I just feel like I can handle it again. It's amazing. It's just amazing what just working in little sections can actually achieve. Yeah, just feeling super positive about the plot in general. I've got a lot of stuff out for autumn now. I've got spring bulbs that are going to be going out in the next couple of months. I need to redo my shed roof. I've got a few other sort of big jobs to do over the autumn winter. And also I need to mulch all my pathways with that wood chip, which there is plenty of. I think I'm going to weed my pathways as well properly before I put the wood chip down. Sometimes I just cover them over, but I think this time I'm going to do it properly. I can hear the cat. I love the bell. I love the bell. The bell stopped when I looked out there, though. I feel like she's up to something. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the vlog today. If you have, do subscribe. I will see you again in my Sunday diary on Sunday or back at the allotment plot on Monday. Have a lovely gardening weekend. Bye.