THE PERFECT DAY FOR THESE JOBS / EMMA'S ALLOTMENT DIARIES

This is my little alleyway into the allotment plot and all you can smell at the moment is this gorgeous cow parsley. Isn't it just amazing? There's so much of it, not just along the pathway here, but look in there. That's absolutely insane. I've never seen so much cow parsley. That is beautiful. Oh my God, it's just gorgeous. My favourite time of the year is when all the cow parsley comes out and flowers. Not to be confused with the one that's poisonous. There's one I think called hog something, hogswort, hogsweed, hog something. And it's like, it looks exactly like cow parsley, but it's like three times as high. That one is poisonous. You can't go near that one. But this, this is cow parsley and it's just amazing. It always just makes me feel like summer is around the corner when you see all the cow parsley. Not that you would really know it today because it's quite cloudy, but it's still warm and the cow parsley is out. So, oh wow. I just love it. Good morning guys. My name's Emma. These are my allotment diaries. I know what you're all thinking. What has happened to the weather? Um, I know I woke up this morning and it's the first time in about a week that we haven't had blue skies and sunshine straight away in the morning. However, they are coming back this afternoon. So it's just cloudy this morning. It's going to get windy later and then it's going to blow all the cloud away. That's what the weather woman said anyway. So I'm not the weather woman, but that's what she said. So we have to believe, we have to believe it's true. However, we are taking this sudden, oh my gosh, what was that? Was that a squirrel or a cat? God, it was a cat. There's a cat right at the top there. Can you see? Oh, it's my cat. Not my cat, but the cat that comes in my plot is sitting right up there. He literally just darted up that fence and up that, I think it's like a golf thing. Oh my goodness me. What's she going to do now? I think it's a she's just got pink collar. Now what? I really don't think cats think these things through. Sorry. I was just like, that's a really big squirrel. That looked like a really big squirrel. It's a cat. Um, anyway, I thought the weather being like this is a good opportunity to come down and do some really hard graft. Um, I need to do a lot of weeding. We need to do a lot of strenuous jobs. I've got my strimmer battery today. I thought we could just sort of power through a lot of those kinds of jobs just while the blaring sun isn't on our heads all day. I think the cat was after the bird. I think he saw a bird and he just absolutely darted up and then he just thought, now what? The bird obviously just flew off. Oh my goodness me. What drama? Right? I think we're going to start by going around and having a look at some of the things that I planted out recently. See if they're still alive or if they died. Um, and then help any of them out. So do a bit of a patrol. We're going to go on allotment patrol. So come on patrol with me and let's see what's alive. We are very much hoping it doesn't rain, but I have a feeling it's going to be okay. It does feel like it's going to brighten up. I don't know how I can tell that maybe just because I'm British and the weather is built into my blood, but I can just feel that these clouds are going to clear away. So carrot seeds are doing amazing. The seedlings are doing great. We've got a great big lovely bunch here, but there's a lot of sort of empty space and I'm not quite sure what's happened, whether they've not germinated or they haven't been eaten. But then why would these have not been eaten? See, that's the question, isn't it? So I'm wondering if it's worth sowing out some more, um, and actually filling the entire, cause I think I just did the front with carrots and I was going to plant something in the back. I think I might just do the whole bed as carrots. Yeah, I feel like the whole bed should really be carrots. I don't know why it wouldn't be. So we'll rough it up like this where I want to sow the carrots. And then what I'm going to do is before I sow the carrots, I'm going to water the bed. Wait for that to soak in a little bit because carrots get, because they're so small, because carrot seeds are so small, they dry out so quickly. So I think this would be better. And then the carrot seeds that I've got are pelleted, which means they've got a protective covering over them, which is supposed to help them to grow. You see how they're sort of like little pellets. That's not really what carrot seeds look like. Within those pellets would be carrot seeds. And I think it's just to protect them, make it more likely they're going to germinate. And obviously it has worked. So it's a good idea. I can confirm pelleted seeds are a very good idea. I think we'll just do all of them. Why muck about? Let's just get them all in. Not sure why I didn't think to do the whole bed, to be honest with carrots. Obviously this bed is also sort of a raised bed and um, that's good for a couple of reasons for carrots. Firstly, it means that the soil is nice and deep and I know there's no stones or rocks in here, so they're not going to split as the carrots grow. But secondly, carrot fly can't fly very high. It can only fly, I think it can only fly about 10 inches off the ground. And this is obviously a raised, a raised bed. So it's going to find it harder to get in here to my carrots. So it's always, I think, because I've tried growing carrots in the ground many times and growing it in a container is just the best. I think even at an allotment plot, just covering over with a bit of soil, a little bit of a pat down as well. And then we'll give it one more water. Yeah, it's making more and more sense to me just to make the whole bed of carrot bed. I don't know why I didn't do that in the first place. And then this messy bed next to it needs to be topped soon with some compost and we'll stick something else in there. Oh dear. These are the courgettes that I just whacked out the other day. Um, one of them's doing all right. The other one's doing half all right. And the other one I think is going to die. So out of three, I think two might survive. It was quite ambitious getting these out when I did. Um, I can see that this one here has got a lovely new bright green leaf. That is fantastic. This one here has potential in my mind has potential, but this one, I don't know. We're very on the fence about this one. You might not make it mate. Good morning. You're after some worms. Right. I feel like my sunflowers, they're doing very well, but I think they might need some little sticks to keep them up because especially if it's going to get windy today, I don't want them all snapping. Luckily, I always have a good supply of sticks around the plot. So shouldn't be too much of an issue. I find with sunflowers that as soon as their stems go wonky like that, it's really hard to get them straight again. So if you see them going wonky, try to correct it as quickly as possible, or you'll end up with a bendy sunflower. I did ask someone about that once in the comments. Um, and I said like, why would sunflowers design themselves so that they bend over? Because like, they're not always going to have a stick to climb up because that's like us humans doing that. And someone said it's because it's not like a natural plant. Like sunflowers weren't designed to be that tall. We made them that tall by sort of, I don't know, like making hybrids and stuff and making sunflowers grow taller and taller. But like in the wild, you probably wouldn't get one that's super tall. That's what someone said to me. And it made a lot of sense. I don't know if it's true or not, but it does make sense. Yeah, a lot of seedlings out there are doing quite good. I'm quite happy with it all. Um, I really want to get my last batch of cosmos out today, because they're getting really big and all the cosmos that I planted into the allotment plot is all doing well. It's all doing really well. It's getting bigger. And I feel like most people's cosmos get bigger than mine. Mine tend to get like that big and then they stop growing. Whereas, whereas on other plots, I see that their cosmos is like a huge bush and I think they are a bit riskier than me and they get them out earlier. So I'm going to stick these out today, but I'm thinking, should I do the strimming first so that I don't trample all over them by mistake? I feel like we should do some strimming because I brought it with me, so we might as well use it. Right. Okay. Let's do a little bit of a tidy up. It's funny because on a day like this, where you haven't got like direct sunlight on your allotment because it's cloudy, it always looks a little bit messier and you can really pinpoint the areas that sort of need tidying up. God, do you see Einstein then just flew past? All here needs to be cut back and all up around here as well. I think we're just going to get on with it and just, um, see what we can do. Is he singing for me? I think it's a bit too windy, Einstein. I think it just blow away. He doesn't agree, but you know, I think, I think it's just going to blow away. I'll see if it stops being windy later. Oh, Einstein, you're making me feel so bad. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm going to feed you, but it is going to blow away. You have to be quick. All right. Eyes come down straight away. Must be hungry. Right. This area is looking particularly bad. Let's clear it and get this one sorted. I think before it becomes a jungle. Oh, I got caught in a net. Bloody nets. I am going to leave a little sort of group, group pile. Don't know what, don't know what the collective word is, but I'm singing nettles. I'm going to leave them because they're really good for pollinators, really good for wildlife. And also you can make a plant food out of these. But I have to stress, I'm only leaving it because this is an allotment plot. I know there's a lot of talk about trying to leave areas of your garden sort of wild. I think when you've got a small garden, like I do, it's quite difficult to leave any areas wild because it just looks messy. The whole garden just looks messy. So I'm always just tidying my garden, but at the allotment plot at least I can leave messy areas, which is ultimately better for wildlife. So I'm doing my bit here. I can hear clicking around me. Is it a cat? Is the cat back? Oh, it's you. Oh my God, Einstein. It's you. You keep scaring me. Yes. Oh, he's got a worm. Oh, wow. Well done, Einstein. Is that supposed to happen? Is that supposed to happen? Why has it done that? Is it stuck on it? It's got stuck on it. Why has it got stuck on it? That'll about, streamer. Get your act together. Right. That did feel like a good job, actually. It's very hard to be motivated here when it is so cloudy and overcast. The sun really does just build you, like lift you up, doesn't it? It's such a difference when it's like, like this, but I'm glad I'm getting some strenuous sort of hard work jobs done. Jobs that I would sweat doing in the summer, in the sun is what I mean. I just think it's good to utilize all the weather, you know, whenever you can. So that was a tangent. Um, I really want to get these out. So we're going to get them out. Now, last year I had some cosmos along my archway, just behind where my pumpkins were going. Um, and it was beautiful. It was so nice. And I'm going to stick them there again because they did really well. So, so let's whack them in there. This is where I mean, just behind the archway. So the pumpkins and runner beans will go here. And then I had the cosmos along here. As you can see, it's very weedy. So we're going to have to sort that out first. Healthy looking plants, aren't they? Very healthy. So we'll just have a little line of them along here. I think. I really don't know where my trowel has gone. It's really annoying actually. I actually genuinely need it. Uh, though luckily the ground is quite easy to dig in with my hands still. So that's good. All right, let's have you in this one. Oh yeah. Look at those roots ready to go out. I don't know what I was trying to do there. Oh my gosh. Right. I'll just give these a little water because they're looking like they've dried out just a tad. Hi guys. Have a drink. Have a drink. Have a drink. Everyone got a drink. You got a drink. You got a drink. Everybody got a drink. Good. Okay. Right. Well, I hope you've my little vlog today. Sort of a mini one. I think on Wednesdays from now on I'll do a mini vlog where I don't think too hard about it. And I think it would just take some of the pressure off. Um, but then you still got something to watch. So I hope that's okay. And I hope you still enjoy these little mini vlogs. Um, because I'm still down here a lot. I'm still down here a lot. I've got a lot to do. Some of the jobs at the moment are a little bit repetitive, weeding and keeping things under control. But that is the reality of an allotment plot. And I really do try to capture that in these vlogs. As you know, it can't all be fun and planting stuff out. Sometimes you have to just do the weeding or do the watering and do the jobs that you kind of don't really want to do. But it's worth it in the end guys. Trust me, it is worth it. You'll be so happy when the sun comes out and all your plots weeded and it's all looking lovely. Um, and I will be back again on Friday with another vlog. I'll see you then. Thank you for watching. See you next time. Bye.