THE PUMPKINS ARE IN! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

[Music] good morning guys Emma here welcome back to my lot Diaries look how stunning and beautiful the weather is today I don't want to be that person but I think I did it with my mind like I wished this yesterday and I had to go at the weather and I wake up this morning and it's blue skies and sun like I think I did this I think this is down to me um just want to take full credit for it uh so yeah you're welcome everyone look at this not cloud in the sky beautiful so I've come down nice and early this morning um it's Sunday and it's beautiful day so I know it's going to be very busy today and also I dragged all of my pumpkins that I've been growing at home and squashes and cett here yesterday evening so sort of early evening and I didn't have time to plant them out I just wanted to get them here I they all had to come in the back of Dave's car because I just could not carry them they were so heavy so I want to get them all in the ground like as soon as possible some of them are I mean they're all looking really healthy and really good fingers crossed under there I sort of put them under this CL last night CL you know fleece people hate it when I call it the wrong thing fleece bit of material um to kind of protect it I don't know why I did this but I just sort of did uh so let's see if they're all okay okay I think they're good I think they're good um I've let them get really big this year the reason being I'm terrible at planting out my pumpkins too early so when they're really small and they get absolutely destroyed by slugs and snails every single year people tell me wait longer to plant them out until they get bigger they got better roots they also pumpkins have like a a self-defense mechanism where they grow these kind of spikes on them pretty sure this is the same for corett and all kinds of squashes but you can see on their stem they have these little like fur it's like fur isn't it like teeny tiny little spikes that's also on the leaves it's also on the underneath of the leaves as well and it's when they get bigger like this they kind of um oh look I've Just Seen A bit damage that's the first bit slug damage he's had but it's on his new his like first leaves that's fine but yeah this should protect them from the Slugs a little bit more they're a little bit more robust if that makes sense yeah some of them have been Munch but they do seem to be doing okay now don't be mad at me don't be mad you know me by now now I did label them I did label them the problem is is I planted two seeds per module and then planted them on I labeled one of them but I grew the other one on as well that's why I've got so many of them I couldn't I couldn't bear to kill one of them so I just kept them all alive but I didn't label all of them some of them are cett some of them are giant pumpkins and some of them are baby boos and jack bittles for the arch Ray now the baby boos and black jack bittles have got one of these things this is something that you put in between tiles to make a nice Gap and I found loads of them so I just put them into the ones that are Jack bittles and baby booze so I know what they are the rest of them not a clue not clue that could be a cette that could be a pumpkin we just don't know it doesn't really matter because the ones that I want climbing I know what they are so the climbing ones good the rest of them they're not going to go up the archway anyway so it's all fine um okay so the first thing we're going to do is plant out the archway with the Jackie Littles and baby boos so let's do that I'm terrified why am I so scared I think I've just been looking after him for so long I just feel so scared to plant them out I feel like they're just going to [Music] die right let's talk for a second about which way a pumpkin should be planted in order to climb up the archway so it's not going to go the other way now if you've left them as long as mine you'll be able to see it anyway because they are big enough for instance this one here you can see it's growing that way so I'm going to be planting it against the archway that way now if yours are not this big here's how you tell um let me find one with the actual little baby leaves okay right so these two here these are the seed leaves okay so they're the first leaves that any plant produces these are the seed ones this is the first real leaf that it's produced it will grow the opposite way it will grow this way you see how it's growing that way does that make sense so there's the first seed leaves the first real leaf that appears on the pumpkin it's the opposite way that it will grow up an archway that's the easiest way I can explain it if you if you left your pumpkins to get big enough then then you'll sort be able to see where they grow right I've got 1 2 3 4 five six seven so four on one side three on the other let's do this so from from trial and error and experience cuz I have grown a pumpkin Archway quite a few years in a row I think it's better to plant them slightly back from the arch cuz um times where I planted it right up here it's kind of struggled a little bit so I think back a little bit the same that you would with like a Claus or any other climbing plant sort of slightly away from your structure hopefully that will climb not sure about these beans if they're going to be able to cling on but we're not worried about the beans we're thinking about pumpkins okay I've got four on on this side so then three on the other I just remember that one of these was a pumpkin that I did want to climb up an archery and I can't remember which one it is so I'm just going to spend a minute trying to decipher which which is which like what these are why I know why now that one is some kind of squash plant says squash something GLA GLA at the end any anyone who knows what squash with the GLA at the end that's what that is that's a gla squash okay if I can find the matching pair yeah that's quite a good idea if I find a matching pair is that one the matching pair we don't know cuz they all look the bleeding the same we don't know we just don't know but they look the same don't they so possibly this one looks like this one and I think they're cetes have a feeling they cetes this one here is a honey honey boat squash that's a honey bait squash I should have one more one more honey but that looks more like a cette that could be anything I think they're cett I think they're cett I think these might be cett and maybe this is just the one Honey Boo one I have no idea if they'll grow up an archway no idea they might be too big for it but we're going to try anyway why not let's just whack them in come on BS you can go so nervous I'm so nervous I'm putting my gloves on the wrong hand what is wrong with me these are my babies okay [Music] I don't know where to point the camera because it is so sunny today but how lovely is it um I've hit an Ever So slight snag on this side of the archway and it's not a a dual breaking snag the snag is well these are the snags these are the little snags um the the only runner beans that survived are right in the middle of the archway and I obviously need the space to put a pumpkin in here so we've got one there one here I'm going to have to dig I think this one here I might try and move him reckon I'll be bind weed oh my gosh do you reckon I'll be able to move him let's give it a go right so this Runner being here you've got to move you're in my way I know it's just I didn't expect you to actually grow so it's just left me with this conundrum these weeds everywhere right let's get the weeds out the way oh no his roots are quite big you know he's done really well no mate sorry right May whacking a pumpkin I've broken a couple of this one's leaves I hope he'll be all right I think he will will be hopefully hopefully he'll forgive me for that I know I'm so sorry pumpkin I just I accidentally sat on you as humans do that sometimes apologies on behalf of human race for everyone who's ever sat on a plant oh you'll be fine come on cheer up [Music] right guys the pumpkin Archway is officially planted out we got four pumpkins each side we've just got to pray that they survive now I think I'm going to be protecting from slugs and also from Birds but until then I've actually got more to go out so this is a squash this is going to go in this bed over here but like I planted a lot and these get big these plants are big so I've actually got 1 2 3 4 five six seven more corett SL squashes to go out somewhere this is potentially the most squashes and cett I've ever planted out I really hope that at least one survives just one that'll do just one I'm not going to be that picky just one just just one quette this year would be lovely um um okay so I think we're just going to dot them I think we don't know what they are that's the concern we don't know what they are so you know I've got some room around here I think I'll have one there whatever that is one here whatever that is you know there'll be something they are something that's the point they are something and they will grow into something we just have to wait and find out what it is Maybe what I'll do is I'll sort Point him could be a pumpkin what we'll do is I'll sort of sit him like that and then maybe if he is a pumpkin he could sort of grow over this Archway a little bit and the same with this one we'll sort of put him here and if he does get going probably that way he goes doesn't he they could potentially go over this Archway not very organized for this am I no oh at least they're plants and at least they're all going in how long will they live we don't know anyway so we might I'll just whack it all in it looked pretty for today at [Music] least right so there's two things that I need to really really protect my pumpkins against and even then they might get eaten so I'm not like holding out all for the pumpkins everybody on this plot this year has had a problem with slugs and snails I'm going to use this which is the Richard Jackson um natural slug pellets this is all I'm going to use because I just think if every other method is not working and if everybody's having the same problem then it's like a you're fighting a losing battle do you know what I mean so we're going to use the Richard Jackson pellets and then the other thing is birds birds actually love pumpkins they love cett they love to come down and Peck them the same with brassas so I'm going to net over all of my uh the beds here basically just until the pumpkins are big enough and they've grown big enough to kind of deter the birds themselves so always protect your pumpkins and squashes from birds as well as slugs and snails that's my advice that's what I've learned so let's get protecting and hopefully keep them alive [Music] that's probably quite tough to see on camera but it's all netted netted right over with these little sticks here um so the birds cannot get to it or at least it would sort of deter them a little bit I don't know they're quite clever Birds they might be able to get under it somehow but there they all are sitting under there how long will they be there though how long will they survive we don't know with the Year we're having the year of the slug um I'm calling it it's the year of the slug we don't know how long they'll live um I'm going to do the same to the other side and then we're going to plant out the other ones on the other allotment plot that's what we're going to do so lots to do I'll get on with it for [Music] right so these are now all in so I've got two this side got three this side I'm pretty sure that one's a cette might be wrong I think those two that are planted along the archway I think they're pumpkins but who knows to be honest doesn't feel like too much of a risk if I didn't sort of plan them do you know what I mean I feel like they're unplanned so I can kind of just whack them in and just hope for the best I'm going to protect them from slugs but not Birds um because I just feel maybe I'll put those little spinny things there actually I put some spinny things in I've also got some uh really nice borage coming up in this bed which I think I planted borage seeds a little while ago a couple of years ago and it always comes up naturally this here trying not to get my shadow in it but this is borage I'm getting good at sort of spotting it now cuz it comes up every year there's another bit over there there's a little bit of Rocket that's come up from those seeds that I planted ages ago but it's funny how I'm starting to sort of be able to recognize like what what borage and what's not I think I'm just so used to seeing it come up and I really love borage and it does tend to just come up on its own now and I sort of leave it in the places where I'm happy for it to be and then I dig it up and move it if it's somewhere I don't want it to be so it's just quite a nice little natural thing that's growing but there we go there's the squashing there's the pumpkins the cett whatever squash it is it's in the ground so fingers crossed I've just noticed I've got some strawberries growing here getting totally distracted by strawberries cuz I can see look at at this one and it's been oh no look he got an ant in him brilliant well there we go I've got a few coming up that hopefully I'll be able to protect but the strawberries are on the way anyway I'm going to leave the Vlog there cuz it is Sunday it is getting very very busy and I just really wanted to film that because that's the pumpkins going in which is obviously a very big deal for me um and for all of us anyway hope you enjoyed my little Vlog today if you did subscribe and I will see you in my next one thanks so much for watching guys and happy gardening bye