MAKE OR BREAK FOR THE ALLOTMENT PLOT

Trying so hard to keep this vlog positive. One of them's broken and covered in jam. Should I let him go for it? Go on mate, you only live once, literally. Oh my gosh! Good morning guys, welcome back to my allotment diaries. My name's Emma, these are the allotment diaries. I am currently walking in to my allotment site for the first time in just over a week. It's been just over a week since I've last been here. Just over a week since I found someone had been onto my site again and stolen something. So a lot of time has passed, I've been away on holiday, I've had some time to think. I was very, very emotional in my last vlog, so I apologise for that. So I apologise for that, if I was a tad dramatic, it was very much shot in the moment. I'm feeling what I was feeling, just putting it all out there, like I always do to be fair. But this is the first time I've been back in just over a week. Apparently we had some rain while I was on holiday. Didn't have very much in Devon, I think we had one shower which was quite amazing. Everyone started jumping up and down and dancing, so I don't think they've had rain in Devon for a while either. It's not just been London suffering. So hoping that the rain has sorted some stuff out. Time will tell, let's go and see what the plot looks like. Definitely going to start collecting this wood chip soon for my pathways, my goodness, look how much there is. Okay, I'm going to start with the good news because I think we could all use some good news, especially me. The good news is the seeds in here have not died. They've actually done really well, which I think is because we haven't had as much sun this week since I've been away. Some of these, they're still wet, they're still actually wet, which is amazing. They haven't completely dried out. They are going a little bit yellow and that is because they are in containers that are too small for them and they need more nutrients, but that's fine, that's okay. We can deal with that, that's fine. This is all my veg that I have sown for the autumn time. So these are my sprouts, these are leeks, and then up here we've got a combination of different things that I've totally forgotten, but all brassica based. So kale and kalets and kohlrabi and things like that. So all kind of like brassica things. Hence the fact I don't mind too much what they are specifically. Everyone always says label my stuff. I should really label stuff, but I don't. What I tend to do is group it into what it is. So if it's a brassica that I've sown, I sort of keep them together and then I just plant them out like picamix basically. It's a garden of picamix. The brassicas that I planted outside have not done so well as predicted without my butterfly net. We all know the saga of the butterfly net. The rest of it's been left by the way, just been left, but somebody's come in and cut it basically, so I need to order some more. I didn't have time to do it before I went on holiday, but I will order some more of that. The butterflies have landed, laid their eggs and caterpillars have eaten everything, and then a lot of it's died as well because we haven't had enough rain. Tomatoes, look at this, trying to take over the world one tomato branch at a time. Honestly, done amazing. So happy with them. Look at all these wonderful tomatoes in here, looking fantastic. And then some of the bigger ones, I think these are the romas, have all started to change colour. Don't they look fantastic? And I tell you what, the smell in here is unbelievable. I was just going to say they should make a candle, but I think there are tomato smelling candles now. As you can see, we are attempting to take over the entire greenhouse and the world. Should I let him, should I let him go for it? Go on mate, you only live once, literally, literally only live once. Come on, out you go, out the ceiling mate, that's the world out there. Maybe you'll get to space. Yeah, tomatoes looking great, looking really fantastic. I did have higher hopes for the stuff outside, but I think what we're going to start with is a water and we're going to try and rescue those poor brassicas that are stuck outside. To be fair, I was being a bit hard on them because they are still very much alive. And even the ones at the back there are actually still got new leaves coming through. So they have sort of survived. So I will keep them protected and look after them now. Good news is that these courgettes have grown back as well since I cut all of the leaves off because of the powdery mildew. And they actually look really, really healthy now. They're looking fantastic. Oh, except for that leaf there. I think what we'll do is we'll just, we'll just take it off and get rid of it. But all of the new growth is looking really, really great. And we do have some new courgettes starting to grow. So I think I've saved these plants, which is really unusual for me, but also really thrilling. The pumpkins have survived. They've survived me not being here for a week, but they haven't got that much bigger. Though, having said that, they are starting to climb. So you never know. There might be very, very late bloomers. We might still get some pumpkins climbing over the archway yet. But the archway has never looked so dead. Some of the nasturtiums have come back, which I think is because of the rain that we had when I was away. And like I said, look, they all look alive. They just don't look very healthy. It's just, it's just not been the year, has it? It's just not been the year. I think I might spend some time taking some of the dead stuff out of here because I just don't think it's doing any good for the archway. And it just looks so sad. Some of it's alive. You're alive, aren't you? But a lot of his mates have died. I feel like I maybe should have removed a lot of these nasturtiums earlier on to stop them from competing with the pumpkins for water, for what little water there was. I feel like maybe if they'd had less competition, then the pumpkins would have done better. But at the same time, I don't know if that's true or not. What I do know is that a lot of the nasturtiums are now completely dead and they just need taking out. So that is what we're doing. I have to say it feels very weird doing this at this time of year, because normally at this time of year, my nasturtiums are some of my best flowers. They're flowering away, giving me tons and tons of flowers right into sort of October, November time, to be honest, and looking so beautiful and green and just really filling out all the borders. And this year, they're just dead. They're just dead. And it's so sad to be taking it out at this time of year, but at the same time, they're not doing any good if they're sitting in the ground dead. What I want to do is start clearing some of these borders so I can start mulching it over with some fresh compost, because the ground, not only is it devoid of water and rain, but it's also completely devoid of nutrients. It's just had nothing in it. It's just had nothing in it. It's absolutely dead, dead, dead, dead. It just needs mulching. Look at that. That is a really, really sad sight for my archway. Really sad. Not only do we not have any bleeding pumpkins climbing up it this year, we've got a few runner beans. That's about it really. But we also don't have any of our normal nasturtiums that go along the bottom of the archway. I'll insert a picture here if I can of what the archway usually looks like at this time of year. And it just looks nothing like that this year. How utterly crazy. I'm taking the blueberry plants up and I'm getting rid of them. These are just too difficult for me to look after, particularly with the way the weather's going recently. It's just been too difficult to keep up with their watering. So I'm just taking them out and getting rid of them. So it felt good just to get here and get stuck in with a job straight away. It's made me feel a little bit more motivated, kind of like more with it, like it's my plot again. Sort of like claiming control back. Obviously with the way the weather's going, because I heard on the news today that next year is going to be even hotter than this year. And I think this is probably a trend that's going to continue, just like this hot weather. Obviously the way that I'm working this allotment plot has to change. I've sort of got away with it for a few years because I think, like I think I've said this before, but these allotments are sort of built over old springs. So it used to be very boggy here and there's still quite a lot of moisture under the ground. And that's what I was always kind of relying on. And obviously also the rain. Sorry, I always end up with loads of mud all over my face whenever I film these and I don't see it until I edit. But yeah, I've kind of relied on nature to kind of take care of the plot. And now I think I need to start doing more. And I think the thing that I need to do is to mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch. You will hear a lot of that over the autumn winter time. I'm just going to go on and on about mulching, going to be bringing down a lot of compost and manure and just mulching everything that I can to try and lock in that moisture. Also, we'll be bringing my hose down here so I'll be able to water everything a little bit easier and sort of deeper as well. I think a lot of you are saying I'm not watering deep enough. I think you're right. It's just a very big space to do with a watering can. So I'm bringing my hose down. So those two things I think will really help my allotment next year and also over the autumn time. So I'm going to be mulching over most of my beds before I put out my autumn veg to make sure that it's got enough nutrients and enough moisture locked in. So we'll be doing that over the next few days. But my plot's really looking like I expected. It's looking very dead. And if your plot's looking like this, you're not alone. I come down here most days and this is how mine's looking. I mean, to be fair, I've just been on holiday for a week. But as you can see, it's not looking anything like it normally does at this time of year. I mean, look at this. Look at this. Pretty much nothing growing in any of the beds. And what is growing is really, really struggling. I'm just waiting to mulch over these beds because I don't think there's any point growing into them now. They've just got no nutrients and no moisture, no water in them. So it's just all looking very dead. This is another area that has seriously suffered since I've been on holiday. Literally, not been here for one week and the pond has completely dried out. I filled this up to the top before I left and look at it, totally and completely dead and dried out. That's really, really sad. And I've dug it deeper and bigger as well. I was really hoping that this pond would do better. I tell you what, we're going to clear it out of all this. I think this is leaves and it's also a lot of the duckweed as well, which has obviously died. So we're going to sort of clear it out and then we're going to fill it back up for the wildlife. I don't know, the only thing you can do with this is make sure you keep topping it up. And if you go on holiday for a week, I guess it's kind of on its own. I am leaving all the stuff that I'm taking out around the sides so any creatures in it can just crawl back in if they want to. I mean, I don't know if they'd want to crawl back in this. Right, let's just go and get some water. There you are. Look at that. Hope. Hope in a dying world. The fountain has restarted. Oh, is it going to stop in a second though? That is definitely giving me a little bit of hope. Just as I started filling up the pond, I started hearing all the birds sing again. It's almost like I've reignited hope in the allotment plot by putting some water back in the pond. I think the plot, the whole plot, it just looks so dead and so devoid of water. It almost looks like an allotment desert. Honestly, I was also, I was looking back at some photos from last year comparing where I am this year and the photos all look so yellow this year. There's like a real kind of like yellow sepia kind of filter over all the photos. Everything just looks very desert like and the light in all the photos just looks very weird and eerie. I think because there's just a lack of green this year. There's a real lack of green. When we went to Devon this week, we passed all the countryside and all the fields and so many of the fields are just yellow instead of their usual kind of lush green and it just looks so eerie. It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. It's honestly, it's just been the strangest year with this horrendous drought. We are due some rain over the next couple of weeks. I think you can see there's a rain cloud over there and it has actually been raining because recently it's just been passing over but they have actually stopped to give us a little drizzle. Though apparently I've heard the dry weather is returning and it's not going to be enough this rain unfortunately. It's not going to be enough to kind of save everything this year so it really is kind of down to us. So I think two things, like I'll just keep saying, mulch and a hose. That's really what my allotment needs and until then I'm just going to be tidying it up. I'm going to be tidying it up, mulching the beds and getting the autumn veg out and I mean I suppose that's a good, that's a good sign. We're looking on the bright side which we're going to try and do from now on. At least I'm not overgrown with weeds because not even the weeds have been able to survive this weather so I guess if you want to look on the bright side that could be a bright side. Right, how are these potatoes doing? They're actually doing slightly better than expected. They've not all come up. As you can see some of them have decided not to grow at all but the ones that have come up are very green, very lush and very bushy which is an excellent, excellent thing. So I think this is because this bed is slightly shaded so it's not dried out as quickly as the other beds. Let me show you my other main crop potatoes. Not looking quite so good. I might actually have to pull these up early and just take what I can get. As you can see they have gone really leggy, so gone really long basically and tall which we don't want them to do. They also might potentially have blight. I don't know if that's a lack of water or it could potentially be blight. Is there anything on the stems? The stems will give it away because blight always begins on the stems. I can't see any damage at all, any brown spots on any of the stems so I'm assuming that this is not blight, this is a lack of watering and they basically just scorched to death and just basically dehydrated and turned crispy like this. So I think these potatoes might need to come up a bit earlier than I wanted them to and we may have to re-plan this bed. In fact let's pull one up and see what we're working with under the ground. You never know what's going on under there until you pull it up. This one looks particularly dead so I don't think they've been in anywhere near long enough. We might not get any potatoes at all. No, there lie. They're all right you know. I think it's just the two of them. That's not a bad harvest. I love it when crops surprise me because I really just thought you know these potatoes have had it, they're gone, they're dead and they still... oh my gosh! Okay I tell you what guys, out of everything I was expecting I wasn't expecting a harvest like that. What on earth? I know they are a lot smaller than I'd like them to be but there's obviously potatoes here. I mean obviously a really really really good amount. I expect there's a few more under there but I can't dig because it's so dusty it's all going everywhere. That's a real surprise that is, that's a real real surprise. I think, I believe these are either kestrel potatoes or charlotte potatoes so I think these are actually a second early, not a main crop and I would like them to be a bit bigger than that but I expect if I leave them they might get a bit bigger. I do believe there is a courgette in here somewhere. Yes there is. Oh my gosh, oh no. This is, this is a week from the plot. This is what happens. The courgette has turned into a little bit of a marrow. I actually think I've caught it just on time. I actually think, I actually do think this is worth saving and I think it will taste quite good. When they go a bit bigger than this, like a proper full-on marrow, they don't taste so good and the seeds go too big and they go all crunchy and it's just not nice to eat. I feel like I might have been lucky with this one. I feel something I didn't expect to feel today being here and that's hopeful. I feel quite hopeful about the allotment. I think being away from it for a week was exactly what I needed to fall back in love with it and I do look around and I do feel a sense of hope. I've just taken that, what's it called, the you know the cover that I had for the greenhouse to keep the sun off. I've just taken that off because it's sort of flown off somewhere so I'm sort of able to open the windows now which doesn't bleeding matter because one of them's bleeding. One of them's broken. One of them's broken and covered in jam. There's a bear bin in here. Did a bear do? Oh my god, what is that? Is that the plant? Oh my god, it's just, it's just the plant. Oh my god, I thought it was a bee. Something's eaten jam. Someone eating a jam sandwich has broken my window. What on earth has gone on there? What's this? Is it a tomato? Is it strawberry jam? You know what? It doesn't even phase me. It's fine. Nothing a bit of duct tape can't fix. I feel hopeful about my allotment plot and I did not expect to fill this. I expected very much last time I was here to want to throw the keys in and that's it. Just be done with it. But a week away and a week literally away on holiday has really opened, like changed my perspective. I do feel quite proud of my allotment and what I've achieved here and I do want to keep going with it I think. And I think it's really make or break. I think it's make or break year for me. This year so far has been terrible for growing. It's obviously, I've had a lot of problems and then obviously with the theft as well. Someone stealing stuff from the greenhouse has just, you know, like it really been like the icing on the cake for a bad summer. I feel really weird kind of sense of hope and purpose here and I really want to give it one more shot and I think it's going to be my make or break year next year and I think I need to step up my game. I need to stop making stupid mistakes. Put the time and the investment into it because I did that at the beginning but then obviously the years go on and the months go on and you kind of step back and you just try and sort of maintain it and actually it needs another kind of boost of investment of my time and effort and maybe a little bit of money. Let's be honest it does, it needs some more mulch, it needs some more stuff, we need some better tools, we need some better equipment, some better netting, new wheelbarrow, the list goes on and on. Please watch my videos till the end because then I'll get some more revenue and I'll be able to afford all that stuff. Yeah it just needs, it just needs one more boost. I think, I think if I'm going to go into this next year and I'm counting the year from September because let's be honest it's the autumn time, it's kind of like a new year. I think it needs a lot, I think it needs a lot and it's going to be my make or break year and I'm going to put everything into it and see what I can achieve in a year here and if I have another awful year or if something happens then maybe it's not meant to be but let's, let's give it one more go. Let's put everything into it, let's just put our heart and soul into the space like I did at the beginning and let's just see what we can achieve. So I believe from September this is going to be my make or break year, that's what I've decided over the past week to really just give it my all and I think we'll start with taking some of these absolutely gorgeous looking tomatoes home. My goodness look at these, these look so fantastic. Do you know what with the roamers I actually like them just before they're completely ripe when they're still a little bit kind of hard, I just think they taste so good and I like slicing them up and cooking them and then we've got these little cute cherry ones, oh my goodness the way they're just popping off, the way they're just popping off, oh they're just so sweet, so so delicious and so worth it, they just make everything feel worth it. Right, going to take my mini harvest home and so that's something that I've got from the allotment plot today and we haven't seen Einstein, I have heard him but he's sort of squawking away, he's doing that clicking noise because I don't think he's seen me for a week so he's obviously forgotten who I am. I was just going to apologise again for Friday's vlog but I'm actually not going to because these are realistic vlogs, this is me showing you the true side of an allotment plot and after I posted that because I posted it over Instagram and TikTok as well, a lot of you did say I was thinking about getting an allotment plot and I'm going to re-look into it now, I'm going to rethink it and I think that's a good idea. I don't want to be the de-influencer of allotment plots but the waiting lists are ridiculously long and I know a lot of people get very very disheartened by that so I think maybe it's a good thing just to share some of the downsides of an allotment plot because if you wait for one of these spaces for like 10 years and then you get it and then these things happen to you, so allotment theft or vandalism or you know the worst drought that we've had in like 50 years or whatever and nothing grows, that's going to be devastating so I think it's quite good for me to sort of prepare you with the realistic version of an allotment plot. They are fantastic spaces, I love it here. I've decided to give it one more year, it's going to be my make or break year where I'm going to put everything into it and see what I can get out of it but do bear it in mind, do bear that stuff in mind, the realities of allotment life, it's not all you know bees and flowers and Einstein the Robin you know, there's a very sort of gritty realistic side to it which can be quite devastating and on that happy positive note, thank you so much for watching today, I will see you again I think on Wednesday, yeah see you Wednesday, thank you for watching, bye! Trying so hard to keep this vlog positive!