THEY HAVE A NEST!! / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

The cave is deep, narrow, and dark, with a narrow opening that leads into the mountain's inner recesses. Ri Aral's son. Biryong. Good morning, good morning. How are you all doing? My name is Emma, and these are the allotments. diaries, my allotment diaries, I should say, where I vlog all about my allotment plot Here in South London, just giving you a little update on what I'm up to. The plot is in South. London, I have two allotments next to each other, each allotment is about 135 square meters. Meters, roughly—I think there's an exact figure, but I don't know it, but they're pretty large. put together. I've had them for about, well, I've had my original plot for six years and I've had this one; this will be my second year on this plot— is it the second or third year? I think it's my second year—my second year in which I've actually managed to grow anything productive. On it, I think in my first year it was just overgrown, so this is the second proper year on this plot. I think. Over the last few days, many more people have been down to their plots; I've seen a lot. More plots that have been worked on, there's more equipment down here, there's more stuff Growing, so I think a lot of people are getting started now with their plots. Left it a little A bit late, but then I think some people do. I think I'm a bit weird—I sort of start my allotment plot in February and I think it's normal; I think most people who have an allotment Plots tend to start in mid to late spring, and that's fine—they tend to grow well. lot, so I think I'm just always ahead of the game, I just love it, I just can't keep away from it. There are a lot of seedlings in here; it's been extremely hot, 18 to 20 degrees. Yesterday I think we reached 21 at the highest, which means everything in here has dried. out, so I'm going to have to give everything a really good watering. My second batch of sweet Corn has started to germinate; I can see a little bit poking through—my first lot of Sweet corn is here right now, that's where we're at with it, so it's doing pretty well. this year. I've also got lots of sunflowers, more courgettes, and I've got my kale which is going really well, it's getting really big and strong, I've got some more cosmos, it偌 Everyone needs water. So that's the very first thing we're going to do today, so let's Do it. So this is normally the time in the vlog where I would feed the bird, I've decided. to stop feeding the bird for a little bit now. I know in my last vlog I said I just to be sociable and just to see him, but there's actually a bigger reason now, I think Einstein has a nest in the blue shed. I've seen him go in and out quite often. a few times, and I was wondering what on earth was going on, and a lot of you picked that up Up on the vlog, in the last couple of vlogs, and said he probably has a nest in there. You're right, I think there's a nest in there. I can hear a little bit of chirping. as well. I'd love to see it, I wish I could see it, but the thing is with a robin's nest or any bird's nest, if the birds feel threatened or sense that the nest has been disturbed, they will abandon it and they will no longer feed their chicks, and the chicks will just Die? Are they chicks? Baby birds? Oh my gosh, my language is terrible. But yeah, they will. just abandon the nest, which I do not want to be responsible for ever. However, I can hear the chirping and I think we can get close enough just so I can pick up the sound of The chirping of the nest. He's just flown in there now, so I really don't want to get Too close, but he's literally just gone in there. I'm not going to feed them anymore. because apparently feeding them at this time of year can spread diseases and other issues And I didn't know about that. Also, all I have are kind of dried-out mealworms. I think they're mealworms or something similar, and I don't think it's very good for his chicks. his babies, whatever. So, I'm sort of going to refrain from feeding, but what I am going what I need to do is make sure I do a lot of weeding and watering, because that will bring everything for the insects and worms to come to the surface of my allotment plot so he can come and forage or her, him and her, to come and forage. I don't know if they do it as a couple. I can't Remember what that book said about the robin? I'm going to have to re-read my robin book. but yeah, I'll do my best to help them out, just by making sure the crows stay away, making sure there are plenty of insects for them to feed on. So, let me see if I can get close enough for you to hear the chirping. I think it's up there. I think It's up there. I'm really zoomed in right now, guys, don't worry, I'm stepping back right away. I've zoomed in as far as my camera will go, but I think the nest is there. It leaves me. in a bit of a pickle, because the guy who owns this plot said that he's going to Come and tear it all down, as I've said many times. He hasn't returned, so the shed is Still standing, and obviously the birds have thought that's a great place for a nest. and he hasn't been back since, and I don't know how to contact him or anything. I don't know if The allocation committee would somehow prevent someone from taking the shed down because of a bird. has nested in it. I mean, they could take months to fledge, so not everyone sort of has the same thought process, kind of like what you and I might discuss regarding something like this. You know, A lot of people would just think, oh, it's just a nest, just get rid of the shed. The allotment is more important, and I know that's true. I just know that's a fact. I want to save them, but I don't know how. I can't disturb the nest. and I can't get in touch with the person, so I might just send an email to the allotment committee and just see what they say to it, but it's such an inconvenient place to build a nest. I wish they'd done it in my shed. I might leave my shed open for next year. So they can just build it in my shed instead, since I won't bother them. Einstein has a family. Showed up right away. There he is. Showed up right away. Yeah. Sitting there. There he goes. Uh-oh. Got an enemy. The enemy has shown up. Robins are clicking. There's a little cat. Little The cat has turned up. Can you hear that sound from the robin? That's a warning sign. That's the enemy about. Enemy about. Warning. Warning. He's been waiting for me. Look, he's been hovering around me. Yeah, he seems more than happy just to fly around and pick worms up from the ground. So it's turned into a bit of a nature show. I've been watching The Secret Garden. I think it's on. BBC Two, BBC One, and it's David Attenborough just showing people's back gardens throughout the season, and all the animals and the wildlife and the insects. It's absolutely brilliant. It's Probably the best thing I've ever seen on TV. I'll be re-watching it about five times. Just channeling my inner David Attenborough today and just watching the birds and seeing what they're doing. They are so fascinating. But yes, he's very happy just getting worms from the ground, taking it into the shed. He's off on the other plot now, looking somewhere, so So busy. Extremely, extremely busy, Einstein. My potatoes have finally broken through the ground. I can't Believe it. It's taken them a very long time. I believe these are first earlies, and I think They're Duke of York. Duke of York potatoes. Don't be fooled by the color. It does get a lot of sun. The sun is moving around. It's very early in the morning right now. It's about eight o'clock in the morning, which is why it's quite shady. But they've definitely started to poke up from the ground, and I think they might be ready to earth up now. That is nice and big, so I think I'm going to earth them up. The very strange job of earthing up potatoes, because it feels a little bit weird and wrong. By the way, I seem to have lost my trenches. I think that's because I've weeded in here. and somewhat disturbed all the trenches, but the same process applies whether you have a trench or not. You Basically take the earth around itล้าง Leaves and all. Literally burying it in the soil. See? The earth rises up around the potato, and we do it so that the potatoes underground do not reach the sun, because we do not want the sunlight hitting the potatoes. If they do that, the potatoes will turn green and they will become toxic. poisonous. We can't eat them. So we just bury them, and what will happen is they'll just grow taller, and the potatoes will stay nice and hidden underground. But it's a very weird I know the process, and I used to get really worried about covering the leaves, but I used to do it. quite cautiously, and people said, no, you can cover them a lot more than that. So I can probably cover them a lot more than that, but I'll leave just a plist of leaves poking through, because it makes I feel better for the plant. It's kind of a job, always makes me think, who was the first person to Ever eat our potatoes? Who was the first person who ever thought, you know what I'll do next time? I'll hill them up halfway through their growing season, and then we'll get more potatoes. Like, Who invented that? How did they know the plant wouldn't die? I suppose they didn't. They just experimented, but isn't it a fascinating thing to have discovered? Oh, here's Einstein. Where there's dirt being disturbed, the bird will show up. Yep, did you get one? Yeah. I might just give them some water, not only because I think they need it, but also because I think they'll bring all the insects to the surface, and Einstein will be able to find some. food. Doesn't that look weird, though? Like little alien eggs from the movie *Alien*, where they're Just a few eggs. Right, I might just spend five minutes weeding this bed and tidying up this one. This has got my second early potatoes in. I think they're Charlotte potatoes. and they're all coming up, but so are the weeds. So let's just spend five minutes, or ten minutes, sorting out this bed. Right, there we are, a weed and a water, and the other one earthed up a weed and a water. The birds have been down several times, so I know they're happy. and I think that looks really good now, really good. I'm just going to add in here a couple of tips for weeding, because I do know it can feel like a lot when you get an allotment plot, and The weeds just grow up very, very quickly, especially when you get a bit of sun, a little A little rain, and suddenly you're walking through a jungle. First of all, little and often, So every time you go down, just spend 15 to 20 minutes weeding, focusing on one bed at a time. Weed it completely, move on to the next bed, weed it completely, and then leave it. and then come back the next day and do a little bit more. And that really is the key. little and often. Allotment plots require commitment, and you just have to keep going down and weeding. There's no point complaining about it—just keep going, keep going, keep going. It's a commitment, a lot of people don't realize how big a commitment it is, and how quickly your plot escalates can become a mess if you don't keep up with it, so it's just about keeping at it, keeping going Work. But also, a little bit more of a niche tip, try to weed your plot as if you're on Gardener's World. are coming to film your allotment plot next week. So next week, Gardener's World are going to turn with a large camera crew, Monty Don is coming to inspect your plot, he's going to Let's chat about it. As if that's going to happen next week. And let me tell you what, you'll accomplish a great deal, and you'll make it so lovely and neat in no time, because Who wants a weedy plot to show Monty Don, you know? That's another tip, that's another tip that I would say. And also, if you have a robin's nest, I mean, it's given me a new motivation to weeds, because I know I'm helping out the robins and their little babies, so you know, Maybe just get a bird's nest—that's another thing you could do. There are many things. that you could do, and hopefully some of those tips, or maybe just one of them, has helped. They're just flying around now, they love it, they love it, and I love them. just trying to keep the pond topped up, because obviously with the weather being so warm at the Right now, the water level is dropping, and with my tadpoles in there, that's the last thing I want. to happen. But this pond weed is terrible. I'm wondering if I could just sort of move some of it around, or wrap it up again. I really don't want to disturb the tadpoles, but I mean, It's just not good, it's just not good for the pond. I wonder if I can just move it at least. over to the side. It's killing the other plants in there as well now, which is kind of, The most annoying thing, really. I don't know what to do to get rid of it. I think it's an An imbalance in the water, isn't it? But I don't know how to balance it out again. It's so tricky. And all this stuff online says different things to do. I think maybe the answer is just more. plants, more oxygenating plants. Maybe that's what we do. Clogging up my fountain as well, Even my fountain's working now. There we are. Oh wow, look at that. Moved the pond weed. Fountain is doing really well. Oh my gosh, it's never worked that well before. That's amazing. Go, fountain, go. There are the tadpole guys. They're still in there. They're still alive. Haven't killed them yet. Right, well that's about it for today. Just a brief little trip to the allotment plot. I did bring down my tomato plants, which I did buy the other day. So I've got one, two, three, four, five tomato plants, and I also have some French marigolds, which really complement tomatoes as well. They're going to go in here, and I'm going to plant them out in the next vlog. So In Friday's vlog, I'm going to do tomatoes. That's going to be the vlog—tomatoes. It'll Probably just be titled, planting out my tomatoes, something like that. So you won't miss it. Don't worry. I think it was just nice to get here today and do a few weeding jobs. Sort out Einstein. Time has gotten away from me a bit, and that's fine. We can put them together. next time. There's plenty of time to put the tomatoes out. I'm doing it very early. My greenhouse gets quite warm. But yeah, really nice day today. Really nice to see Einstein feeding his little nest. Hopefully I'll send an email, and we'll just see what happens with that. Hopefully he won't come and just pull the shed down. That would be devastating. I'm also going to do a vlog very Soon, all about plot inspections. I get a lot of questions from new plot owners about plots. inspections. What do I need to do? What do they look for? How do I keep on top of my plot? Any any questions at all. So if you have any questions about your plot inspection, send them to me. Write them in a comment below, and I'll do my best to answer them in that video. So yeah, just Please let me know if you have any questions about that, and I will do my best to answer them. In the video. I hope you've enjoyed today's vlog. I'll see you when I see you. Thanks for watching. Bye!