EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES / MEET MY NEW FRIEND! / JULY 2020

Good morning everyone, welcome to another very rainy Allotment Diary. It's been really really warm the last few days but obviously I've decided to film on a day that is pouring with rain, which is typical, but it does look beautiful. I had to come today to find out if everything had survived the heat because I haven't been here. Yesterday it was really really hot and I didn't come because I couldn't be bothered. I just wanted to lie down in the garden and I knew that rain was coming so everything's alive, which is like big thumbs up because that is like the main thing at the moment, like keeping stuff alive. Pumpkins are now massive so I'm going to take you straight out to show you my prize-winning pumpkins I guess. I'll show you the very biggest one because this is just a beast at the moment. I mean look at the size of it guys, it's freaking enormous. That's my hand, that is the pumpkin. I don't know how this one's got so big but there it is. It's massive, it's massive. This one's slightly smaller but still a pretty decent size I think you might agree. And then the issue that I had was that the ones growing up I had to start to hammock. They're getting massive so I don't know if this is actually going to work but so this one here is now in a hammock because I arrived and he's just grown into like a bit of a monster. And then around the other side I've got this one in a hammock too so I'm really hoping that they don't snap off. This structure is now, I'm worried about the structure, it feels a lot more flimsy now that we've got the pumpkins on it than it was before. And then I've got one down here which is again an absolute blooming beast and he's in a hammock so this is the one I'm slightly concerned with because he probably weighs like half a ton but he's in a hammock so he's sitting there, he's chilling so fingers crossed he will survive. I said it before, I'll say it again, don't grow your pumpkins vertically especially if you buy the giant variety which I seem to have brought. I was kind of hoping that it was a smaller variety but I was totally wrong. They are going to be massive so I really hope they survive. I've got a few more growing around here as well. Look at the plant, it's like taking over my plot now. Right so I've just got to sort of tread like through it. Right oh my god and then down here I've had to put this one on a paint paint pot because he's just like falling over the side and then I've got a little one growing here which I'm quite hopeful for. But yeah I mean they're doing they're obviously doing really really well but it's just trying to keep them alive now basically. Let me take this off for a second oh it's better I can breathe. Yeah it's just trying to keep them alive so it's um it's good fun it's good fun but um hopefully I mean if they survive I'm gonna have some bloody massive pumpkins aren't I? I mean that is proper exciting. Also another massively exciting development, my gladiolus are starting to flower and they are just they're not yellow um they're this beautiful pinky reddy colour they're absolutely stunning they're going to be beautiful and they're all starting to open up now which is amazing and look look I've got pink dahlias now as well as yellow so the plot is not looking quite as yellow as it was before which is amazing I mean when they flower properly they're just gonna look look at them from here they're just going to be stunning I'm so excited. I think the problem I'm going to have is should I pick them or should I leave them because I don't really want to pick them because I don't have that many and I think they're going to be so beautiful so yeah all the flowers are opening now which is very exciting these are beautiful these pom-pom dahlias absolutely stunning I never thought I'd to grow something like that that is just that is just beautiful isn't it absolutely beautiful especially in the rain for some reason yeah yellows are still doing really good this seems to be when they're at their peak when then this they're slightly smaller and they're very very vibrant yellow and then they get bigger and they kind of go a bit paler like this which is still beautiful and then you leave them too long and they start to die like this one that's the whole life cycle of my dahlias there and there's the bud just to finish it off yeah we'll definitely pick some flowers today to take home um daily is just amazing and and oh my goodness very exciting update I've got tomatoes I've got tomatoes growing look how bloody amazing is that actual living tomatoes on the plant I think I had some more somewhere else but yeah you can see like the flowers all coming up which is just amazing I will have at least one tomato to eat which is quite exciting isn't it so all the stress over the tomato plants oh yeah there's some more there's some more in there oh they're just beautiful aren't they very exciting even my sweet peas seem to be flowering like no tomorrow we definitely have to pick these today because I know these need regular picking but look they are just beautiful there's hundreds of them now not quite growing up the thing but the bindweed seems to have that covered he's doing all right on there and he's sort of leaving my sweet peas alone as well because he's got something to climb up so that's pretty exciting these are absolutely stunning these um all different kind of shades of purple because that's alice's favorite color and it's sort of for the kids to hide out even though they never go in it but yeah I have to pick these today these are just absolutely gorgeous I have to pick these today it's another job to do right this bed here is not doing amazing this is where I planted my broccoli and also um a couple of rows of carrots the carrots have almost completely been eaten by slugs now I mean they're pretty much gone so there's no point like bothering with them anymore because if I get some carrots there then that's great but let's be honest it's not going to be a great crop these are my broccoli plants that you can see in between a thousand weeds um I've had bottles over them but I've just pulled the bottles up and look they're really like bone dry around so I'm really worried they're not getting enough water though maybe they are managing to absorb it I don't know and the ones that were not in bottles have been completely eaten by slugs and snails it's just these two which is fine I can deal with that because it's only two but obviously slugs and snails really really like these so I am going to have to cover them up again I might give them a little bit of a water which feels a bit weird because I know it's like raining but like they just look a bit dry to me and then I'm going to cover them up with the bottles again and hope that slugs and snails bugger off and don't come here because you know I don't know what's going on in this bed oh all of my rockets flowered so when those flowers start to die down I'm going to take some rocket seeds from them and strawberries look really happy to be honest um no more strawberries now except obviously no that's a leaf yeah no more strawberries but they look really happy and I've got lots of runners so I'm going to have to start cutting the runners and planting them and basically filling the bed with um with strawberries I want the whole bed to be a strawberry bed bread bed my god I'm so tired today guys I'm sorry um look at the size of these um sunflowers now I will show you by putting my head next to one and showing you the full extent of him I know he's dying but flipping out I don't know why everything I'm growing seems to be giant there you go I obviously bought the giant variety of everything this is massive absolutely massive I've got one around here that's massive too this one down here these are supposed to be the dwarf ones they don't look very dwarf to me they look bloody massive I brought a friend with me today he's a new friend and uh you're gonna think I'm crazy but I brought a friend with me so I will show you my friend let's make sure there's no one around there's no one around this is my new friend he doesn't have a name yet um but he's a real scarecrow and my mother-in-law brought him for me because she saw the video where I tried to make a scarecrow and the balloon head and it just didn't work so she brought me a real scarecrow so I'm gonna stuff him up in the plot now I think and uh see what he looks like see what looks like in the plot snakes oh I love it I think it's the girl one actually look at her oh that's so much better isn't it I wonder if she'll scare the birds away from the pond though I don't want her to scare the birds from the pond mind you they don't seem to give a crap well there she is there she is the new scarecrow ready to scare all the birds away with a terrifying face I think they're just supposed to look like a person aren't they they're not supposed to like scare well I tried to make mine menacing and then I realized birds like can't tell facial expressions so it really doesn't matter um but yeah there she is she's quite good there I think quite happy with her right what I'm gonna do I'm gonna pick some flowers to take home because I'm pretty sure my kids are gonna come pick me up soon so I'm gonna pick some flowers what I'm gonna do let's do that let's do that it's a nice job I've got these old paint paint cans that I used when I painted my sheds and I didn't know what to do with them and now I actually I think it's quite a good idea to hit the paint out of them and then oh no that's not bugger still got paint in it that was a bad idea a bad idea right completely scrap that because that's that's a rubbish idea who came up with that idea that's rubbish right let's just pick the damn flowers and take them home really quickly let's just do that some lovely sweet peas which smell amazing so I'm going to get these home now hope you enjoyed my little vlog today I'll have another one the kids will arrive now can you can you sense my like anxiety levels going up I'm just kidding um they're pretty impressed by the pumpkins but who wouldn't be right so I'm going to leave it there I will have another vlog up on Wednesday I hope you're all very very well and um keep picking your flowers because they do grow back people they do as I have learned have a lovely uh week and I'll see you next time thanks for watching guys bye