A DAY OF PLANTING ON THE ALLOTMENT PLOT / ALLOTMENT GARDENING UK

Good morning, good morning, happy Monday everyone. Welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name's Emma, these are the allotment diaries. I hope you're enjoying these this year. We are well in the thick of it in April now and it's quite surprising to me how many people haven't even started their allotments here. We've had some really nice weather and I sort of feel like April is the time when most people get going but so many plots just haven't been touched yet so not quite sure what's going on with that. April is definitely a month where you can get out and start doing some gardening so if you're in any doubt of whether you should be at your allotment now, you should be at your allotment now. Just sorting things out, even mulching over beds, digging over. You can still plant things directly like for the rest of the summer so you're not behind. If you've just been given a plot as well, if you've just got your first allotment plot and you've got the keys in your hand, you're not too late. There is so much you can still grow, so much you can grow directly, you can even start some seeds now and you will get harvest this year so you're not behind. You are right on time. So yesterday was a very warm day. It was about 26-27 degrees here in London. No breeze, just literally sunshine the entire day and it's meant that a few things have happened. Firstly, a lot of my blossom on the tree has opened up fully. I've seen so many of my seedlings that have sprung up all of a sudden. Also, a lot of the seedlings in here needed a water yesterday. I watered them really well the day before and hoped they would be okay. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have been so they need a water urgently. And then this might need to go out, this is kale. I'm pretty sure this has to go out today. Also, I'm going to get my peas out today as well. Yeah, it feels like overnight everything's kind of grown not literally but figuratively if you know what I mean. So it just feels like the allotment's coming to life really quickly which is great. I think we're going to start with watering all the seedlings in here. I'm not going to plant these out until they've had a really good water and they've started to spring back to life. So maybe in sort of 20 minutes, half an hour. I don't think it will take long but let's get them a drink. Right, I think all you can see is a reflection of the blossom in the pond right now. I can't see any tadpoles in here. I can't see any at all. I don't know where they've all gone. I really hope they're okay and they've just relocated to maybe the middle of the pond or something. I don't know. I am slightly concerned that they've been eaten. Somebody said that crows and magpies like to dip in and eat them and I do get a lot of crows and magpies in my plot so I was hoping that they would survive. Maybe they won't. I don't know. I don't want to be negative about it because I'm very... I have a feeling they're still in there. I just haven't seen them for a few days now. Who knows? Anyway, the pond is still looking great. I'll top it up a little bit later but right now I think we're going to get the peas out. So let's go and do that. Right, here are the peas. They are meatier peas which are like an early variety. They've done very well. They're not huge but they're very bushy. They're not leggy at all. So they're very healthy looking. I think they'll be fine. One of the main reasons why I like to plant them out after they've germinated is because the mice like to dig up the peas and eat them. So now that they have germinated and turned into plants, they're ready to go out. They're absolutely fine. They're absolutely fine. Famous last words, eh? Oh no, I seem to have disturbed a nest of red ants. They are the worst kind of ants because they actually do bite. Oh no, they're all coming out to see what's up. Oh guys, nothing's up. I promise. It was just me. I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to be really careful now when I plant these out. Right, the first thing I need to do is peg down this netting because it's not quite reaching the ground and then we're just going to whack them out super quick and hope that I don't get bitten. Right, they're sort of going back to their base now. Back to the bases, guys. Regroup. Okay, so we'll just peg this. Oh god, guys, come on. Back to the base. Regroup. I'm not your enemy. I'm not interested in you. I promise. I'm not going to steal your babies. Right, guys, I just want to plant out my peas. So we're just pegging this down so that the peas have got something to grow up. I'm just using sticks because I don't have anything else. Okay, that's not a good stick. Wow, I've grown a lot of peas. I didn't realise how many peas I've grown. Look at all these. Right, now we've spaced them out, we're just going to literally bury them. They're literally attacking me. Wherever I stand, they're here. Oh my gosh, they're going to end up all over me. I know they are. I'm just going to get a really sudden bite somewhere. Guys, guys, guys, they're climbing up the grass. They're climbing up the grass. Oh my god, ants are crazy. Aren't they crazy? Guys, come on. I'm not after your babies. I just want to plant my peas. Oh my god, guys, come on. I'm almost done it, guys, and I'll leave you alone, I promise. I will leave you alone. Come on. Such good soil in this bed. Honestly, it's been so easy to plant. It's like a dream. Right, I've got some more of this stuff with me, which is the Slug Gone wall pellets. These are really good for preventing slugs and snails. They've worked so far this year, though I don't think we've had many, so I'm not sure I can give you a proper review. They need to be watered, so we'll put these down first, and then we will water, and then it sort of creates this barrier. Have I got some down somewhere? I think I have. Let me show you what it turns into. Oh yes, I've got some down around the peas already. So when you water them, can you see how they kind of go mushy, and then they all merge together to create this big barrier? So you have to water them when you put them down, otherwise they're just sort of pellets, and they don't really do very much, but together, when they get wet and they all merge together, they create like a barrier. Right, unfortunately my kale isn't looking much better yet. I think it'll take a little while for it to kind of recover, but it is still alive, and I think it'll be fine. So we're going to plant it out, and give it really good water, and just hope for the best, I think. We're going to put it into this bed. We've got a little bit of chard, and we've got some failed, failed tulips over there. I don't know what happened to those, but they didn't turn into anything, so we're going to stick them in here. I know kale gets quite big. It's quite a big plant. This is cavolo nero. These aren't cavolo nero. What am I talking about? These are sprouts. These are sprouts. All right, well, sprouts. Sprouts can go in here too, then. I'm sorry, guys. I spent the whole time calling them kale. It's not cavolo nero. These are the sprouts. These are the purple sprouts. Okay, the cavolo nero, I think, is still in there, and it's still doing fine. I think that's also going to go in this bed as well, with the sprouts. They're both brassicas, so at least I've got sort of the family right. Like I always say, this is not gardener's world. I'm not Monty Dawn, and I forget everything that I plant all the time. It's just the way I am. It's chaotic gardening, we shall call it. It might be. Chaotic gardening. Gardening for those whose minds are chaos. They look like they're just going to die straight away, don't they? They might. They very well might, but maybe they'll live. All right, let's give them a water. Oh, I am so sorry, guys. I am very tired today. It has been a long week already. I'm filming this on Friday, by the way. I know it's Monday for you, but it's the end of the week for me, and thank goodness. I am exhausted. Right, something else to plant out. I've got some runner beans, which are going to go on my big archway here. These are the Scarlet Emperor, quite a classic runner bean, I would say. I've grown the moonlight or moonlit ones, which have beautiful white flowers. But the thing with those is that they don't get very tall, and I really want them to cover the archway. So these are kind of the classic runner beans. They grow very, very tall. Scarlet Emperor. So we're going to whack these in directly around the archway. And I can't get this name wrong because it's literally written on the packet. Where are my kale, then? Oh, there's my kale. These are my Cavalloneros, and they're doing really well, but they're a bit small to plant out yet. But these are the Cavallonero. God, I just love runner beans. They remind me of the magic beans that Jack trades for the beanstalk. They're such beautiful beans, aren't they? And they can come in all kinds of different colours as well, I think. I think they can come in a purply colour. But they're just the most, I don't know, satisfying beans to plant. They're just so lovely. There we go. The runner beans are out. Right, well, that is it for me today. I hope you've enjoyed the vlog. I'm sorry I'm talking quiet again because it's getting very busy once again. Sorry I'm so tired. I'm making a few mistakes, I know. I'm just getting down here very early so I can film these. I hope you're enjoying them. So I will be back again on Wednesday with another allotment vlog. Until then, have a lovely week. Hopefully the weather doesn't change too much. Apparently it's supposed to get colder and rainy. But we will be down here whatever the weather, checking on everything and doing what we can. So I'll be back again on Wednesday. Have a lovely gardening week. See you then. Bye.