SOWING MORE SEEDS IN THE ALLOTMENT GARDEN / AUGUST 2022 / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

Welcome to my allotment diaries, my name is Emma. Go and grab yourself a cup of tea and let me show you what's been growing. So I've not been here for about a week, a week and a half which in allotment time is about six years so the plot's kind of got away with itself and it's just, well it's just become what you expect it to become if you leave it for a week in the summer really. A little bit overgrown, a little bit some things are stunted, some things have taken off. It's always interesting to come back after a bit of time away because you never quite know what you're going to find. Pumpkin's doing quite well though. Notice I say pumpkin not pumpkins because it just seems to be this one and he's really climbing now so I sort of need to tell him to go that way a little bit but he's really really climbing, he's coming all down here, he's looking fantastic. That will cover the front bit of my arch giving me the illusion of a pumpkin arch. Just behind it over here, starting to climb, he's obviously not as good as this one which is just quite weird isn't it? I don't know what's what's changed but he is spreading so hopefully he'll sort of cover this bit as well and then over there I just don't really want to talk about that because nothing's happened. He's done nothing, nothing Harry. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting Harry to do but something, water maybe? I don't know Harry, he's got no arms though has he? I can't be too hard on him. Sweetcorn is alive. I'm quite surprised about this because it's been quite warm in the UK and actually we're going through a bit of a drought at the moment or like it's on on the cusp of a drought or something or other but basically hasn't rained for a while and I was really worried these would all be dead but actually they've done really well. So the ones that are alive are like really alive, that's what you want to see. You see like I've planted 13, I've got how many have I got? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I reckon that's that counts as an eight. Right so I've got eight but the point is the eight that are growing are growing really well, really strong and that's what you want. I'd rather have eight really good plants than like 13 that are looking really scraggly and I do have a little one coming up there so maybe, maybe. My pak choy has not gone to seed. A lot of people messaging to say they can't grow pak choy because it goes to seed really quickly. Well mine is just doing really well and I've just left it here in the heat and it's just done really good. A little bit eaten but we've got a lot of new leaves on this one now, really fresh crunchy leaves in the middle. They look absolutely beautiful, same with this one. This one's been completely demolished but it's okay because I've got some more over there as well so I'm happy for the slugs and snails to have some and look at the lettuce. It's an absolute beast, it's just got so big. I'm so freaking excited and fat. I'm gonna eat some now because oh it's so good to eat in the morning. It's so fresh and rich and fresh, fresh and rich and crunchy. Let's travel down, let's travel down into my polytunnel because I think I see lots of red in here and I'm not talking about the fallen apples which I get, apples fall right? But the thing is when I fall on my plot all the wasps come and then I get stung on the ankle again so I don't want to complain or anything but it is slightly annoying when all the apples just drop and then all the wasps come but hey what can you do, it's life isn't it? At least they're being fed as long as they're not stinging me. Look in my wonderful polytunnel, I can see so much red. I think these are gardener's delight or possibly cherry tomatoes, they look so good don't they? So shiny and red, I'm gonna take these home today. This is where I put the plaster on and just above it we have new tomatoes growing so obviously the plaster worked though some of the leaves look a little bit sad but the tomatoes look good so that's fine and then if we come over here, loads more tomatoes, oh they look so good don't they? And then under here I've got some, they look a bit bigger, these might be the gardener's delight actually and these actually might be the cherry because you see how these are quite small and round and cherry-like and then these ones here are like a little bit bigger, more overly shaped. I can see some under there too, there's a lovely wasp waiting to sting me. My big ones through here haven't started to change colour yet but still looking really good, really happy. I am like, I cannot tell you how excited I am to pick and eat one of these, they look amazing. So we'll be picking some of my tomatoes today but I'm just gonna try one because there's nothing like the fresh taste of a tomato. Welcome to my summer allotment diaries where it's basically just me going around my plot eating everything. It looks amazing, smells incredible, that is amazing, oh my goodness. My bolotti beans down here are refusing to hold on to the netting that I created, it's like they've rejected my structure, I don't know why, it's perfectly safe guys. Some of them have twined themselves around it but some of them are just sort of like hanging, like where do I go, where do I go, you're here mate, here. Look, this one in particular has grown really big, come on wrap yourself around, it's behind you, it's behind you, come on, look they're holding on to each other. I think I wouldn't give them a structure to hold on to, you are mistaken, I built this structure with my bare hands and you killed myself doing it, least you could do is grow up it. Right hopefully that starts them off, apparently all you have to do is just make them touch it like that and then they'll sort of find their way, I mean that's the theory from my experience, plants aren't that smart but you know. I've got some seeds with me today which I got from Kitchen Garden magazine and my article's in it this month, it's a September edition so if you fancy a read of my latest article, I think it's called Born to be Wild and it's about gardening with kids, go and buy it and you also get a load of packs of seeds when you buy it as well. So I'm going to sow a load of seeds today because I just think I need to just start getting some more stuff out there really and it's a good day to do it, it's a good weekend so let's do it. So I'm going whack in some onions, carrots, radishes, Californian poppies and poppies. I think one of the things that scared me the most as a new gardener was seeds, for some reason seeds absolutely terrified me. These are Chanteney red cord, they're not going to be, I know that Chanteney carrots are not very big, they're about that big so I'm not going to be expecting massive carrots. Tiniest seeds in the world. I think it's just that the idea of growing an entire vegetable plot from something smaller than my baby toe just seems ridiculous and terrifying. I always say I'll sow thinly and then I just end up sprinkling them on like a betty. How will it all grow? How does it work? What are these mysterious little brown balls that we just throw into the soil? How do they turn into these incredibly massive plants and produce fruit and vegetables? It all just seems slightly terrifying. I think one of the biggest lessons that I've taken away from gardening in general is that it's not the art of growing stuff that's complicated, it's people, it's us, we've made it complicated. You see plants and seeds they just want to grow, they're born to grow, that's their whole job. When you realise that it's all down to the seed it all just becomes that little bit easier and you just learn to let go and then you can just start whacking it all in. I don't think I did a bad job this year, I really don't. Obviously as usual I can't find my scissors so I can't find my scissors so I'm gonna have to use a hoe to try and get rid of that which is like encroaching on my bed so all right that'll do. I'm just gonna whack in the Californian poppies all around the old broccoli plants, I say the old broccoli plants because most of them are died. It'd be just nice to have something growing, do you know what I mean? There's nothing growing. I do love Californian poppies but once you've planted them they just spring up everywhere, they're like weeds but if you just control them where you want them to be they're really beautiful. Tiny seeds though, teeny teeny tiny. Hold up a minute, who's this? Who's this skulking onto my plot then? It's Rocky! It's Rocky everyone. Hello Rocks. What have you been up to then eh? What have you been up to? Hello Rocky. You all right Rocks? You okay? So Californian poppies might flower this year if I'm lucky, cow me, but the actual poppies which is the Shirley double mix, these will flower next spring so I need to really think about where I want to put these so I need to do a little bit of thinking even though there's a lot of blank patches at my allotment plot, I want to make sure that I put them in the right place for next year, does that make sense? So I have to think about those ones but everything else is in. It is in, yeah Rocks, yeah yeah. So happy about that pumpkin, I'm so happy that pumpkin is doing well, I'm literally just staring at it like I think I'm going to get some kind of pumpkin arch which is just amazing. Also I have seen some mini tiny little pumpkins on it which may fall off but you know because first ones usually do but the point is they're there, see it's a nice little one here and I've seen a few others actually lurking about, don't know where they've gone now, obviously they're high, oh there's one. So they're going to grow on the archway which is quite exciting, I've got another spindle coming now, I'm going to leave him, normally I'd chop him off and only have a couple of spindles but because I haven't got many plants growing I'm going to sort of leave him and then hopefully at least one of these gets going, I just need one of you, I just need one of you to do okay, all right, just one of you, just just start growing okay, what do I have to do? Just trying to stay super grateful and super thankful for what I have achieved here and to remember the things that I have achieved and not keep focusing on the stuff that dies, it's so easy to focus just on everything that dies, if you just switch your mindset and focus on all the things that worked and all the harvest that you did get and all the joy and enjoyment that you've got out of your plot then it is worth it you know. Just picking some of my tomatoes now to take home, it's quite exciting isn't it and I hope you enjoyed the vlog today, if you did do subscribe to my youtube channel and I will do my absolute best to get as many up as I can over the summer holidays and bear in mind that I've got my kids at home but I'm going to be doing everything I can to try and keep vlogging because I love it and I hope that you enjoy them too so I'll see you next time, thank you so much for watching, happy gardening, bye!