FIRST STRAWBERRY OF 2025! / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

Good morning everyone, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma, these are the allotment diaries. As always, please subscribe if you are enjoying my videos, which so many of you are. Hello, if you are a new subscriber, it's amazing to have you here. My subscribers have been growing like crazy this year, so it makes me think that lots of you are really interested in allotment gardening, or just seeing my home garden at home, which is great news because gardening has quite literally changed my life. And I'm really hoping... have I got seaweed feed in here? I didn't even know that I had this. This is so good for pumpkins. Okay, we're going to use this today. Sorry, completely lost my trailer thought. And that is pretty much how these vlogs go. I'm not going to lie, me basically just losing my trailer thought. That's really weird. That scarecrow over there, I think... do we call him Harry? Harry has been facing... no, I came the other day and I turned Harry the scarecrow round to face the rest of the plot. I've come today and he's facing away again. That's really creepy. Is he sulking? What's going on? That is actually so creepy because I keep turning him around and then every time I arrive, he's like that. That is so creepy. I don't understand. Are you okay? How weird is that? Anyway, proper creep me out. The other one doesn't do that. Why does he do that? That's so strange. Huge revelation today. Is it a revelation? Is that the right word? Huge thing to show you today is what I'm basically getting at. The strawberries are starting to go red, guys. I repeat, the strawberries are red. This is the first thing that I saw today when I got to the plot. Look at all the red strawberries. Amazing. I feel like I've got more strawberries this year than I've ever had and they are starting to go a lovely shade of red. Oh my goodness, they look lovely. Got a couple in here look perfect. Nothing wrong with them. No slug damage, no bird damage. I've seen online and on other people's vlogs, I don't know if you watch Soren's garden. I absolutely love her allotment plot. It's just, I watch all of her vlogs. She's fantastic. She's been picking strawberries for about two weeks now and she's had loads of them and they've been bright red. Mine have taken longer. And the reason I think mine have taken longer than most people's in the country is because my strawberry bed is partially in the shade. So it does get sun, but not full sun all the time, which I'm guessing is what strawberries actually need. So it's not, it's not unhappy, the strawberry bed. That's the thing. It's really vibrant. It's really alive. The strawberries look incredibly happy here in the soil. So I don't think it's something I'm going to move immediately and worry about. I think it just might take more time for my strawberries to go red and that's okay. Oh, look at that big one over there. Oh my goodness. They're just going to be worth the wait. So I'm, I'm happy to keep the strawberry bed here. Right. Let's check out the greenhouse. Right. Well, our little man is not going to be very happy today is he? Because it is incredibly humid in here. Look at all the slug and snail marks around the polycarbonate greenhouse. That is crazy. It's like art. It's like modern art. Oh no. Oh my goodness me. 93% humidity. We're almost at a hundred percent. A hundred. What? What happens at a hundred? What on earth happens at a hundred percent? Do I just start drowning in here? Is it like a swimming pool? A hundred percent humidity would be 100% moisture, right? So it'd be like a swimming pool. I wouldn't be able to breathe in here. Is that what you're saying? 93% humidity. Oh my goodness. You know what happened? I left the windows closed, um, overnight, no for two days. I haven't been here for two days and I did it because I knew it was going to be really windy and I still haven't properly secured the greenhouse down. So I was a little bit worried about the panels blowing out and stuff. So I closed the windows and I closed the door. Obviously that was a huge mistake. We also had quite a lot of rain, so maybe that didn't help. I don't know. A 93% humidity is quite high, isn't it? Everything in here does look okay though. And obviously it has been watered, so I don't need to water anything today. Humidity is taking care of that. Oh yeah, it is quite windy today. It is very windy today. Okay, let's check on the cucumbers. It's been a couple of days since I checked on them. Whoa. Oh my goodness me. Look at the size of it. And then the one behind. Wow. It's absolutely huge. Yeah, these are just doing so, so great. I'm so happy with my cucumbers this year. It's amazing. Somebody did say that I shouldn't be growing melons next to cucumbers, which is a little bit frustrating. I think I'm going to give it a go this year. I do believe you. It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that I have nowhere else to put melons now. They have to go in the greenhouse with the cucumbers. And also I just, I always just think these things are so good to experiment on because like all the natural slug and snail deterrents, you know, everyone says, Oh yeah, use eggshells, use eggshells. I've used eggshells now against a natural snail and he just went straight over them. So I think it is always good to try these things out yourself and figure it out yourself. And actually that is one of the funnest parts of learning how to garden and how to grow stuff is to make those mistakes yourself. And I'm not afraid of making mistakes guys. Right. What are we going to do today? It's so windy. We've still got sunflowers and they're getting bigger and bigger all the time, which is amazing. And we've still got all the pumpkins, which is absolutely fantastic. I mean, they're doing so good. They look so healthy and happy. I'm not surprised because this bed has been manured, um, over, over the autumn time. So it's had so much manure put in it and that's what they love. I think I might spend a bit of time addressing this bed here. Now it's not terrible, but you can see it's got quite a few weeds coming up in it. Um, also we're starting to get sweet peas, which is absolutely incredible. Look, I've grown a sweet pea. I've done it. It's successful this year, but they are going crazy so they need tying in and sorting out and um, a good old weed. Looks like I am getting some really decent sized onions as well this year. What is happening this year guys? I cannot believe it. Everything this year is just going, doing so, so well. I might actually get onions. I've got sweet peas already. I'm probably going to get carrots. What is happening? This is just the best year for growing that I've ever had. Fingers crossed it continues. Fingers crossed. Right. Let's weed this bed. There's like a little row of leeks that I've sown here that I didn't know. Can you see it? It sort of looks like grass. This is another row of leeks that I've sown next to the leeks that I've already doing so, so well. Some of them have fallen over, which is annoying. Can I just prop that back up then? Will that be okay? I'm hoping I can kind of prop him back up. You know what pushed him over? Weeds. Weeds dig guys. That's what they do. If you don't weed, they just take over and then they start affecting your actual crops. So it's so important to stay on top of your weeding and not leave it like I did. Loads of them had just been pushed over, which is annoying, but they are doing quite well, aren't they? The leeks. Amazing. Right. Let's tie in these sweet peas again. I've actually got sweet peas. I've done it. I've completed it. Mission complete. 2025. All I wanted to do this year was to grow some sweet peas and I've actually done it. I've got so many now. So many. Come on guys. This way, this way, this way. That's it. This way, this way. And they're obedient. Amazing. I've got to try and find this gooseberry bush now in amongst all these weeds. Is this a weed? Are you a weed? Yes. No, you're not a weed. Hang on a second. It's definitely weeds in here. I can't quite figure out where they are. Can't figure out where the weeds begin and the gooseberry bush ends. Is that a weed? Yes. That's a weed, isn't that? Oh, I don't want to get spiked. Oh, gooseberries. Gooseberries. Oh wow, look. Oh my gosh. That just smacked at me. That was so dangerous. Gooseberries. Actual gooseberries on a gooseberry plant. Oh my gosh. I can't believe it. I'm actually getting fruit on this. It's amazing. There are still some weeds within it, but you know what? I sort of don't want to hurt myself on the plant. I think some people grow their gooseberries up a structure because they say it's easier to pick the gooseberries because you don't get so spiked. And I might look at doing that, building some kind of structure for it to grow up like a netting or something. It's always a netting, isn't it? For somebody who keeps saying that they don't like nets, I do use a lot of nets. I do know that. Usually nets are a temporary structure. So maybe some trellis for this. That'd be a little bit more, yeah, trellis. Oh, where's the bleeding scissors? Oh, it's so fiddly. Oh no. Right, we are having to re-support the broad beans because they are falling down. Right, are you all in? I'm trying to help you guys. I'm trying to help you not to snap. Would you mind cooperating? I think I've got quite a lot of broad beans to harvest today as well. I actually think today might be a bit of a harvesting day. I've got kale, broad beans, kale, broad beans and strawberries to harvest today, which is incredibly exciting. I wasn't prepared for a harvesting day, but you know what? I think it's going to be a day of harvesting. Because look at the size of these and look how many I've got. This all seems to have popped up overnight. Do you ever feel that way with your crops? Do you ever sort of feel like they're not doing anything for ages and all of a sudden you come a couple of days later and they've just exploded? That's how it feels with these broad beans. So I'm definitely going to pick some of these today and the strawberries too. Before then, I'm going to clear this bed a bit because it's looking incredibly messy. Right, I'm looking out for things like borage, nasturtium and Californian poppies when I'm doing this because I want to leave them in. They are welcome to stay. They're fantastic plants, the pollinators. This is Californian poppies here. This I think is borage. These I believe are Californian poppies, which look like this when they flower, which are absolutely stunning and beautiful and the pollinators go crazy for them. So wherever these are popping up, they are welcome to stay. And these are nasturtiums and all three of those plants can stay. So I'm trying to avoid pulling these up. Everything else, like this stuff, that can all go. I'll tell you what, I've just noticed these potatoes here. These are second earlies. These are Marisp here and I haven't earthed them up or anything and I don't think they desperately need it. I think earlies and second earlies don't always need earthing up, but I always like to do it anyway just in case. The point of earthing up potatoes is basically to stop the potato from reaching the sunlight. If it reaches the sun, they go green and then they're poisonous. So with that in mind, I don't think it's ever a waste of time just to earth them up a bit. Is that you Einstein? Yes. Yes. I can hear you. Would you mind awfully if I just earthed these up first? No. I've not left much there to earth up. The thing is, it's windy today, so it's just going to blow away, isn't it? Oh, I'll get it anyway. All right. Birds, eh? Yes. All right. I bet you any money he doesn't come down and get this now. You're not going to come and get it, are you? You're just going to leave me hanging now. Einstein, it's blowing everywhere. Come down and get it now, quick. I promise I won't eat you. Einstein, I told you you wouldn't bleed and come. I told you. I knew you wouldn't come. The weather's all over the place today. It's actually not that cold, but it's quite windy. It sort of starts raining and then it stops immediately. It's very confused, the weather. It's more confused than I feel at the moment with my life. Right, I'm going to feed the pumpkins with a liquid seaweed feed. It's going to be the first feed the pumpkins have had this year, so I'll feed them now and then I probably won't feed them again for another couple of weeks. I think I'm going to do it every two weeks and I'll give them a really good liquid seaweed feed, which they love, but I think they do have enough like horse manure there to sort of last them a bit, so I think they're going to do okay, but let's give them their first feed now and then we're going to harvest a few things and that's what we're going to do. Right, where's the seaweed? Oh, it's in the shed. It's just started properly raining now, fantastical. You can't see a single thing I'm doing and that is no better, but it's going to have to do. Right, I'm using a liquid seaweed feed. This is from Envy, and so we will just follow the instructions, shake well before use. 15 mils in five litres of water every seven days. It says every seven days on this, so I suppose you could do it weekly. Do we wait for it to stop raining before we water it or do we go and water it in the rain? No, you know what, we're British, we're going to go and water it in the rain. Thank you very much. Right, well it's not going to be the most aesthetic harvest because I'm just going to stick it in this old M&S bag, but you know what, that's all I've got. I'm all about keeping it real guys, so I'm just going to go around. I'm going to pick the broad beans, kale and strawberries. My goodness me, what is up with my memory today? I'm like a sieve. These kale leaves were absolutely delicious, so I'm definitely going to pick some more of these. These were lovely. And of course the most exciting harvest of all, the strawberries. We've got to try one together. I'm just so sorry that it's not a nicer day to try a strawberry on, but you know what, the day is what it is, so we're going to make the best of it. Right, let's get one in here. Which one looks the best? This one looks pretty good, doesn't it? Look at that. Doesn't that look just like summer? It just looks like summer, that's what it is. It is summer in a fruit. Let's try this one together. Oh guys, it's actually raining now. This couldn't be more British summer really, to be honest. To be, oh what's that? Nothing, it's a leaf. To be trying my first strawberry in the rain at the beginning of June, I mean honestly, what could be more British? But let's try this one together. Oh my goodness, it is perfect. It's juicy, it's delicious. It's the most strawberry tasting strawberry you'll ever taste, your home grown strawberries. Nothing tastes more like a strawberry than a home grown strawberry. That's so weird to say, but if you grow your own strawberries, you'll know exactly what I mean. It's just the best taste in the world. I'm going to have to go and hide in the greenhouse for a bit because it is raining and we'll have to come back and pick them a bit later. It's really raining now. This could not be more June, could it? Honestly, what's happened to the sun? I'm going to go out and pick the strawberries when the rain has stopped. I'm going to leave the vlog there. So we've got broad beans, we've got kale, we've got strawberries. I'm going to cook with them and I'm going to show you how I cook them and what I make with them in my Sunday gardening vlog. So I'm doing like a weekly gardening vlog. I'm putting it up every Sunday at 9am and I put a little bit of cooking in it a couple of weeks ago and you guys really liked it. So I'm going to do little cooking segments in it if I harvest anything and obviously today I've harvested lots of stuff so there's going to be lots of cooking in the next Sunday vlog. So I hope you enjoy that. Have a lovely gardening weekend and I will see you again at the allotment plot on Monday or in my home garden on Sunday. See you then guys, thank you so much for watching. Bye!