TACKLING AN OVERGROWN ALLOTMENT PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

[Music] [Music] [Music] Right. How are we looking today? 21.6° C. 68% humidity. He's smiling. Oh, 67% now cuz I've just touched it. Gosh, that changed quickly, didn't it? You're smiling. You're smiling. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to my alotment diaries. My name's Emma. These are the a lotment diaries. I hope you are enjoying them. If you are enjoying my a lotment diaries, please hit the subscribe button now um so you don't miss any of my uploads. It is Friday. Happy Friday, guys. We made it to Friday. Um the weather's not cooperating. Oh, I don't know if you can hear that, but it's quite windy outside and it's sort of rattling the greenhouse a little bit, which is always a little bit worrying. I'm sure it will be okay, though. Quite peaceful today. There's a little bit of building work going on, but I've heard lots of birds and it's just kind of like a peacefulness in the air, if that makes any sense. Oh, is that spider? Or it was until I showed up. I'm about to destroy the piece. It just feels quite peaceful today and just quite nice. I just feel quite calm and happy to be here. As I walked into my a lotment plot, I come from that way over there. So, I come onto the back of my original a lotment plot and it's a state. It's an absolute state. I think what I need to do is order some more wire for the strimmer and give it a strim again. So, I ran out of wire cuz I wasn't doing it right cuz I'm I'm a novice. It's my first time using like one of those strimmer things. And uh all the wire disappeared. So, that's a bit annoying. But, it's a bit of a state. So, what I need to do today is just work on a couple of beds and really bring them back to life. And that's really going to be my game plan today. I really hope the wind sort of dies down as well cuz it is quite windy out there. Let me show you what I mean. So, this is sort of what we worked on last time we were here. We did all of the the archway and I went a little bit into the flower bed and just this whole area is looking quite together, isn't it? Quite nice. I mean, actually, I have to say, looking at this entire second a lotment plot, apart from like a few little weeds, it's actually looking really put together, really nice. You can see the pathways and it just looks lovely. I've really just kept up with it. Do you know what I mean? I've just kept on top of it and it's just looking great. Now, let's go on to the original a lotment over there. This is where it's really letting the side down. I think I just spend most of my energy on my new plot because I'm so determined to keep up with it that I've sort of neglected my original plot while doing that. To be honest, what it might just need is a strim. I might just need to get my strimmer working and then it'll all be okay. But this is where I come on to my plot from. So, let's let's do it for you. This is where I come onto my plot and it's just looking. I mean, look, that all needs to be sorted out over the autumn time. I think that's going to be my job. But this all needs trimming down. And then I know it's not the worst plot in the world, but it really does. I mean, compared to that original plot, it's looking very messy. Not very put together. Got the fence come down there, which is a little bit annoying. Pond is looking incredibly overgrown. Now, I am being a little bit hard on myself. You know, it's not it's not the worst plot in the world, but I think what I'm going to do today is choose a couple of areas and really work on it and just make it, you know, back under control. Basically, I think the areas I'm going to choose, I'm actually going to do the pathway um because there's a lot of weeds there and I think that's really letting it down a bit. And I'm also going to tackle the pond a bit and just cut that back. [Music] The thing is about this time of year is your plot is it's at some point it's going to get out of control, guys. It's just one of those things of having an a lotment plot. You know, people go on holiday or you take a few days off or the weather turns or something and you can't get down here and it just happens. if you need like more of a guide of what jobs to do each month, one of the best ways that I find of knowing what to do is by looking in gardening magazines. So, at the beginning of most editions of most gardening magazines, they will have a section where it tells you what to do that month in the garden. And the easiest way of reading magazines is through the Reedley app. And I have talked about Reedley many, many times in this channel. And I know a lot of you are now subscribed to it. And honestly, once you get Reedley, there's no going back. It's such a great way of reading all your favorite magazines in one place. They have over 7,000 magazines and newspapers on there, all different categories. Um, they have a fantastic gardening section. And like I said, if you go onto the Reedley app and you find a gardening magazine at the beginning, they have like monthly jobs to do. And then in the Reedly app, what you can do is you can bookmark that page and it saves it for you. So you don't need to go searching through all the magazines again to find it. And if you collect them up in your bookmarks, you'll have all the monthly jobs of what to do. So when you come down to the a lotment, you can open it up and you can just find all your monthly jobs to do. And also, you don't need to be online to access Reedley. You can download the editions of the magazines onto your app and then if you don't have connection to the internet, you can still look at them. There's so many great features about Reedley that I absolutely love. You can favorite magazines as well so that it will alert you every time a new edition comes out so you don't miss it. And if you want to get your hands on Reedley and give it a go, I have a code that you can use which will give you two months free. You can cancel at any time. It's super easy. And um you can go below, find my code in the description or in the comment section and give it a go yourself and let me know what you think. So many of you have tried it already and you love it, which is why I keep banging on about it. So, honestly, it's really worth it. But right now, I know the jobs I need to do. I need to get onto that plot and I need to start sorting it out. So, we're going to start with the pathway. [Music] I said life just where it was needed claiming black as night cloed in injustice death in the eye of time nobody is losing Well, I'm not sure if it's looking better or if it just looks like an animal's been digging in my pathway. I've made a right mess. You know what? Because I often get asked about the pathways. They've got a ground sheet. There's a plastic ground sheet underneath, but it's not my ground sheet. It's what I dug up when I took on my a lotment plot. So, I decided to reuse it rather than throw them away. So, there's a ground sheet and then I've covered it in wood chip. But the problem is dirt and soil is ending up on the pathway and the wood chip is composting down and weeds are growing in it now. So, what needs to happen really is I need to dig it all up, compost this wood chip, and then lay a new layer down, I think, or maybe just keep topping it up. I'm not sure. But that's why I'm getting weeds in it. Um, as long as I keep on top of weeding, it doesn't tend to get too bad. But it is a little bit frustrating, you see, cuz they really do sort of root out. I mean, the roots have gone everywhere and it's just composted down or whatever it does. But, you know, can't be helped. All right, the brassica bed is looking rather messy. It's got all bindweed all over it. So, let's um let's knuckle down and get this done. Good morning, Einstein. He's come to see me. He just turned up. He just sat right by me and then I turned to get my camera and he flew away. Are you ready for some meal worms? [Music] Right, I've only got bird seed now. I don't think they really love Go vegetarian for a little bit. [Music] What's it saying now? 20 20 the temperature is going down in here. It's the first time I've ever been here where the temperature is actually going down. I mean 20 is still quite nice for the plants, but I didn't realize how bad the weather would be today or I would have come tomorrow instead. I didn't realize it'd be like this. It's so gray and gloomy and it's very very dark. The camera's struggling to focus on stuff. It's not cold but it's definitely not like summery. I mean maybe it's UK summer. I don't know. Um, I've had enough of weeding. I can't do it anymore. I actually can't do it. It's just I'm just looking around and as I'm doing it, I'm thinking, "What am I doing? The plot is never going to be perfect." And when I pickle these, they're just going to grow back again. And I do a bit of weeding. Sure, absolutely. But like, don't spend the entire day doing weeding. So, I brought some spring onion seeds with me. These are Ishikura. Ishakura. They came with my seed craft subscription. So, I'm very excited to try these. I'm going to put them in my new bed just over there, which is full of salad crops at the moment and doing great. I think the sun might be poking through. Is that cuz I've said I'm going to sew some seeds. The sun's the sun's come out. I think it is. I think I think the world doesn't want me to weed today. Oh, I was going to plant it in here, but actually this bed is so full at the moment. And lovely. Oh, that's actually a weed. We've got lettuce. We've got radishes growing. We have more lettuce in there. And then this is I think pack choy. Been a little bit munched, but I think it's it's doing okay. And we've got some pack choy here. This one looks probably ready to pick to be honest. Lettucees in between. And then we've got some kabi. That's all doing really well. Fantastic. I love kabi. Makes a great cole saw. And then we've got all the corettes and the sweet corn. Not looking great, but you know what? Alive. So, there we go. We'll take that. All right. I don't think there's any room in here. This is a poor little melon. Poor little melon I stuffed out. And he's not doing well at all whatsoever. You know what? He's complete. Look, no roots as well. Oh, he's just He was never going to do well there. Let's be honest. Right. Off you go. We'll put the spring onion here. I reckon I can get about three rows in here. What? Yeah. Great. [Music] [Music] [Laughter] Oh, you're joking. You're actually joking. I can't believe it. Look at that. I've got a leak in my watering can. Oh, that is so annoying. But I'm going to have to try and fix that with some duct tape. Fortunately, I do have a bit of experience of fixing leaks. So, I've got my duct tape. Duct tape. Duct tape. Is there anything duct tape can't fix? No is the answer. No. I'd love to sponsor Duct Tape. I think this channel needs a sponsor and I think the sponsor should be duct tape. Ah, it's sliding off a just coming off. It's cuz wet. All right, we'll empty it. It obviously needs to be dried before you put dock tape on. Duh. Duh. Okay. Right. That couldn't be drier. Actually, it probably could, but it's not going to get any drier than that, is it? Try again. Yes, that is now sticking. Exactly as I thought. Exactly as I thought. You see? Right. Let's see if I fixed the problem. Right. Is it fixed? Oh, it's the wrong way. Has it fixed? Yes, it has. Duct tape. You see, once again, duct tape has rescued the day. That's all you need. You see, duct tape. That's all you need. Is there anything that duct tape can't fix? That's what I want to know. It is the greatest invent invention ever. Look. Look behind here, guys. Some of my tomatoes are going yellow. I can't believe it. How did I not see that this morning? Oh, that's so exciting. Right. Now that I've got that water in there, what I'll do is I shall feed the pumpkins. So, I didn't expect to have more water. So, we'll give them a little feed. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Just picking as many of these strawberries as I can before I leave today because I want to make strawberry jam. And I think that will be in one of my home vlogs. It might have been up already actually if I've already made it. In which case, well done. I hope it was very delicious. But some of these, I mean, look at this. Absolutely perfect. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] The harvest of the day. Look at that. Peas and strawberries. And these peas are absolutely huge. They're like trying to get out the pods. They're like bulging out the pods. So, they're so ready to pick. I'm going to have these for my lunch. And I'm going to try and make some strawberry jam. I think I've still got lots of strawberries at home that I've picked. So, yeah. Wow. Just seem to be getting so many harvests at the moment. And it's just lovely. It's so nice to be able to come down here, do some work, and then actually go home with some crops to take home or some flowers. Like, it feels like a reward. And I really wasn't getting that before. So, I'm absolutely thrilled. Everything's doing so well. In fact, the thing that's doing the best is my potatoes and the compost, which I didn't even want to be in there, but they seem to be doing absolutely amazingly. So, I'm going to leave them and harvest them later on. Who knows, we might have a harvest coming up of compost potatoes. Don't forget to check Reedley out and use my discount code. Um, let me know if you do try it. It is fantastic. And remember, you can cancel at any time. And I will see you again on Sunday with my home gardening vlog and then back at the aotment plot on Monday. Hope you've enjoyed this little edition of my a lotment diaries. I'll see you again when I see you. Thanks for watching. Bye.