A NEW RUNNER BEAN STRUCTURE / APRIL 2023 / ALLOTMENT GARDENING

Are you a sweet clone? Yes. Hello. It's nice to meet you. Good morning everyone. Welcome back to my allotment diaries. If you are new here, my name is Emma. These are my allotment diaries. I share everything to do with my allotment garden and vegetable growing. And I show you how to do it, how not to do it. I show you all my failures, my successes. So I'd love for you to hit the subscribe button and also hit the little bell as well next to it. And then every time I post a video you will be notified and you won't miss anything at all on this channel. So once you've done that, hello, welcome back. Today is May. It's the 2nd of May when I'm filming this. So yesterday was Maybank holiday which is why I didn't vlog. I decided to take it off. And I haven't taken time off like that for a while. I've been posting very very consistently. I wasn't feeling 100% over the weekend. I wasn't quite myself. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to take this weekend off and actually enjoy my home garden. And the weather was quite nice for some of it. Some of it was a little bit dodged but some of it was really nice. It was just nice to relax in the garden and actually enjoy the space I've created. But I'm back here today and I'm ready to get going. And it's such a massive difference. So firstly, the weather itself has actually warmed up. And I know it's not the warmest day today and it's going to be grey and cloudy out there but definitely feeling like the temperatures are up now and they're warmer which is excellent. Great. It means that we can get more planted outside. Also, all of my tulips are pretty much finished over the course of the bank holiday weekend. It's like spring is done. The absolute contrast is just literally like three day weekend and I come back here and it's like the plot is a completely different plot. First of all, this tree, the blossom is pretty much all gone which is just amazing. And the apple tree over there is in full blossom now. So you can see here behind me the tulips are finished. And I know they're finished because they just look finished. They just look dead and done. So we just know. That's just how they look when they are done. You could do that and all their petals would fall off everywhere. They're done. So last time you saw me give them a tomato feed and that's to feed the bulb. Another thing that we're going to do to really help these tulips out is we're going to chop off all their heads. Off with their heads. That's what I say. And basically why we do that is because they're developing seeds at the moment and they're putting all of their energy into developing seeds to reseed themselves and we don't want them to do that. We want them to die down and put all their energy into the bulbs in the ground. So if we chop off their heads they can't make little babies. Basically. So like these top things here, these get bigger and that's where the seeds are. They're in there. So if we just let all the petals fall out and we left that, that would develop seeds in there and all the energy of this whole plant will now go into the seeds. If we take the head off all the energy will now go into the bulb under the ground and we'll get a nice tulip next year. I never expected to become such a tulip fan when I first got my allotment plot but here we are. Here we are. Right, off with their heads. Sorry guys. So this is where I did sow sweetcorn directly a little while ago now. I just wanted to see if any of it has germinated at all because I am going to sow some more at home now. So I've got one that's a possibility, which I think is this one here. I don't think that's a sweetcorn. No, that's not a sweetcorn. This one is definitely a sweetcorn. That's a sweetcorn. That's 100% a sweetcorn. And it has grown out of a seed that I put in the ground. Oh, there's another one. There's another one. That's another one. Fantastic. OK, good, so we've got two. And then no, I don't, I can't see any more. There is definitely sweetcorn under there and it is starting to germinate. Whether the rest of them do or don't, I don't know. And I have been standing in this bed a lot because obviously I made that big structure which is just next to it. So what I'm going to do is whack out a few more seeds, stuff it, let's do it. And I'm also going to sow some at home as well just in case they don't work. So we're going to whack in some more. So the good thing about this time of year Oh, there's a red ant in there. Get out, mate. It's fine, you stay in there now. Get off! What was I saying? The good thing about this time of year is that you can just whack stuff in the ground now. And usually it sort of grows. So we might as well just whack out as many as we can because what I did before, which was quite silly, is actually plant out the exact amount that I needed. I don't know what I was thinking because obviously they're not all going to grow, are they? Optimistic thinking, I think. That's what that is, optimism. Optimism will get you nowhere. Or it will, but nowhere fast. Nowhere fast. Right, if I whack you there I'll put one in there. Yeah. Right, there's my little row of sweetcorn, so I'll do one there in case they don't grow. I don't want to stand on anything that I shouldn't be standing on. It's really hard to know where to stand. Are you a sweetcorn? Yes. Hello, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for growing. Appreciate the vote of confidence in my gardening skills, sweetcorn. Thank you. Oh, let's just whack them all in. Whenever you see me walking around my plot like this, it's because I've lost something. I can't find the top of the watering can thing, that little thing that makes it all come out like rain. I can't find it anywhere, so I'm just going to be really careful when I water these. It's so annoying. Oh, I'd lose my own head if it wasn't screwed onto my body. That's not what I meant at all. That's not what I meant at all. No. No, that's terrible watering that is. Good God, what was that? Absolutely crap that was. Don't ever water like that. That is just made a puddle. This is my second audition for Gardener's World presenter. Rubbish, don't do it like that. Rubbish, terrible. Right, not going to come with the police. You're just going to go wherever you want to go, mate, aren't you? Look, just having a lovely time in the sky. Having a lovely time in the sky. Do as I tell you to do, fleece. I'm not supposed to get round there without stepping on it. This bed was not designed with, like, legit, like, practical terms thought about. Do you know what I mean? I didn't think practically. Back in the morning, whacking stuff in might result in things dying. It's stuck. So, I've just popped the fleece back over because we are still in early May. I mean, it's the second of May today, so we could still get frost, and also night-time temperatures are still a little bit low. And sweetcorn need it to be really warm to germinate, so fingers crossed that will just help it a little bit on its way. But the other stuff, I mean, three of them have germinated. I mean, two. Two of them have germinated. So, the thing is, is now that two of them have done it, I know it's possible. So there's no excuses. I won't accept anything less than full germination. Or they will be exterminated. Right, let's try and keep things light for Wednesday. So, no more talk of exterminations. Are you joking me? Are you joking me? I've just found a poo so big that it could possibly be a human poo. I don't even know what animal this could have been from, but I have a feeling it could be human poo. Absolute stinks. I thought, okay, this is rocky. Look at the size of it. I'm just going to pick it up because I've got a gloved hand on. What is that? That looks flippin' human. What animal could have produced this? What animal has produced that? That is pretty grim. My gosh. That could not be rocky. My god, his butt isn't big enough to produce something like that. That's disgusting, right. Sling you over there into the abandoned plot. The plot next to mine, which I've asked for about 16 times, but the council haven't got back to me and has been abandoned for probably three years. A tale for another day. Anyway. It really smells, that poo. It really stinks. Surely that's not an animal. I mean, we're animals, but you know, we don't behave like them. I'm trying to listen to my own advice and actually do some weeding when I'm here. Whenever I can be bothered to do it. So whenever I feel like, oh yeah, I could do some weeding, I do some weeding. And then hopefully I'll just stay on top of it this year. Because last year it really got on top of me and it was just horrible. Just one of those things that really puts you off from gardening. Like weeding. Because people don't like it. But if you don't keep on top of it and keep doing it, it builds up. It's a bit like when you do your washing at home. It's like when you have a half term and there's washing to do and if you don't keep up with it, it just ends up with this massive laundry pile and then it just feels impossible and it feels like you're never going to get through it. And then you get through it and then there's more after it. Whereas if you just do it in small loads, it's easier. I don't know where these analogies come from, guys. I really don't. They just come off the top of my head. I hope you enjoy them. I don't know what these weeds are, but they're sort of like these kind of weeds are what I call ground coverage. Because you see how they're quite low to the ground and they spread. And then what they do is they cover the ground and they stop anything else from being able to grow. So I call them ground coverers. Well, that's not a very good name, is it? Let's think of a better name. Ground smotherers. That's a good name. Oh my god, I can't get the roots, but we'll get the leaves. Let something else grow. Ground smotherers. They just smother the ground. Look at my poor little bushes and stuff just being taken over by ground smotherers. We don't want any ground smotherers around here. So, three and a half weeks ago I planted out these. I planted, I sowed some seeds, courgette seeds. These are courgettes and they're the pretty typical green ones. I can't remember the name but if I do remember it I'll put it on the screen now so you can see it. These are my courgettes and they're growing, I put two seeds in here and both of them grew and I thought I'm just going to whack them out because it's May and, um, why not? Tis the month of May which means it is the month to be whacking everything out, so why break the habit of a lifetime? Let's whack out these courgettes. They look a little bit squashed because they've been in my bag but I think they'll be okay. Right, put a big hold here. Spade, shovel, digger. Let's just call it a digger because I always get told off for calling stuff the wrong stuff. It's just something that you dig with, it's just a digger. It's a digger. Digger and a scooper. It's just a case of tipping it into your hand, catching it in your hand like that. Look at those roots! Beautiful. Now what we've got to do is separate them in a way that does not kill them. I think we just loosen them a little bit. Hopefully. Just sort of come away. Come away. Come on. Come on. Come on. You can still be next to each other. You can still play together. That's it. Well done, plants. Be encouraging because it does make a difference, trust me. Stick a little bit more of that in. The thing is, right, this now is all loose. Those roots should be able to get through that really easily. That's why we dig a hole bigger than we need it. Break all that up. That's now nice and loose for the roots. Stick him in like that. Hold his leaves a little bit. And then just backfill it. Which is a big fancy term for put dirt back in the hole. That's it. I can hear the birds fluttering around like this is going to be so delicious, guys. Look what she's planting for us now. Give it a little pat down because we want it to be nice and secure in there. Yeah, I can hear you. Birdies. Not today, guys. Not today. Right, there's one courgette in. We'll protect him in a minute. Let's do the other one. Oh, look who's come to play. It's our favourite allotment cat. It's Rocky. Except one person. One person just wrote a comment saying, I don't like Rocky. How do you feel about that, Rox? Someone said they didn't like you. Please don't dig it up. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Do you want some treats? Want some cat treats? Come on then. You just wait a second. I'm going to get them. Rocky, you didn't do that big old poo, did you? Hang on, hang on. Will you wait a second because I can't open them. Wait, wait, wait. There. I hope you're not a vegetarian. It says it's got chicken in it. If you're a vegetarian, I'm in big trouble. Right, here. That's all you can have, Rocky. I can't give you any more. I'll get in trouble. Everyone on the internet get me in trouble, so I shouldn't be feeding you. Oh, Rocky, with your mouth closed. Come on, honestly. That's very impolite. That's it. It's all of them. They're gone. There was one person who wrote a comment just saying, I do not like Rocky. I don't know how I feel about that because I don't really know what's to dislike about him. He's just a cat. He's just like a cat. I mean, he's not like a cat. He is a cat. That's a cat. It's just a cat. I don't know if he's got an owner or anything. I have no idea. I don't know where he comes from. I just know that he rocks up here every so often. That's why I called him Rocky because he keeps rocking up. I don't know. I don't know the answers to the questions. Anyway, let's get on with planting our courgettes. Okay, Rocky. I've got some things to do now, rocks. You just chill. Try not to follow me because it makes me nervous when you follow me. Is he following me? Oh, God. Look at that. The disrespect, Rocky. The disrespect. I'm your master now. You should show me respect. Cats, eh? He's purring. He always purrs at me. Are you my cat now? I've never had a cat before, Rocky. This is nice. Oh, God. Your tail has got a mind of its own. Weird. So, because it's quite early for courgettes to be going out and I'm a little bit panicky about all the slugs and snails eating them. The thing with slugs and snails is that the less you've got growing, when you start to plant stuff out, that's what they go for because there's not a massive choice for them, whereas when you get going in the year and lots of things are growing, the more you start whacking in, the less likely it is to be eaten because there's more stuff for them to choose from. But at the moment, courgettes are going to be the most delicious thing on this plot, so I really, really need to protect them. So I've got a few things I'm going to do to protect them, starting with my usual strulch and the natural slug pellets which are from Andermatt. I've got a discount code for these below. They're called Slugless and they're natural slug pellets. They're really, really good. So, definitely recommend them. And I'm going to start with those. If you're wondering, I just found this in my shed while I was looking for a spade. I didn't find the spade, but I found this. So, you know, every cloud. Right, I'm actually a little bit concerned with birds as well. Pop these over them as well. So I am a little bit concerned about birds pecking at these because they're always the ones I forget to protect against. So now, we've got all the slug protection and we've got the bird protection and I've left these holes open to try and get enough ventilation in there for them so they don't get too hot. Hopefully, they'll be OK, but we will see. You never really know when you plant things out if it's going to live or not. That's why I always say just to keep whacking stuff out, because who knows? Who knows? Sometimes things that I have thought are definite goners have grown really well and done amazing. Other things have just died straight away, but that's just the game you're playing, guys. That's the game you're playing against nature, so you've just got to keep whacking stuff out. Right, oh yeah, I also brought pumpkins. I forgot. God. I brought these giant pumpkins. So I'm growing my Jack Belittles and Baby Boos and they're going to go over this archway and I've started them at home. I'm waiting for them to get a lot bigger before I put those ones out. Not forgetting this time, because last year they just died straight away. I also sowed some giant pumpkins. These are the giant jack-o'-lantern ones, and I thought I'd try growing these this year as well at the end of the plot. So we're going to whack these in too, exactly the same method. The good thing about this bed down here is that it's had a load of manure added to it, so whenever you're growing something like squashes or pumpkins in particular, they're very hungry plants. They like lots and lots of nutrients in the soil, so an easy way of doing that, without panicking about it, is just to dig in or layer up a load of horse manure over the autumn time, let it all rot down naturally, and your bed is going to be full of goodness come the spring. That's what I do to most of my beds. I just put a layer of horse manure over it, and it just adds so much goodness and richness and nutrients to the soil, and then when you come to plant things like squashes out, it's got everything it needs in the soil, so I've done all I can for you, mate. It's up to you now. I just realised you didn't see any of that at all, whatsoever. Good vlogging, Emma. Good vlogging. It doesn't look very good, but the idea of leaving these unnetted and unprotected from the birds is just stupid. They're just going to get them, right? They're going to get them like the second I walk away from this plot, they'll be down here, having a meal. So... Right, there we go. They're in a little net thing now. It's not the neatest thing, but hopefully it'll just keep them alive long enough for them to grow bigger. Right, hope you enjoyed my little vlog today. Sorry it's a little bit shorter than usual, and I didn't do as much. Still not feeling 100%, so I'm going to take myself home, get a nice cup of tea, I think, and see about editing this vlog, trying to get it up for you this week. But yeah, we've got courgettes out, we've got some giant pumpkins out, we've put some more sweet corn seeds out. I always say sweet corn seeds, it feels so weird because it's literally you're putting sweet corn out to grow sweet corn. It's so strange. Anyway, who am I to judge nature? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, do subscribe to my channel. I'm going to be back as soon as I can, hopefully on Friday with another vlog for you from the allotment plot. So I'll see you then, and have a lovely gardening week. Bye!