POLYCARBONATE GREENHOUSE CHANGES / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

Music Oh, 14.1 degrees this morning. It's quite a lot colder than it has been, 77 percent, and he has got a face. That is not a happy face, that is not happy. Oh, it's cooled down quite a lot today, quite drastically actually, especially in the greenhouse, I mean, which is okay for me. I don't know if it's okay for the plants. It can't all be about them, can it? Yeah, it feels like a good day actually. It feels like a day where I can actually get stuff done because it's not got that burning heat, so I'm quite happy about it actually. Hello, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name's Emma, these are the allotment diaries. I vlog all about my allotment plot and my home garden in London. So I think today's got to be the day that we sort out the greenhouse, ready for the melons, the melons, the melons. How many times can I say melons? The melons are doing fabulously. They're looking so happy and healthy. I'm not even sure if they are ready to go in the ground yet because they are still quite small. But the point is, there is no ground for them to go into. I do not have room for them to actually go out into. I have an idea of how I want to rejig things and we need to sort out those red ants if they're still there. So we're going to do that today. Also going to do some weeding, some sorting out, all the strenuous jobs that I can't really do when it's burning hot because I'll just melt basically. Also the birds are flying around like crazy this morning. I've seen four robins already and I think there might be a family of robins, which is quite nice but obviously quite a lot of responsibility for me. Do you know what I mean? I've already got two children and a husband at home to take care of and now, you know, I've got a family of four robins to feed as well. So I don't need any more responsibility in my life right now. I tell you that for nothing. Also I do feel like maybe it rained last night. It's very wet in here and I did leave the windows open. I just want to check on that cucumber and see how big he's got. Yeah, these are my three little cucumbers. Been doing really well. Wow, look at the size of this one. Fantastic. This one we had... Oh, there's one behind it. Oh my gosh, did you even notice that one? He's even bigger. He's massive. Oh gosh, I'm going to cry. He's massive. He's absolutely massive. Wow, we're getting actual cucumbers. I can't believe it. And then this one down here, he also has a really big one as well. Look at this. So massive. I can't believe we're getting cucumbers. This is the first year where I've really... I mean, I grew one last year but it was tiny. There's a couple in this plant too. But this is the first year that they're really, really growing. I can't believe the size of that one. That's humongous. Yeah, just doing so, so, so well this year. And it's all thanks to the polycarbonate greenhouse which is probably the best purchase I ever made for this allotment. But we do need to sort it out today for melons. So we're going to do that first. I am procrastinating and putting off a job because it's not a fun job and I don't really want to do it. But I have to. Let's go. Come on, come on. Maybe clapping will help. All right, I really just want it to be organised and tidy. I say this a lot. But this time I really mean it. I just don't know how people keep things tidy. I just don't understand the mechanics behind it. I don't understand it. Oh, tomato didn't do very well, did it? Let's put the soil back. You're welcome. Right, that's going to be a new home. All right, that works. Yes, I like it there. Right, we're going to do this again and we're going to hope beyond hope. There's not a nest of ants under here. Hopefully they've gone somewhere else. Oh god, it's so heavy. Can you go here, I guess? Oh, they're still there. God damn it. Oh, they're still there. They're still there. Everybody told me they would be gone and they're still there. Oh, they're like harvesting eggs now. They're really busy now. Look at the spider in there, oh my god. That is a nightmare situation, that is. I might just dig them all out, guys. I don't know what to do. Fascinating creatures. Fascinating creatures, but just not in my greenhouse. Do you know what I mean? Just not in my greenhouse, guys. Right, we're going to have to just do this. We're going to have to. I need the melons to go out somewhere. We just have such a melon situation going on, you know. Serious melon situation. I mean, they need to go out. They just need to. Let's get this out. It's got half of them on it. I know somebody did say I can relocate them. If I dig them up, I can kind of relocate them. I might try and do that then. Right, okay, not something I ever thought I'd be doing, but here we are. Relocating an ant nest. Okay, I'm going to try and dig up as much of it as I can. Oh god, there's so much bindweed, I can't get it. Oh no, I can't get it because the bindweed. Guys, I'm really trying to relocate you. Where the hell have they all gone? Maybe they're relocating themselves. Are they relocating themselves? Right, it is a nightmare. It's the nightmare of bindweed. I'm actually really glad that I'm digging all this up now because this is not okay. This is just going to grow through everything. Oh my god, I'm bringing the outside in. No, no, no, snap, snap, snap. All right, a little bit of time later, some digging out, some weeding, and we've got a little bed at the end. Look at all of the overgrowth around the greenhouse. I might need to chop all that back a little bit today and just keep it under control. But yeah, we've got a bit of a border now. Oh, you know what I can do? I can sort of move this to go there. Doesn't make the biggest difference, but in my mind, it sort of does. It sort of does. There we go. So we've got like an L-shaped bed now. L-shaped bed. So that's where the melons are going to go. I've never grown melons before, but I feel like they might require something to grow up. And I think I could probably only get two in here. How would I get four melons in here? I'm not going to get four, am I? So maybe just two. Totally unprepared because I wasn't expecting to grow melons this year. It wasn't on my allotment bingo card for 2025. Do you know what I mean? I wasn't expecting to grow them. They just sort of happened. They just appeared. I have a feeling, because this is a small space, they need to sort of grow up over something. And I've found a lot of ideas for structures. A lot of people grow them over archways, actually, which is quite interesting. I didn't think about that. Just wondering if I've got anything to build some kind of structure in here now. I'm just playing around with this, but I'm sort of thinking... Oh my god! Oh no, I'm so sorry. Oh god. Oh yeah, that is really structurally sound. That is really structurally sound, that is, according to me. I maybe don't believe that, actually. Right, let's put the other one in. What's this? Why is there a stick hanging on it? That's not structurally sound. Yeah, cool, that'll do. It's structurally sound enough, I think. It's still moving. I don't know, why is it still moving? And then across the top, a stick. Oh yeah, perfect fit. Didn't measure that. That is skills, that is. Didn't even measure it. Oh, quite the rope. And then, I don't know, like rope, more sticks, something. That's sort of the start of it, anyway. I feel like that's quite a good start. Do you know what I mean? Sort of thinking, like, maybe like twine or something that can grow up, and maybe like some sticks across or something. Sort of making it like, sort of making it like trellis, but I don't know. Anyway, that's sort of the idea, and then the melons will sort of climb up it somehow, magically. Anyway, I don't know. I wasn't planning on actually doing that today, so... But you know what? It's good. I feel like we've got a plan in place for some kind of structure. If I can find one online, I might actually purchase a melon structure, or some kind of plant structure that I can put in, because I kind of, I feel like I'm going to want to grow stuff up all the time in here. So yeah, I feel like it's a good start. I'm going to leave the melons on the floor to kind of acclimatise to their new environment, and yeah, let's go do something else. Right, I might tackle this little area now, just because the weather is not boiling hot. This is the one area of the allotment that I have not groundsheeted over. Look what's happened to it. It's the one little patch that's not had any kind of groundsheet or weed membrane down, and it's just grown into a jungle. There we go. How much better does that look? Fantastic. Oh look, our little friend's back. I haven't seen him for a while. Can you hear the robin? Making a little warning sound. Right, these are my early potatoes, and I haven't really thought about them for a while, but you know what? I haven't earthed them up, so if any potatoes come to the surface, they're going to hit the sunlight. So what I'm going to do is really quickly just put some more soil around these potatoes. There is a mound that I've left here for this purpose, and I just haven't done it. So I think it's just main crop, but I like to do it anyway, because I'm a bit paranoid about my potatoes turning green, which is what happens if they hit the sunlight. What is going on with the birds? They're flying around like crazy. Can you hear them? But yeah, I'm a bit paranoid about my potatoes, and I am growing a lot, so I don't want any of them to go green. But I think with earlies and second earlies, they're quite small, and they just don't need it. But I do it anyway, so there you go. If you don't want to do that job, don't do it I suppose. All right, I think the focus on my camera is playing up a little bit. I'm always getting asked recommendations on what camera I use for my vlogging and stuff. I'm using at the moment a Sony ZV-1, I think it was. It's about 500 pounds, so it's not cheap. But I'm always breaking my cameras, because I put them around the allotment so much, and Einstein lands on them, and it falls over, and it hits rocks and stuff. So they're constantly breaking. So it's like one of my biggest expenses is just rebuying cameras, and I think the focus is gone. So I think I'm going to have to rebuy my camera now. But if you've got a better recommendation than a Sony ZV-1, please let me know. I don't want to spend tons on it, because I do break them. It's an allotment vlog, it's just what happens. But if you've got any recommendations for vlogging cameras, please let me know. I'd be very grateful. Right, the weather is not cooperating today. It's just, it's not cold, but it's just windy and miserable. I've done quite a lot of strenuous jobs, so I feel good. I feel like I've got like a lot done, which I haven't been able to do recently, because the weather has just been too hot. But I'm going to call it a day there. So I hope you've enjoyed my vlog today. If you have, do subscribe to my channel. I'm going to be back again on Wednesday and Friday, and then with another gardening vlog on Sunday, and potentially with a new camera. So I will see you next time. Thank you so much for watching guys. Bye.