AN UPDATE ON THE VANDALISM / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

[Music] [Music] [Music] Okay, my window slam shut in the night. That is not ideal. Oh no. [Music] So sorry plants. So sorry. Good morning, Einstein. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to my a lotment diaries. My name is Emma. These are the a lotment diaries where I vlog all about my a lotment plot here in South London. That's Einstein saying hello in the background. So, I haven't actually been here for quite a few days, probably about 5 days. I got a message on the WhatsApp group for the a lotment saying that the vandals have been back again. Um, they've now been officially identified. It's about eight school boys. They're wearing a school uniform. Silly. Silly. Stupidly. So, we know what school they're from. They've been reported to the police. We've all made police reports about the damage that they're doing, but they basically came back and they came back while plot holders were still here and basically put their middle fingers up to them and just went around and trashed the plots. Um, they also trashed the little kids playground just next door, which is really sad. But yeah, nobody wanted to step in and sort of physically stop them. And I completely agree with it. I think it's the right thing to do. We're in London. We're in South London. You don't deal with people like that. You just step back. You Some of them, I think, called out and told them to stop. Like I said, got a middle finger shown to them. And that was pretty much the end of it. So, what can we do? At least I know that it's stupid kids coming around just swinging on stuff and breaking stuff. Makes me feel ever so slightly better thinking that it's just mindless vandalism by kids and not a targeted attack. I think I was being a tad paranoid with that. I can't help it. I put my a lotment plot online. I'm on Tik Tok. I'm on Instagram. I'm on YouTube. You know, I'm sharing my a lotment with everyone all the time. So, and on Tik Tok in particular, I do get quite a few negative temp um comments just because I think that's the nature of Tik Tok, isn't it? If you're on it, you'll know. Um so, it sort of wouldn't surprise me if it was someone, but it wasn't. I don't think it is a targeted attack. I now think it's those boys. makes me feel mildly better. But when I heard that they've been back, I just decided not to come for a few days. I just didn't want to know if they damaged my plot. And thank goodness they haven't. They haven't. So, for now, we are safe. But I am expecting a few breakages here and there now. So, I'm sort of like I'm geared up for it. Do you know what I mean? Which sounds awful. It's a terrible thing to say. Nobody should be saying that about their happy place. But if I'm prepared, then it's sort of it won't impact me the way it did before, basically. In other news, my both of my greenhouse windows slammed shut. We must have had some uh wind. I think we had a thunderstorm here because of the intense heat that we're having at the moment, and they both slammed shut. So, the greenhouse has been very, very hot. Today, it is, let me tell you, 33.8 um degrees. 33.8 8° in here. It's not even 9:00 in the morning. 55% humidity. He's not happy. He doesn't have a face, so I'm assuming he's not happy. Some of the tomatoes have fallen down. Let's start by um fixing the tomatoes. They're just getting so big, but I'm just loving them, and I just want them to keep getting bigger. I'm just so happy for them to continue on their journey of world domination. You know, I'm here to facilitate it, guys. You dominate the world if you want to. You know, you do you, Blink Coco. Seriously, who am I to stop them this year? Who am I to stop them? What a wonky camera. All right, don't attack me. I'm trying to help you. I don't have any real sort of set jobs today. Um, except one. I've got one set job, which is to plant out some more runner beans because a lot of mine got eaten. It's one of the only crops this year that's actually been eaten by slugs and snails. Other than that, it's just about coming down and pottering and just seeing what jobs need doing. And that is my favorite sort of a lotment time of year really where you can come down and just pick and choose the jobs you feel like doing that day. Oh, there you go. Is that better, guys? Yeah. Fabulous. Look at these tomatoes. Look at them, guys. Aren't they fabulous? Incredible. And look, they're hitting the top. I've never had tomatoes grow this big before. Even in my poly tunnel, they didn't grow this big. So, polycarbonate greenhouse. If you want to grow tomatoes, absolutely get it. Right. [Music] The pumpkins all looking great this year. They're doing so, so well. They're even growing towards the archway, which is perfect. Exactly where I want them. And they're growing. I mean, number one, they're growing, which is just a miracle. They didn't do this last year. They just sort of stopped. Um, I'm going to keep the netting on for the birds. And we do have runna beans as well. And again, that is excellent. I really have absolutely nothing to say about this this archway this year, to be honest. Everything is doing well. The sunflowers behind there, they're doing absolutely fantastic at all. They're getting fantastic. And then we've got the pumpkins down there with the runner beans. We've got some nesters in front which are getting bigger. On the other side, the pumpkins are doing great with the runna beans. And we've got cosmos growing behind which is getting really big and bushy. Besides from like giving the pumpkins a feed every so often, I do I haven't had to touch this archway this year and that's amazing. Last year I had to replant them out about four times because slugs kept eating them. This year taking care of itself. It's going to be a stunner. [Music] [Music] This is the crop at the moment for me at the I'm going to say at the moment cuz there's plenty of time for there to be more. But this is the crop at the moment that is not doing well at all and it's really suffering. And it's my broad beans. These are my spring planted broad beans. So, I planted these in the springtime, very, very early spring, and they've been completely destroyed by aphids. And I've done everything I can to try and stop them. I've even got loads of ladybirds on here now, but it's too late. The plants are dying back, and I was really worried about it, but I've planted some other broad beans, which I planted much earlier over the winter time, and they're doing fine. So, I'm getting broad beans. Also, I've noticed that everybody else's broad beans, it's a squirrel in my plot. What's he doing? It's a squirrel, guys. It's not It's not really not that exciting. Sorry. Everybody else's broad beans on the whole site that I've seen have suffered the same fate as mine. So, I thought it makes me feel a bit better. It must be something to do with the weather this year in the climate we're having. Debating now whether just to pull them all out. What do you think? I'm not sure there's anything I can do to rescue these. I think these might be gone. I think they might be gone. Is I'm not getting any beans on them at all. And I have a feeling it's the end. I can't see them coming back from this. I think I'm going to pull them all up. I've got some brassacas at home that would be really happy in here that I could plant now and probably have in time for autumn time and I think that would be great. So, I think I'm going to rip them all out. We're just going to be brutal. [Music] [Music] Look at these potatoes in my compost. These are doing better than any of my other potatoes that I've grown this year. How typical is that? Look at these compared to these [Music] [Music] Look at these little secret potatoes. Little reward for all my hard work. I do have to be careful today because the weather is going to get up to like 27°. So, I can't do too much because I'll just burn myself out and I'll get ill. The heat is also when I say 27°, guys, it's not just like the sun, it's humidity. The humidity in the air rises and it's so hot and sticky and there's absolutely no breeze. It's just Whoa. The way you did that, Einstein. The way the way you did that. What have you got? A worm. What is this? Flew over to me with a worm in his mouth. Do you think it's a sign saying to buy some more meal worms? Cuz I still haven't brought me worms. Do you think he knows? just came over and showed me the worm he's got in his mouth and then just flew off. Strange. Robins are so strange. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. Humidity. The humidity is very high. Anyway, stop talking about the weather. [Music] Right. So, I just cleared that little pile of weeds away. And then this bed is ready for brassacas to go in, which is very exciting. Right. I know. I think last time I was here, I said I was going to tackle the pond and I didn't do it cuz I was just exhausted after tackling something else. What did I tackle? Oh, the pathways. Yeah, all those weeds have just come back again. Oh well. But now I think I really need to address the pond. This is the pond, believe it or not. There is a pond in there somewhere. And I really just I know it's supposed to be a little bit overgrown, but this has sort of gone beyond that. So, I think it's time to sort of tame it a bit. [Music] [Music] [Music] Right. It's marginally better cuz it doesn't have that height to it, but it's still very, very overgrown. I think I'll work on it every time I come down. But a more pressing matter is that there's no bleeding water in it. It's the teeniest, tiniest little puddle in there, and I really think it needs more water. I mean, ponds do tend to need water. You know, it's just one of the requirements of it being a pond. You know what my 10-year-old son told me the last time he was here? I was filling up watering cans of water and putting it into my pond. And he said, "Mom, why don't you just fill the wheelbarrow with water and tip it in?" I said, "That's flipping genius. Why didn't I think of that? My 10-year-old came up with that. So, I'm going to give it a go. I don't know how easy it'll be, but we're going to try. I mean, let's just try. [Music] [Music] Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh, wrong way. Oh, I just lost them. It's got a bleeding hole in it. I didn't notice it had a hole in it until I started pushing it and all my feet were getting wet. I was like, why am I getting wet? It's got a hole in it. So, I had to race the water to the pond. So, I only got this much in. It's only filled it a little bit. So, I might do it a couple more times. Just see cuz I think it does work. I mean, it'd be better if it didn't have a hole in it, you know. Where is the hole? Such a great idea. That was really, honestly, that was one of my better ideas as well. Actually, it was my son's idea. So, of course, it was a good idea. Now, Einstein, don't start flapping around me. Oh, there's the hole. There's the hole. All right, we can fix that. Right, the bird has decided he must be fed. Oh, he's in the pond. Look at that. straight away having a bath. Straight away. Oh, they must really need that water. This is going to be a priority now. Okay. Okay. So, the fact that he went straight in that water, they really need it. So, I'm going to fix my wheelbarrow and do that. But he has decided he must be fed immediately. Cannot wait any longer. He cannot physically wait any longer. Some lovely food. Vegetarian again today, Einstein. [Music] This is absolutely worth doing because I can carry so much more water with this. Will there be anything left in my a lotment that's not held together by duct tape? I don't think so. One day when somebody takes my plot on because I leave eventually in my life cuz I won't be here forever. They're going to find everything held together with duct tape. They're going to be shocked and probably impressed. [Music] Put it there, too. [Music] Yeah. All right, let's go. [Music] Duct tape hasn't quite worked. Not quite worked. Oh, that's really annoying. [Music] I'll sort of do maybe one or two wheelbarrow falls every time I come down and it will slowly fill up again. But the bird seemed happy, didn't he, in there? I think they need it. [Music] I think I'm going to eat one of these tomatoes. I'm absolutely knackered. I was going to harvest some things, but I'm actually so hot and tired and I'm just thinking maybe I'm just checking the time. It's half past 10. I think maybe I should just sort of call it there really before I melt. Anyway, some of these tomatoes at the back look absolutely stunning. I think they're done. So, I'm going to pick one. Oh my gosh, just dropped it. I'm going to try my first summer tomato. Have you got Have any of you guys got tomatoes yet? Or am I am I really early or is this like a normal tomato time? Because for the past 2 years, I've been unable to grow tomatoes cuz I haven't had an enclosure. So, I've had to put them outside and I've not got any tomatoes. So, I'm sort of confused about when the time is when you're supposed to be getting tomatoes. June seems quite early for tomatoes for me, but maybe it's normal for a greenhouse. I don't know. Anyway, here we go. First tomato of summer. Oh my goodness. You have no idea. Of course you have no idea. You can't taste it. It's stunning. It's absolutely delicious. Whenever I try something I've grown. It's the most tomatoey tomato I've ever tasted. It's like the it, you know, the taste of a tomato when you get it in the shop. It's like that taste but a hundred times stronger. It's the most tomatoy tomato taste that you'll ever taste. Does that make sense? And when you pick your own strawberry, it's the most strawberry tasting strawberry you'll ever taste. It's like the flavor is just so intense. It's it's purely what that is. It's not been frozen. It's not been covered in chemicals. It's not been transported in vans to supermarkets. It's just grown on the plant. You've picked it and eaten it. It's the most It's the most flavorsome of that fruit or that vegetable that you're ever going to get picking it straight off and eating it. It's amazing. It's incredible. Just grow your own food. Please. Just Just grow something. Grow anything and you'll know what I'm talking about. [Music] [Music] [Music] Right. There we go. The whole lot of them netted. So, this is the black currant, which is nice and netted. We've got a blueberry there, which I expect won't give me anything at all, but it's netted anyway. And this is a red currant, which is absolutely filled with ladybirds. How funny is that? Look, they're all just sitting on the leaves. Got a little ladybird baby. What they called? Baby ladybird. There he is. [Music] [Laughter] Right, that's it for me today. Um, I hope you've enjoyed the vlog. I'm going to be back again on Wednesday. I've got lots more jobs to do. Picking the sweet peas, picking the peas, lots of watering and feeding of plants. Um, picking the onions as well and harvesting all of my onions at last. Lots and lots of jobs to do. So, I hope you'll join me then on Wednesday. Hope you've enjoyed this vlog and I will see you then. Thanks so much for watching, guys. Bye.