A TREE FELL DOWN! AGAIN! / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

Good morning everyone, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name is Emma, these are the allotment diaries. If you are enjoying my allotment channel I would love you to hit the subscribe button, believe it or not because I can't hardly believe it myself, I'm almost at 50,000 subscribers which is absolutely mind-blowing if I'm honest, I can't get my mind around it. So thank you so much if you have subscribed, I know it's not all about the subscribers anymore, it used to be years ago but I don't think it is anymore, but it is a really exciting milestone for me. So I think I will be doing a competition when I reach 50,000 and I think I'm going to give away lots of prizes and things and just make a big deal of it because I haven't really made a big deal of any of my sort of achievements and numbers, so anyway this is all very very boring. I'll go into it at a later date but it is 36.8 degrees in the greenhouse today, it's very very sunny, blue skies all day, hopefully no rain, so I think it's going to be really busy at the allotment plot, which means I've come down super early so I can film this video for you because I don't really like filming when loads of people are here, it's a little bit awkward, I feel like it's going to be busy today. Tomatoes are still tomatoing, not showing any signs of stopping and we're getting new growth and little flowers on them, new flowers, so the tomatoes are loving this sort of extended summer weather that we've been having. I've been loving the rain that we've been having because it means I don't have to water anymore, I just wish that we'd had it a little bit earlier. If we'd have had that sort of rain that we've had recently, sort of beginning of August, I think my pumpkins would have done a lot better and most of my crops would have done better, just a lesson learned, need to think about the watering next year I think. Anyway, rambling quite a lot today, I actually forgot to bring what I wanted to bring, I had some seeds, some mustard leaves and things that I wanted to sow and I didn't bring them, I forgot, so what we're going to do today is a little bit of tidying, going to do some work on the compost heap, make sure that's all in ship shape ready to go and we're going to see if there's we can harvest as well. I'm trying to harvest as much as I can at the moment so nothing goes to waste and I don't forget anything and it doesn't sort of go over and yeah, we're just going to see where the day takes us basically. So first job of the day, we're going to go out and do a little bit of weeding, a little bit of tidying and just get our bearings. I think that's always quite a nice thing to do straight away on the plot is just get out, do some weeding, tidy up a few areas and stuff so let's just get going on that and then we'll see where the day takes us. It's so, so peaceful here today, like honestly I feel like I have to talk quiet, it is that peaceful, you can just hear the birds, the sky is blue, the sun is out, it's just gorgeous. It's days like these where I am so grateful that I have this space and this allotment plot and despite the fact that I've been about it recently and feeling a little bit unsure about it and stuff, despite all that, when you get a day like this you're reminded of just how important this space is and how helpful it can be for your mental health and your mental well-being, like just being outside is so good for my mental health. I had a really rubbish morning if I'm honest, just really stressful, really, really awful and then I get down here, I'm not in the best of moods but just like literally 15 minutes of just, you know, pottering around and weeding and mulching some beds and stuff and yeah, I just feel like 100% better. Spaces like this really, really, really do need to be protected and encouraged as well, I think that's really the key, not just protected but encouraged, people need to be encouraged to use their outdoor spaces. If you've got a front garden, a back garden, if you've got a windowsill, a patio, if you're lucky enough to have an allotment plot, please use it, like that is my number one goal in life is to get as many people using whatever outdoor space that they've got because it is just so, so good for you, so healthy, so good for you to be outside for a bit and you don't have to be the best gardener in the world, you don't even have to be any good at gardening at all whatsoever but just get outside for a bit, you know, just have some plants around you, just buy some from the garden centre, stick it in a pot, like honestly it is just magical, just magical. Right, compost isn't looking terrible, it's definitely looked worse in its time, in its lifetime, I think I did sort of fiddle about with it didn't I a couple of weeks ago and I've kept it covered and I've chopped it up a bit more and turned it a couple of times so it's not in the worst condition, I've just added some weeds that were sitting in my wheelbarrow and some of the apples have fallen and rotted, I actually think apples would be really good for compost, I don't know why. See you Einstein, now, now, yeah now, okay right we're gonna have to feed Einstein but what I want to do to this today is chop it up, mix it up a little bit, get it ready for the autumn time and then add some horse manure to it, so we're going to go and get the horse manure but first we're going to feed Einstein, yeah he's getting very impatient this birdie, this is how it's looking right now guys, thought I'd just quickly show you, I've just thrown that big pile of weeds on and some of the apples so we will come back to this when the bird has been fedded, where are you, I don't think he'll come when the camera's so close but you know what he might, he might, it's not that well lit today because it is very shady here but let's see if he turns up, he's sitting here, he's sitting there looking at the camera like it's the most suspicious thing in the world, like it's going to eat him, there you are, he likes me again now, perseverance, perseverance pays off, we're best buddies again, right birdie's fed, time to get the poo, look at the baby fox, ah there doesn't seem to be that much horse manure today which is a little bit annoying but this stuff here, this might be more sort of well rotted because it's obviously been underneath for quite a long time so I'm going to try and get as much of this as I can and then I'm going to top up with some wood chip, I've never really used wood chip in my compost before but this wood chip here isn't really good for pathways because it's basically leaves and obviously leaf mulch is great for your compost heap for adding structure, doesn't add much nutrient leaf mulch but it is really good for your structure so I'm going to top it up with this so leaf mulch basically is what it is and some horse manure and whack it all in the compost and see, you can see that there's just a lot of leaves in here can't you, I mean if you look at that pile over there there's a lot of green in it which means there's a lot of leaves and what you want really with pathways is mainly wood chip and as little leaves as possible and this here, this is like really leafy, I mean look at this, this is practically just leaf mulch so not great for pathways but good for your compost. So right so what we'll do is we'll give it a good old chop, we'll turn it and then we will add our concoction of horse manure and sort of leaf mould slash wood chip to it and hopefully that'll get it going again. I think that's how you turn it, I have to say I've never googled or anything how to turn compost but I'm pretty sure it's the process of mixing it up and getting the stuff that's on the bottom to be on the top, I mean that sort of is logical isn't it, so why else would you turn it? I think it's just doing that, mixing it up you know, it's less sort of turning and more mixing, mixing it all together you know because you're trying to make like the green stuff and the brown stuff come together aren't you really, so I think we should call it mixing the compost, actually we will call it mixing the compost from now and I can call it what I like, it's mixing, mixing up the compost, mixing up the compost, mixing, mixing, mixing up the compost, god I hope no one heard me singing then, chopping up the compost, chopping up the compost, chopping, chopping, chopping up the compost, you can tell me where that song is from, you are a millennial, congratulations you passed the millennial test, I sing that song multiple times a day, washing up the dishes, washing up the dishes, isn't it funny the memories that come to your mind when you're chopping up compost, it just unlocks all these memories in my mind, I think it's because I just get really involved with it and I just get like locked in and I just start thinking about random things, it's like therapy chopping compost, it's therapy, it's cheaper than therapy and you get compost at the end of it, all right let's whack in the poo, oh god that was going to fall off, I need to fix this bottom bit because I had like some wood here to keep everything in and it broke so shovel it in there, now that my friends looks like compost doesn't it, I mean it is sort of compost, you could put that straight on your beds really but what I want it to do is act as a great big mulch to all of those chopped up dead leaves underneath, so I don't know I just feel like that'll work, compost is still such a mystery to me but I sort of feel like, you know how you're supposed to cover compost over with something um to keep all the moisture and stuff in, I feel like a thick mulch of horse poo and wood chip, that is basically the same as covering it over, do you know what I mean, you know like when you mulch your beds, basically I've mulched my compost and I just feel like that is the right thing to do and then underneath it will just sort of become compost, I just feel like it's right, I don't know it's an intuition, it's just a gardener's intuition that I've done that right, now I need to sort out the other blooming bed, oh look what's happened to that tree over there, it's not the first time that a tree's fallen down but it looks like a really big branch has sort of crumbled now, look at this, oh I can see the branch that's fallen just there, it's a really big thick one, look at that, gosh she's really lucky it didn't crush her shed, I mean did it crush her shed, sort of a little bit, a little bit, it's sort of hanging over the shed, oh my goodness, I don't think this tenant's been back at all actually this year, I think she might have been once or twice but that's it, but you know there was another tree that had fallen onto her plot and we had to, me and some other plot holders had to move the tree because she didn't come back and sort it, so I'm really surprised that this tree keeps falling down, it actually looks like a really good healthy tree, my trees look in worse condition than this tree but it's obviously not the case, I don't know, I mean this is a huge branch, it does look like it might have damaged her shed a little bit, oh my goodness, but then at the same time sort of look at her plot, she's clearly not bothered, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, yeah I'm really surprised that this tree keeps falling down, it's just not the tree that I would have thought would have fallen down a lot because it looks great, I mean it sort of looks great to me, maybe it's not, it's a bit spindly at the top, it's this tree that falls and I've got this tree here so now I'm a little bit worried about this tree, is this tree going to fall? The last thing I need is a tree falling on my plot, it looks okay to me, I don't know, one of those branches might snap but then it would only be a little one. Right, anyway, enough talk about the tree, we're going to sort out this compost bay now and see if we've got any compost at the bottom, I hope we do, I think we do, well these are potatoes supposedly, sort of potato-less potatoes, so I don't know, hang on a second, tell a lie, there's a potato. I think the answer to the question absolutely nobody asked is don't put potatoes in your compost because they just grow and though it is fun to have compost potatoes, it's also slightly inconvenient because I did not ask or want these potatoes and what I actually wanted it to do was to make blooming compost, not to grow my dinner, so personally I'm not a fan of the potatoes in the compost, I sort of feel a bit funny eating them, I don't feel like they're they're real potatoes, you know what I mean, they're all a little bit knobbly bobbly and I don't know, I'm sure they're absolutely perfectly edible and fine, I'm sure they're absolutely fine, but for me I sort of just want to grow my potatoes and eat those ones, do you know what I mean, I just didn't ask for you guys, just didn't want you. Right, I don't think this is sufficient usable, am I lying, it's quite a nice colour, it is quite a nice colour, I don't know if it, when I dig in it, it is quite a nice colour, what I mean by that is it's nice and dark and rich, it does feel sort of full of goodness and things, but there's not a lot of it, underneath it is a little bit better, what I'm going to do, I'm just going to use it as another compost bay and start filling it up, starting with these potato plants, going back in. Right, let's go and see what we can harvest, I'm pretty sure I said that there was a savoy cabbage or two sitting there lurking, that I could have harvested last time and actually forgot about it, I got distracted by the ginormous courgette plants, which I still don't know what to do with, but yeah, let's go and have a look at that brassica bed, I'm pretty sure there'll be something lurking there that we can pick. Oh no, look at my kale trees, do you know what, they're almost as tall as I am, literally almost as tall as I am, is it normal for kale to grow this big, I didn't realise they'd be this big, I'm going to be honest with you guys and I do not remember the name of this, but it's basically like purple kale, I'm not a huge fan of it, that's why I've not been using it as much, I'm a fan of the plants, the plants are gorgeous, absolutely stunningly beautiful, but you know what, I've been using that Cavolo Nero kale quite a lot, I've been buying it from Marks and Spencer's and I love that one and I really want to grow that next year, I didn't really, I wasn't a big kale eater when I started growing this last year and you know what, I didn't realise that different kales taste different and have like different textures and stuff, but that Cavolo Nero one, it's got more of a cabbage kind of texture to it and I love that, I love that, and this, this has got more of sort of a leafy texture to it and it doesn't seem to matter how I cook it, I boiled it, I've roasted it and I fried it as well, it doesn't seem to matter how I cook it, it still has that leafy kind of texture which I don't like as much as the cabbagey texture, so Cavolo, is it Cavolo Nero or Cavolo Nero, it might be Cavolo Nero, Cavolo Nero, that one is my favourite and I'm going to be growing that next year and I can't wait, I literally can't wait, I've already ordered the seeds and everything. Right, there are some Savoy cabbages here, cabbage, one of my favourite, favourite veggies, that might be a weird thing to admit that I love cabbage, but I tell you what, I really do, especially this one, Savoy cabbage, oh it's just delicious, such a lovely texture, right I've got a great big ball in the middle, this is great, if I can, that's a beast, there he is, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, look at this for a cabbage, look all the bees are getting involved, they can't believe it, they literally are star struck by this cabbage, this is a whopper of a cabbage, I'm going to get rid of some of the leaves on the outside because I don't think I'll really use those, but that is a fantastical cabbage, hello bees, hello bees, hello, I'll just be a minute, I won't disturb you, I promise, please don't sting me, right, well that's my cabbage, that's absolutely enormous, the size of it, I'm most excited by the size of the ball in the middle because that's the bit that I'm really going to be using in my cooking, these leaves are a little bit munched, I might be able to use some of them, but this ball in the middle, this looks pretty perfect to me, so I'm very excited about that part, but look at that, look at it, it's the biggest cabbage in the world, anyway I do hope you've enjoyed watching my allotment diary today, if you have do subscribe to my channel, I feel absolutely great for having been here today, honestly I think this is the day the allotment that I really needed, just to reinforce the fact that I love it here, and yeah I haven't had a day this good in a very very long time, so I'm very grateful for it, you might hear in my voice that I'm a little bit calmer, I'm just, I'm not so scatty, I'm kind of, my brain has quietened down and I just love that, so I hope that you can get to your allotment plots over the next few days, few weeks, I don't know what the weather's going to be doing through September, but hopefully we'll have some nice days that you can get outside, hopefully I'll be able to get here more as well, until next time guys, I'm going to be back on Sunday at 9am with a home gardening vlog, and then I'll be back at the allotment on Monday, so I'll see you then, thank you for watching, hope you enjoyed, bye!