MAJOR GREENHOUSE CLEAR OUT / And an Update on Vandalism

That fills me with a kind of fear that I cannot put into words. Good morning guys, welcome back to my allotment diaries. Whoa it's just got very windy. It's sunny and then it's also cloudy today so it's quite a nice day to be at the allotment plot. Hi my name is Emma, I vlog all about my allotment plot here in South London three times a week. I also put up a Sunday vlog and so if you're not subscribed to my channel already and you are a regular viewer, please hit the subscribe button because it really helps boost me and then more people can see my lovely allotment diaries. If you're enjoying it maybe other people will, that's the theory. I'm starting with a very small update on the vandalism situation here. So on Friday I came down and my brassica bed had kind of been flattened and all of my blue water piping had been thrown about the place and I wasn't sure what had happened. I can see all your comments already going get a camera, get a camera. I did buy a camera last year and it broke straight away so I think I need to research and get a better one basically and spend a little bit more money on it. I think I got like a 20 quid wildlife camera off of Amazon and it broke straight away so any recommendations for wildlife cameras please let me know. I've come down this morning to this. So when I left on Friday I put all of my blue water piping up against my shed. I'm in a nice neat pile and it's sort of been thrown around a little bit which is really weird. So this is where I put it all up against here like this. So I don't really understand how it's been thrown around and then more of it over here so it's just very odd. I don't quite understand what animal would kind of pick this up and throw it around and it just, I don't know, it feels to me, I don't want to jump the gun or anything but it does sort of feel like somebody's picked it up and put it there because I don't know why an animal would do this and I have a sneaking suspicion it might be kids coming with their parents after school which isn't, you know, I mean I don't know what I can do about that to be honest. The kids are kids aren't they? At least they're outside and not on a video game I suppose. Always looking on the bright side but yeah it does sort of feel like it's been picked up and moved. There doesn't seem to be any other damage in any other of the beds like my sunflowers haven't been crushed or anything and I can't see any, oh sun's come out, can't see any other damage anywhere. So it looks like that's what's happened, I don't know for sure because I don't have a camera but yeah what do you think? Well let me know in the comments what you think's happened, that's sort of the most logical thing that I think has happened. So kids will be kids I think but vandalism is such a huge sort of thing on allotment plants, it's very common, a lot of sheds get broken into, tools get stolen, it's a good idea not to leave anything valuable in your allotment, it's worse than a slug attack on your favourite crop, do you know what I mean? Because it feels like a human's done it, it feels very violating, it's a horrendous thing so if your plot has ever been vandalised I do feel for you, I really do. Anyway main job of the day is going to be to transform this greenhouse, it's an absolute state and it needs completely transforming and looking after, it's just turned horrendous. Hopefully it gives you a bit of motivation to do the same on a part of your allotment plot, you don't have to tackle your whole plot in one go, you can just do section by section. This is going to be my section of the day, this is what I'm going to be tackling, the greenhouse. So this is the state it's in at the moment, we've got the tomatoes going wild, we will sort those out, we've got weeds down the bottom, we've got some lettuce that's bolting like crazy. My seed area is looking very messy and also there's quite a few intruders in here, little brambles coming through which isn't surprising when you see all this surrounding my greenhouse. This is going to be an autumn job I think, cutting all this back, putting down some ground sheet and some wood chip, seems to have worked at the back. Let me just show you what I've done at the back of my greenhouse because it's been really effective. Oh okay, tell a lie, it hasn't been that effective but it actually has, it has, it does need a bit of a weed. I've got some weed membrane down and then I put some wood chip and it has actually, I mean you can see compared to over there where I've just let it go wild, it is down a lot more so this just needs a little bit of a weed sorting out. Anyway this is the big job of the day. Plants won't let me take my shelves out, it's literally got hold of my shelving. That's what's been living in my greenhouse, trying to take it over, oh my goodness, I'm a nightmare. That fills me with a kind of fear that I cannot put into words, that just looking at that makes me literally want to cry. Is it bad? I haven't seen it yet, is it bad? Oh god it's bad. Right I just, this is just, this is a nightmare. You know what this really needs to sit on? It needs to sit on like paving slabs so I just don't get this kind of weed growth coming up through my greenhouse because this is a bit of a nightmare. It's at times like this where I think it'd be really handy to have like a brim but I don't think it's something you think about for an allotment plot is it, to have a brim you know. I can't think of many jobs where you'd need to use a brim so even though I'm literally doing one right now. That seems to be working okay though, that's all right. I just want to just tidy it up a little bit you know. I think I might take this out, this is ridiculous, this just looks so messy and horrible. It's not doing anything either, still got weeds. The difference that has made to the way that I feel about this entire greenhouse is amazing, just a little bit of a tidy. Okay it's time to tackle the tomatoes. Right we're going to start with weeding to make it nice and weed free around the tomatoes. Hi, what do you think that means? Oh god, I have never seen the sky so dark. I think we might be in for an absolute downpour. There is something quite magical though about it being sunny and then having that really dark gloomy sky. I don't know why but I just, that just really reminds me of summer, British summer. Right got some bigger sticks here, I don't know if they're too big, probably. Okay what we'll do, we'll put the new stick in first and then try and move it onto the new stick, that's what we'll do. Here you go mate, your new stick now. If you've got too big for your stick. Oh no, it won't go in. Oh bloody skins, yes. Okay where is this tomato going? You're gonna have to try and cooperate with me okay? I just want to get them tied in first so I actually know where they are and who they are because they're all sort of tangled together. You're there, are you Right I've managed to get some sticks in the ground, I actually went through one of my greenhouse panels over there which was a bit annoying and I've tied them in. They look better than they have ever looked but now we're going to prune them. I think this is the panel I went through oh god it's all popped out. All right hopefully no further damage. I'm going to prune these quite aggressively because I really think they need it and I really really, do you remember when I was I really want to stay on top of my tomatoes this year? Yeah okay, god I say a lot of rubbish don't I? They always get on top of me, I think what I'm doing at the moment is just cutting off all the bottom leaves. I'm going to be quite ruthless, I think I'm just going to be ruthless. I think you can, I always see people's tomato plants and they look pretty much naked and I always say it looks like they've just shed all their clothes and they've just got these great big tomatoes on them. They look so weird but obviously there's some kind of logic in it. I think they're the kind of plants that like to develop a lot of foliage and really spread out and actually all we want is the tomatoes so focus the energy where we want it I suppose. All right this all sort of looks a bit dead, that's all coming off, that whole thing's coming off. This one is so tangled I don't even know where to start so I think what I'm going to do is just take off anything that looks dead or wilting, start with that stuff and then I think the bottom is a tangly tangly mess. I don't know what that is, I don't know what this is, where it's from. I'm going to take it off, that's a lot, that's a lot. Did I just make a huge mistake? There's tomatoes on this, oh no, oh no, was that half the flipping plant I've just taken off? Oh no, okay don't worry, don't panic, there's still lots of plant left. It's maybe a little bit too aggressive then, oh no, I don't know where this bit is from, oh my god, it's the plant, the plant is bended in half, that's why I'm struggling, it's on the floor, okay, okay, okay, this is the plant, no it's not, I've cut it off, oh no, oh no, oh no, I've cut like flipping half the plant off, I didn't want to do that, oh god, why did I do that? Oh, lost half the flipping plant, oh no, look a lot of it's wilting, a lot of it's wilting and dying here, I think this bit might have, oh no, and the top is as well, oh gosh, what's going on with it? Oh no, it's just wilting and just dying, I think I just cut way too much of it off, that is so annoying, this is obviously way too much tomato, way too much to have cut off, oh no, right, I'm going to go and grab some of the wood chip, we've got a great big wood chip pile that's been, that's arrived, I'm sick of the pathway in there, I keep saying I'm going to stone it over, I don't do it, I'm just going to go and get the wood chip and we're going to fix that pathway once and for all, right, put some more of this weed membrane down, some new stuff, I might end up regretting the wood chip idea but I tell you what, I can always pull it back up again, nothing is permanent, so the last thing we'll do is we'll just give everything a bit of a tomato feed, I feel like it's done really well today and it's put up with me chopping its head off, so I think the tomatoes deserve a bit of a treat, do you want to see the after, all right, come on then, I've been here for about two and a half hours, all I've done is sorted out the greenhouse, it was worth it, it was worth the effort, this is what it looks like now, look at the difference, oh my goodness, thank goodness for this, it always gets on top of me at this time of year but I have worked really hard and made it so much better, the tomatoes look fabulous, they look far more under control now, there is a little rogue cauliflower down there which I'm leaving to see what it does, the other one surprised us all, the seed area has had a good clean and a sort out and now I've just got seeds that are alive on there, there were a lot of dead seeds on there before, now it's just living seeds, the shelving has been sorted, still a little bit cluttered but I can see where everything is now, it's a lot better, all of the weeds are gone and of course I put the wood chip down on the pathway and outside the greenhouse as well, so just all looks a lot better, a lot more manageable, I think we will need to work on around the outside of the greenhouse but that is for another day. Right, I'm absolutely sweating, it's so warm in here, it's actually quite cool outside but it's so hot in here, I'm sure the tomatoes are loving it, I hope you've enjoyed this video, if you have hit the like, give me a hype as well if you've enjoyed the video, I'm going to be cleaning up different areas of my allotment plot, showing you that just with a little bit of hard work and determination you can bring any area back to life, it's slow and steady, choose a small area, work on it really hard, get it just right and then move on to the next area, that's the way you do it, that's the way it becomes manageable. Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the vlog, I'll see you next time, thanks for watching, bye!