PLANTING A PUMPKIN ARCHWAY / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good, good morning, guys. Um, happy happy Monday. Welcome back to the a lotment garden. It is Monday today. What is the millworms doing in the greenhouse? Why did I bring the millworms into the greenhouse last time? I don't know. Was there a reason for that? It was only yesterday. What's going on? Um, it's very warm this morning. It is, let me tell you, 28.1° in here and 64% humidity. But let's not dwell on that. We can already tell it's actually quite dry in here. So, I don't know what's going on about really. Yeah, 28.1° already in here. It's going to be a little bit cooler out today, but still sunny, so it's perfect. It's lovely weather for gardening. It's a very exciting day because today I have brought with me all my Jack B little pumpkins. Let me show you some of them. This here guys is a Jack B little pumpkin. They're a smaller variety of pumpkin. They're like a dwarf variety. So they're only little. They're about sort of maybe like this big. This is like the biggest they get. And they're orange and they have like grooves in them and they're absolutely gorgeous. And they're kind of just like mini jacko'lanterns basically like Halloween pumpkins. They are perfect for climbing. They love to climb and because the pumpkins aren't too big, they're very happy to kind of hang down over an archway or on a structure, up a wall, up some trellis. They're just the perfect climbing pumpkins. Every single type of pumpkin can climb. And the reason we know that is cuz they have tendrils coming off them, which are like little kind of thin green long thin strands that come off the plant and they wrap themselves around things and that means that they can pull themselves up and climb. So, Jack be little pumpkins had them. Every other pumpkin I've ever grown has had them. Doesn't mean you can grow all of them up because obviously if a pumpkin gets really heavy, it's going to need a lot of support. So, you either have to have a really really strong structure or just grow them along the ground, but these are perfect. So, I've got some to go on this arch and the other arch over there. Um, predators to the pumpkins. Things I need to watch out for. Number one, slugs and snails. We're not having too much of a problem with them this year. Even after the rain, they don't seem to be out very much. So, that is excellent news. That's really good. The other thing is birds. Birds love to come down and strip the leaves of pumpkins. The same with brassacas. They love brassacas leaves and they love pumpkins. Who knew? Who knew that birds have such a varied diet? But they do. Is that Einstein just going on and on? Can you give me a minute? So birds and slugs are my biggest enemies with these. But first of all is me. I'm the biggest enemy. I'm the biggest predator because I've got to plant them out without killing them. So it's all got to start with me. And that is the first job of the day. Let's get the blooming pumpkins out, guys. Woo. Right. I think I should be able to get four along here. I think that's quite a good good amount. I should tell you about this archway. It's actually an old poly tunnel frame that I've covered in garden mesh. So, I had a poly tunnel and the cover blew off one year and it got ripped. And instead of buying a new cover, I just thought, you know what, stuff it. I'll get a polycarbonate greenhouse, which is what I've always wanted and I'll reuse and repurpose the frame. So, this is the poly tunnel frame and all I've done is I've covered it in a garden mesh. It's not chicken wire. Chicken wire is slightly too strong. It's too tight. What you need when you grow pumpkins over an archway is something with a little bit of give, something a little bit sort of softer because as the pumpkins sit on top of the mesh, if it was chicken wire, it would be too rigid and then it would groove into the pumpkin and create like grooves. So, you need something with a bit of give that it can kind of sit in, but also something strong enough that's going to hold the plant up. I'm quite knowledgeable on pumpkin archerys. I've grown about four before and they've always done really really well. And there's just a few little tips and tricks that I can kind of share with you if you want to do it yourself. But like I said, this is a poly tunnel frame. Should be big enough for about four pumpkins each side. So that's what we're going to do. I'm definitely not opposed to poly tunnels, by the way. I think they are fantastic. There are a lot of successful ones on this site, but for me, it just kept flying away, kept tearing. And like I said, I always wanted to invest in the polycarbonate greenhouse and that's why I've gone with that option. But you can see it's quite a big frame and it was quite a big poly tunnel. So, they are good if you, you know, if you want something a bit cheaper. The next question I expect you have about growing pumpkins up an arch is how do you make them grow in that direction? Like which way do you plant them? So, if you've left it to grow quite big like this, I mean, it's still quite small, I know, but bigger. You can kind of see the direction it's going in. It's going that way. So, that's the way I'll plant it. But if it's smaller, the way it grows is the opposite direction of the first true leaf. These here are seed leaves. These are the first leaves of the pumpkin plant. Okay? So, these are your seed leaves. These are the first leaves. This leaf here This is the first true leaf because it's the shape of a pumpkin leaf and the way it grows is the opposite direction, which you can see it is. It's growing in the opposite direction. So, the opposite direction of the first tree leaf. Hope that makes sense and I've said it enough times, but it is quite an important thing to remember, especially if you're planting them out when they're quite small and they haven't necessarily started growing in their sort of direction yet. Right. This is very good soil because I've mulched it over over the autumn. So, it's had lots of what's it called? Horse manure in here and stuff. Oh, yeah. And we got some really good roots on there as well. Fantastic. Right. Please pumpkin. Come on. You can do it. Be quiet birds. You're not having any of these. No. No, you are not. There we go. First pumpkin. First pumpkin is in. How long will it survive? We don't know. We hope till it gives us pumpkins. Good luck, little mate. [Music] [Music] Right, there is the first row of Jackby littles in. Looking very vulnerable, aren't they? Looking so sad and vulnerable. I'm a bit scared for them. Right, we're going to do the same on the other side. Oh, hello Einstein. Always checking out the new the new pumpkin bed. I don't think it's um robins that strip the leaves. I think it's pigeons and crows and bigger. Oh, hang on a second. About to prove me wrong just there. Einstein [Music] [Music] [Music] thought I just had to walk past. Are you that hungry? All right. Honestly, Einstein, I can't do anything without you coming along. Right. There you go. Hold on. Hold on. That's [Music] it. Right, I've only got three pumpkins left and it's going to go on this archway, which is my original pumpkin archway. It's also been mulched quite heavily with horse manure um and some fresh compost over the autumn time. Might have had some cardboard. Did I put cardboard on it? I can't remember. No, maybe not cardboard. And that's why the weeds are all coming up. But hey ho. This is basically going to be my contingency pumpkin archway. Last year that archway didn't work and I didn't get like hardly any pumpkins at all. So I thought if I just grow two pumpkin archways this year. Can't lose. You can't lose. Actually, you can lose. But you know what? Well, just so you can't, I've already got quite a few runner beans going up this archway. So, this archway was sort of going to be my bean archway, but also going to stick a couple of pumpkins up it as well. I think they'll get on together. Beans and pumpkins, I think, are mates. I think they're good friends. So, I think they'll be okay together. At the very least, they won't bother each other, and that's the point, right? So, where's the Right. There's our true leaf. So, it's going to go in the opposite way. So, it goes that way. It's important that you do that even if it doesn't look like it's growing that way because it will start to grow that way. Trust me. I've been in situations where I've had to turn pumpkin plants around. And it's not fun. Let me tell you. Also, you can see how far away I'm sort of planting it maybe half a foot away from the arch. That's because they get quite big. Um, and it will be able to grow up, but it needs to be a little bit back from the archway. So, that's another quick thing I've learned. Quick tip, pumpkin tip from Emma. Right, that's that one in [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Right, guys. They're in and they're watered. So, the two biggest things to worry about, slugs and birds. Let's start protecting them. So, over on my Instagram and my Tik Tok, I've been doing a series of experiments on a snail. That came out very weird and very wrong. Um, I haven't harmed the snail, but what I've been doing is working my way through all of the natural slug and snail defenses that are on offer to us, trying to figure out which, if any, of them actually work. So, like, for example, I've gone through like um copper wire mesh didn't work. Um, I've tried Vaseline over pots, didn't work. I've tried leaks, laying leaks down, garlic, garlic spray, you know, lots of different things. The only thing that I found that sort of worked so far, and I haven't tried everything yet, are these wool pellets. Um, so I bought these from Amazon. It's from a company called Slugs Away Defenders. 100% wool pellets. I think as long as it is wool and it's natural, so this is all natural plant protection. as long as it's natural and it's got no yucky stuff in it and it's just wool pellets, it's good. You can just use it. But I tried this on my little experimental snail and he couldn't get past it and it was the only thing that worked. So this is what I'm going to put around my pumpkins as a form of protection. I'm starting to realize over the years that a lot of the natural methods actually don't work very well. And if they do work, they don't work for very long, which is a bit frustrating, and I hate saying that, but it's true. I've I've been doing this for nearly 6 years now and I have yet to find a natural method that works 100%. Just doesn't exist, does it? So, we're going to whack these down. These work in my opinion. These work, so we're going to do it. Oh, but do let me know if you know any other natural slug and snail defense. Um, so like a barrier, anything that causes like a barrier they can't get past, let me know. I have tried out most of them. Uh, cinnamon. I've I haven't tried cinnamon yet, but I will try that. What else have I tried? Eggshells didn't really work. Seashells didn't massively stop them. Uh copper tape, Vaseline, wire mesh, straw. Let me know any [Music] others. Oh. Oh no. Oh god, dropped the whole thing. [Music] To be honest, guys, I think it's birds that I should be more worried about. They're the ones that always catch me off guard with pumpkins. And they're the ones that can kind of swoop in and literally eat the whole lot in like 2 seconds. At least slugs, you know, they take a bit of time to get through it, you know? But birds, they're just ravenous. So, I'm going to put some netting up. Also, those crows love hanging out here. Like, this is the crow's hangout spot. They love to come and sit on the top of this archway, just have a little chitchat and stuff. You know, it's like their little community area for crows. So, you know, the last thing I want to do is provide a free buffet for them. Do you know what I mean? Free buffet at the crow community center today. Come on, crows. No. Stay away. Stay away from my pumpkins. Come on, stick. You can do it. That's a bit sticky. Excellent stick. Well done. Good job. That's it, Sticky. Right, they are out. They are watered. They are protected. They are netted. They are officially on their own now. It's up to them. It's up to them whether they want to grow this year. Hopefully, they do. I think I did put some runner beans in there as well, didn't I? But they've not started to grow yet. It's just about figuring out now whether they're going to survive or not. We don't know. We genuinely don't know. [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm knackered. I'm always knackered after I put out the pumpkins. The pumpkins is quite a big day. Do you know what I mean? There's quite a lot of them. It's It's a lot of thinking of getting it right and then protecting them all and then watering them all and then just basically spending the next couple of weeks panicking about them. couple of weeks, couple of months. I mean, hopefully I gave you quite a lot of information there and I sort of, you know, I told you enough about them. I've got quite a lot of knowledge about pumpkins. I don't want to be bigheaded or anything, but I have grown pumpkin archways quite a few times successfully, twice, not successfully, but you know, three or four times successfully. So, I think that sort of gives me the right to have some knowledge now and pass it on. These pumpkins here, these are doing really well. These are the the bigger ones, aren't they? What do we I can't even remember what we planted. Winter squash, something like that. I don't know. I don't know. That's going to go out in the sweet corn bed. Um around the sweet corn. You know the sweet corn that got knocked over? That's going to go around there. And then I don't really have anything else growing at the moment. I feel like I need to sew some more seeds. So, that might be a job for next time. I see a few little teeny teeny tiny tomatoes on here. So, that's really good. I haven't killed the tomato plants with my little chopping. Oh, look at these. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, tomatoes doing great as well. And then it's about the melons, isn't it? It's about the melons making a better structure for them before I uh finally plant them out. I've got two here. Yeah, I need to think about this. Anyway, I do hope that you've enjoyed my little Monday aotment vlog. Hope it's set you off in in a good mood for the rest of the week. I'm going to be back again. Wait, is this Monday? Is this a Monday vlog? Yeah, I think it is. I'll be back again on Wednesday. If this is not Monday, then I'll either be back Wednesday or Friday, and we will figure that out together, guys. I think it is Monday today that this is going up. Yeah. Anyway, I'll see you again on Wednesday. Thank you so much for watching, guys. See you then. Bye.