SUPPORTING THE BROAD BEANS / MARCH 2022 / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

Good morning everyone. Welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma. These are my allotment diaries. I would love for you to subscribe to my YouTube channel, which 10,000 of you have. I'm seriously overwhelmed that over 10,000 of you are now subscribed to this channel. Over 20,000 of you follow me on Instagram. It's just amazing. I don't really know what to say about it, other than I really hope that you're enjoying these vlogs. Apologise for the aeroplane. Despite the numerous aeroplanes, helicopters, and creatures that come and interrupt my vlogging and my show, I'm just so thankful that so many of you decided to stick around and enjoy what I do. I'm just going to continue doing what I love to do, which is to try and figure out how to grow my own stuff on this allotment plot, make all the mistakes in the world, and hopefully get some really good advice from you guys, because I do listen to your advice. On that note, in regards to the potatoes that I sowed in the bucket, I've read so much conflicting advice online. So many of you saying you don't have to earth them up if they're in a bucket. Some people saying that you should anyway. I'm just going to earth them up and see what happens. I will let you know on that one. Right, I've got some stuff to do today. I've actually brought some actual equipment with me, which is incredible, right? This doesn't normally happen, but I did manage to get down to Wilko's the weekend and got a couple of supplies. So I've got some netting for the bean structure, which can you believe it is actually still up? I can't believe it. Yeah, so that's good. And I also brought some twine to do my broad beans. So those are my two jobs today, and then I might see if I can get round to doing the other planter at the front. But anyway, let's get going with... Let's do the bean structure first, because like I said, it's still up. So as you can see, the bean structure stayed up. So I'm assuming that means that it can just tolerate beans now, which is really good. So it's balancing you on a plank. Right, I think you can sort of see there. You can sort of see what I'm about to do. So the idea is going to be to staple gun the netting. We'll just see how this goes, I suppose. It's a bit like a giant spider web, but like for beans, not flies. I hope birds don't get stuck in it. That's my first thought when I'm putting it up. I'm thinking if a stupid bird just flies straight through it, can't see it. I'm really happy with that. Like I'm really, really happy with this structure. I just think it's so good. And I really love the fact that I've just used what I've got in my plot and haven't gone and brought one of those big bean structure things, because sometimes you don't need to. I mean, look what it is. It's just a couple of branches that are stuck in the ground and then a little pole across the top and then just netting. I don't know if you can actually see the netting, but it's here. It's quite good. I think the beans will grow up it quite happily and it doesn't use too much room if there's not much support. So I might have to put some in at some point. I'm just really happy with that. I think that's going to be a really good bean structure. Right, so this now takes this area here to like bean city. And then obviously around beans, courgettes grow really well. So it stands to reason that I should put my courgette plants around the bean structure I'm growing at the bottom. And then perhaps over here I could have some potatoes or something else. Yeah, I do think courgettes, because courgettes and beans go together. They're like friends. So yeah, I think that's good. Right, so the next job of the day is again another structure sort of job, because these broad beans are now getting quite big. Now the weather's cleared up and it's got sunny. You're right, they have started to grow and come into their own, but they do now need quite a bit of support. Now when I hadn't Googled it, when it was un-Googled, I just started putting these poles in, but that's not actually the way you do it. So I'm actually going to do what I've seen online, how people support these broad beans. And you can see, look, I'm starting to get some flowers. So I really do think I need to support them now, basically, if I've got any chance of getting any beans. Right, let's do this. I'll just show you how I do it, really. It's the point of the vlog, isn't it, for me to show you? Otherwise I'll just talk you through it. That's the first bit of the operation. Sticks. Right, I do think you sort of know what I'm trying to do. I wasn't sure of the exact pattern that the twine had to make, but when I was putting it round, it just didn't seem right, so I sort of put more and more on. Now it's a bit of a geometrical pattern, but I think it's going to support them okay. I've never done this before for support, but basically I'll just put twine across the sticks, and hopefully they'll sort of... I don't know how that one's going to be supported, but hopefully. I mean, this is what people do to them, so I'm really hoping that they sort of grow around them. And if they flop, they'll flop onto the string. Some of them are being held up, actually. I do tell a lie. They look a bit better, don't they? They do look a bit more upright. Well, as usual, one of my new sayings is, it's what we've done, and what we've done is what we've done. So hopefully it will sort of grow now and just be happy, but it's better than no support, isn't it? The only other thing that I know people will say is that I'm going to impale myself on these things, and you're right, I am. I'm going to collect some kind of bottles or something to put on the top. I think I've actually got some beer bottles. I might do that now. Safety first. The other job that I want to do today, and somebody came up with this, actually, in the comments, and thank you for your suggestion, to do with this little pallet here. Instead of putting pots in, I'm going to use one of these old compost bags, which can make really good planters, apparently, because obviously they hold compost, don't they? So they can hold compost again, as long as you put drainage holes in. I think most things you can actually use as a planter, and they suggested staple gunning it to the inside, putting soil in and growing something that way, and I just thought it was a great idea, and I'd like to try it, and maybe it will hold more moisture. I don't know. I don't really know how it all works, but I thought it'd be a good idea to try it. So what I'm going to do is whack it in. Inside out, the black will show, won't it? What I'll do is I'll do it inside out, and then the black will show, and the colour will be inside. It might look a little bit less like an old bag, do you know what I mean? Oh no, not a white top. Why am I wearing a white top? Honestly, recently I've been coming to the plot dressed in the worst way possible. Some of you picked up on my white trainers the other day. Well, they are ruined, destroyed. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm just so scatty sometimes. I'll swish it in like this, and I'll staple it where I want it to be. I think this would be quite good for a hanging basket as well, so if you buy a cheap hanging basket and you just use the compost bag for the actual liner inside it, I'm sure it'll work fine, as long as you put drainage holes in, like I said, otherwise it'll all just drown. Right, there we go. I'm really happy with that, actually. That was such a super amazing idea. Thank you so much. It didn't cost me anything. I don't know if you saw, but, well, you did see because I filmed it. I just dug up some compost from one of the raised beds. Because it's perfectly good compost, I try not to get so many weeds in there, but you know, it happens. And what I'll probably do is buy some little plug plant, some little flowers, and put those in. It'd be really nice at the front of my plot, and I think it will attract some more pollinators in and stuff, and just look really nice. Plus, I've sort of utilised the entire pallet space, so I've got even more growing space, as opposed to doing the pots, which still work quite well, and tulips are still happy and alive. But this is just a really, a really good idea. It's so good. It's so cheap. And look, I've got the little bag sticking out the bottom, with the drainage holes in. Fantastic. Didn't cost me anything. Absolutely love coming here, and then doing things that don't cost you anything as well. I think that's just the beauty of an allotment plot, because it isn't your back garden, is it? It's an allotment plot, and we want it to look nice, and like, look pretty, so that you can come here and it can be your little sanctuary. But at the same time, you don't want to spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on it, do you? And this was just a great idea. Thank you. Okay then, that's me done today. So I've done the three main jobs that I wanted to get done this morning. I feel really good for coming down here. I always feel really good for coming down here. And then basically, I've just got some more weeding to do. The polytunnel will be going up soon. The thing is, is I've got nothing to plant in it just yet, so there's no kind of rush. I'm trying this thing this year called patience, where I actually wait until I need to do things, and so that it doesn't fly away or something. Because we are still only in like the beginning half of March, so we could have another three storms for all we know, and a snowstorm as well. So I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but it's hard, isn't it? Because spring is my favorite time of year. It's most gardeners' favorite time of year, and it just feels so good to be getting going again. I hope you enjoyed the vlog today. Thank you for subscribing if you already have 10,000 of you. And yeah, do subscribe if you're new, because it just makes me happy. It makes me realize that people do like these, and I'll keep going with them really until there's nothing left to grow, which will be never. And I will see you on Wednesday, guys. Have a lovely week. See you Wednesday. Bye!