Allotment Update 29/4/24 Frost tender sowing’s and more

Now things are in the ground at the mercy of mother nature its time to head back into the poly tunnel to begin sowing the more frost tender seeds such as cucumber and sweetcorn.

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[Music] hi everyone it’s the 29th of April we’ve been working The Poon today cuz he it’s a bit Breezy outside a bit overcast but um thankfully most of the things I need to get done outside are done uh for now there’s still a few little jobs and stuff but I thought I’ll come in cuz it’s bit it’s about time I started SE this Frost tender stuff now I usually saw a little bit earli than this um but for me the the last frost date is about middle of May so um it should be fine um just got to keep obviously keep your out the temperature I have a little um therometer it’s tucked out here it’s little digital one really a cheap thing and this um s the temperature from this I have a receiver in the kitchen which is like sort of 40 50 yards away um so I can just keep an eye on that uh I tend to if it goes down to about uh sort of 5° in here uh I’ll cover things and some things I’ll take indoors into kitchen um so I just I just keeping keeping on things so far everything’s been all right we had a little bit of a frost the other night um so I came out I covered some tomato plants and with potato potatoes in the um tubs um these are my main tomato pants I took these in I’ve been taking these in every night since I potted them on um so they they’ll be staying out as from tonight just kind of like Harden them off getting them used to Outdoors cuz they’ve been predominantly growing the lights um so you know obviously poted them on um but it shouldn’t be long because I mean they’ve only been in these what probably eight n days something like that and um well you can see but starting to get Roots forming at the bottom of the pot which is you know for me probably about another another 5 days and then I’ll put them into the larger pots uh which will probably much use this entire shelf up so I’m going to be running short and space again soon but um it just gives me a bit of time obvious there more things to start planting out and and I can use a little Greenhouse down the bottom of the garden as well if I need to and the weather’s getting a bit little bit better outside but I’ve got anything else I could put actually in the grounder will got the leftover um brasket from the opment I’m might actually put up some pots some just to fill the Gap so uh got a few things to sell today the frost T stuff uh sweet corn beans um cucumber cetes that type of thing um like I say just be uh just be wary any cold breeze um cuz you know some people they they put beans actually in the plot now runner beans are a little bit hardier I found so I don’t tend to grow them uh cuz they’re a b tough you know if don’t if you don’t get you know keep on the picking of them but um I do the climbing beans and the dwarf uh French beans as well um dwarf French beans are great to keep some always on the go because if you get a gap you can just pop a plant in cuz it’s quite a small plant you know they don’t get much that much bigger than sort of La a tomato plant like that you say no fine beans hang around underneath so there good little Gap fillers um I’ve got I’m going to sell some uh Sprouts I think the Vari is Broad um I’m not doing me leaks yet cuz it was an old pack of seeds so um I’ll show you about this I’ve been sprouting seeds um so sweet corn right is Swift uh these have been soaked overnight some water just to Puff them up and first I’ve actually I’ve pre soak me uh draw French beans as well just to swell them up cuz I found that obviously with with pre- chitting seeds or soaking them um it does speed up that germination time uh quite a lot cuz you won’t be able to stay up here but I did two lots of spring onions and uh pre- chitted some seeds on um some wet kitchen rolling a tub um for probably about 3 days and they started sprouting uh put them out and they’ve come through and these other ones have been out here I sold them probably about 8 or nine days before not a thing so it does speed it up a bit um probably a little bit less chance of rotting off I guess you know in some aspects but um you got to try these things and just find out what works best for you you know it’s I’m not I’m not saying it’s a it’s a bit of a faf but you know if you’ve got seeds and you’re unsure if they’re viable just put them on a bit of damp kitchen roll in a little tub with lid on just all you have to do is each day is just got to the tub and just call it burp it just open it and that’s s like let any stale air out um put on a window seal I have a shelf about 5T above a radiator so I just pop them up there they don’t really need light to start sprouting it’s the warmth once they sprout they need to light then right so first off we we’ll start with uh do the dwarf dwarf French beans variety is I think it’s Ferrari I do I do two sometimes I have Ferrari and Safari I think they’re Ferrari didn’t have many left in packs I thought I’ll uh I’ll see if they’re available I mean they’ve not sprouted yet I mean if I left them a couple more days they’d start sprouting which is one I kind of prefer really but you can’t really they don’t all Sprout at the same time the these are the um 24 cell um moduled tray quite old now so probably be careful don’t fall to bits on me multi-purpose compost bit of a mixture actually of uh some leftover bits in bags and it’s probably probably half is me own compost put through a SI had to leave out here for a few days to dry while I’ve been down the allotment putting things in so potatoes are all in now I’ve not healed them up yet I need to go back and heal them up this week camera’s going to wobble a bit now so I’m just going to set naturally settle these that’s all that just gets the uh compost down and then um just going to bring them up to the top level cuz it will sink again when you water it a little bit it’s just important to make sure you got enough compost in um you don’t want it pressed in too hard I mean you can go and lightly press it with you fingers if you like but it’s uh you don’t want it too firm otherwise it can affect the drainage which can make it a bit tricky to get the uh seedlings out or the rot off if you have them too loose when you pull your seedings out or compost just falls off it depends on the plant I mean you know um beans usually put quite a good root system out as do sweet corn oh uh don’t know we got enough seed in here but we’ll find out just personal experience I found that uh tend to ignore seed packets in quite a way cuz the depth the as to sell these is is kind of ridiculous and uh they do rot off so I’m just going to I mean they say something like about inch inch and a half below some of that I’m probably going to sh them about half inch if that I’m just going to use a tip of my finger probably about the depth of me fingernail really it’s probably about sort of between 15 and 20 mil to the bottom of it they obviously quite chunky seeds um can be quite prone to rotting off so again if You’ got a spare window seill you can offer a bit of stable temperature um I’ll just help them to germinate but the you know the minute you see anything coming on the top you need to get them out into the light unless if you got some sort of you know um artificial light can uh COA them on a little bit longer till they’re all through but you know they need pure dayl there is you probably won’t be able to see that I’ll try and get it shot but it is starting to sprout slightly that one on the on the middle they always Sprout from this the underside is like obviously um where they were attached to the pod that’s the side that they sprout from you can I I’ve always sort of like put them that side down but it doesn’t really matter to be honest I don’t think you know Nature’s Way is um seed will just do its own thing they’re pre-programmed they’ve been around a lot longer than we have so they know what to do un like us but yeah is surprising you know quite a few people that new newcomers to Garden that you know they think it’s really hard and it’s it’s not really hard um cuz everything knows what to do you just kind of like well allow it to do it um but the only thing you can’t do is uh not any sort of control regarding the weather you know and it’s like a lot this year it it’s been a horrendous year weatherwise you know and it it always reminds me to make you know try and make more of an effort to get down to the plot and and and get all the preparation done in the Autumn you know before I mean on my plot I know it gets it starts getting wet sort of November time you know so I need to make a conscious effort this year because this year has been it absolute nightmare to to get you know keep on top of it to get it ready cuz some of you know suffer with um cfme chronic fatigue and um that is is becoming a real challenge um because we’re doing the work at the plot recently I have overdone it and I’ve I’ve paid the price for itz it’s been a couple of days I’ve not been able to do anything I’ve just had to uh sleep you know I mean I’ve only been up about 40 minutes and I’m I’m starting to lag now a bit to be honest so I hate having it but there’s nothing I can do about it apart from try and listen to my body when I can and uh just try and work out what jobs I can get on with so I’ve just basically um filled them up to the top just cover them over going give a light water cuz the compost is it’s not dry but it’s not soaking wet it’s well slow watering can and you know a lot of the time you see this the initial water will be the only watering you will give it until they’ve germinated you know if you don’t see seeds you know for a few days don’t don’t be too tempted to uh cover like I said you don’t need the light as much to germinate it’s more the temperature the heat so if you don’t want to dry out um cover them you cover them with some dark you know you could put another seed tray directly on top of it just keep checking it every day though make sure they’re um not coming through and uh being pressed down beans are great though cuz you’ll you’ll start seeing that uh compost lifting that’s that’s your Telltale sign right got a bottom tray got one with holes in you don’t have to it doesn’t matter it’s just a trays I’ve had for donkeys years better do a label I’ve not pre-wrote any labels out um I’ve been cleaning me labels up to be honest because uh I’ve not bought any labels this year I thought I’ll try to save a few quid and uh reuse so I’ve had them so cing for a while in a bit of bleach water is Sharpie but if you leave them long enough it does come off um so that’s the it Ferrari dwarf French beans just bung them down there I’ll leave it leave Lids off them for a little while so let things drain through you know it might be damp at the top but over a few hours it’ll uh it’ll populate to the lower half right what do we got now um sweet corn I Prett prepared some tray somewhere did it days ago cuz I intended doing these but I never got around to it so I’ve got 15 pots I’m going to need probably another five so I’ll get them now um same compost apart from this has got a little bit more meing but never mind now cuz these are quite low down they have been pre-water but they dried out a little little bit so I might give another quick damping on the top after but they’re actually about the right sort of depth I I want for sweet corn cuz you can actually put sweet corn just on top of the compost and just press it into the surface you know and leave it that it will it will Sprout cuz you know sweet corn can damp off quite easy so you don’t have to soak it or anything like that so what I’m going to do I’m just going to put like a little shallow div it in the top just to keep it in the center really cuz there’s enough depth on top when top these parts up to cover them you know which is again sort of half half inch something like that I’ll put over just just lay it going to lay on this side that’s so it kind of just looks like that it’s just sat on on top of the compost pretty much drop there so it’s good when you when you sort of pre- soak your sweet con I guess cuz you can cuz sometimes obviously if it’s it’s old or damaged seed it gives you a chance to to see it I mean that one doesn’t look brilliant so there’ll be like 20 plants where I’m going to grow them not quite sure yet I have a few options you know um do in a few places but the variety is Swift I’ve grown quite often for years now this one um I might start trying some different ones next year I used to do one called Northern extra Suite um Applause that’s another one I’ve done there’s a few I’ve done over the years I’ve got a few left don’t throw them away you can just dry them back out and it’ll be fine so they’re all sort of sat on top so I’m just going to go across now just sprinkle compost in there to cover them uh you don’t have to worry too much about where you plant your sweet corn as such cuz uh doesn’t really causing a problem to neighboring plants because it’s just grass really so is a member at grass family so if you got like a smallish Gap in between some crops it’s good because um it’s very upright plant you know it grows tall you know and before it you know gets some of the bigger leaves up the top end doesn’t really give too much shade to anything so it’s handy if you’ve got lettuce radish beetroot anything that that sort of thing to into plant PL with it carrots you know cuz it’ll take uh take a little while for these to get to any sort of substantial size I’ll probably plant them out once they get I don’t know anywhere between 6 in to a foot tall very rarely do I do it before the last week of May probably the first week of June but like I say it’s a little bit later sewing than normal so we’ll just play that one by here it’s why I’m not I’m no rush to really saw me leaks cuz um leaks take a little while to get any size up but I’m intending on putting them like I did last year where the potatoes are in the garden so they’ll be ready sort of July so where I’m sprouting those seeds in that tub they’ll you know if they’re viable seeds they should start sprouting in a couple of days so I can sew them I’m just going to sew them like I used to do you know big uh sort of 2 in uh 2 L Pot or a 3 L Pot that have to be really deep just scatter them on top cover them with about you know half inch of compost water them in just leave them in there until and then ideal is just plant them out when they get about pencil size so let just going have a quick uh water but it’s so slow this water in count it’s some true it is getting a bit old now I think I’ve had it about 15 16 years um should be careful cuz the nozzle is quite loose on it and it has happened the odd time where I’ve just caught it and it’s popped off Deluge of water’s come out everywhere I say if you have a water something you can always like leave um leave it open to the elements to to try and dry out put it on a bit of kitchen roll the idea is if your compost is decent it will only hold on to what it requires that’s it that’s by the old term of a rung out sponge you know should be surprised how dry compost can be things will still germinate right so I need to make sure I put these ones on your roll in this other tray and label them otherwise it will all go a bit wrong but once they start to germinate I’ll know what they are anyway all right so the labels yeah doing the uh potatoes at the plot was was a bit of a killer um took me two days just took me time to dig it I just dug it over it was all right actually wasn’t um too wet you know so when I sort of flicked it forward it just crumbled itself which is a very convenient and then I just sort of give it a bash about with a rake and then uh just dug with a trail and planted the potatoes I think there’s 104 or something so then uh I I’ll be glad that out of the way anyway they’re in growing away hopefully I mean I think there’s a few onions been kn P off by a few bugs and whatnot but we’ll deal with deal with that give it a bit of time right so what have we got next um we’ll have uh some coets I’ve got some more old seed here it’s germinated for the last three years so it’s a it’s a called uh lemona or lemona yellow ones um right the call yet seed they’re quite flat so I’m going to picture it like an edge of a coin plant it on its Edge push it down not too deep so I’m going to top these pots up a little bit got fire St as well bu a lot [Music] in and then we need to find the uh the ones which are Defender how many seeds are in this 10 seeds handy them packs it when you tear it it actually tears across the opening same again bit smaller seeds who I get these off um I think this a company called Nikki’s Nursery I used to get some stuff from uh from there from it Aus like different grazing mixes you know so over the years we started doing more um different seeds you know good good delivery and everything like that on time good quality packaging you don’t need all the pictures and fancy stuff and you know just a good fold over a couple of times you know and if you’re not s anymore put a little bit tape over it and that’ll should keep them fresh right so top them up again just to the was covered so I’m not filling these to the top these it’s just so there’s enough compost probably no more than a centimeter on top of the actual seed sometimes they can germinate rapidly uh it just it just varies you know I’ve had them do it sort of pop up within 2 days for now sometimes it taking 10 or 15 days got uh that one so but Defender is a good but you know any C it’s always good to just try a couple of different ones if you’ve never done them before and if you do great first time around well it’s always handy if you got two varieties you know cuz then you at least you you find out which one you prefer like cucumbers I’ve started growing I’ve always grown fir spot for many years last few years I’ve done some of the uh the small cucumbers as well that’s another one done right so I have no more prepared pots so I have to knock a few up see what I need right so I’m using 7 cm pots is normal do some uh sweet corn and some other bits not sweet corn um cucumber shake it down into a and just settle it just kind of so shake it and then just top it off so it’s level and sort of drop it into your hand few Twigs in that bit yeah so this is sort of like the last job for a for a bit anyway last bit job cuz I need to uh going load a couple of these up as well which we should look after yeah cuz I need to start having a bit of a rest cuz some of you know I’m in a a band and uh got a few gigs in this year to be honest B more than what I’d like but so I need to make sure I just get plenty of rest beforehand so don’t overdo [Music] it so give you local to sort of uh black pool or the file Coast in the UK Lancer I’ll uh I’ll put a little still shot where where we’re at under of you your local pop in and say hi they’re all sort of within 5 miles of black pool soz I just don’t really like driving long distance so uh just load I said loading these up I might need them I probably will do to be honest so so that’s all loaded up P them down to the levish that’s what else have we got here now um we got F spot uh F spot some called Pony I don’t know if they’re small ones or not [Music] got an old pack of f spots though those use some all seed up DT Browns supposed to be all right till end of [Music] 2025 you can do the same with these you know and just lay them on some damp kitchen roll until he Sprout I did start some uh melons the uh Minnesota legit so there’s there’s three seeds in here so I’m not actually going to open that other pack is fence but I’m going to anywh I’ll use these three old ones so if they don’t germinate then then we know so I’m just going to Nestle just into the top of this compost a little bit of compost to cover them really all it’s I mean all it’s for the compost to cover it just helps when it comes up to sort of pull the seed husk off kind of like humidifies it a little bit but if you had wet compost and a lid on it and you just put it on top then it would be fine I don’t know the Sharpie now another one in here right so label them three up that’s fcot cucumber ones are called Pony I’m sting a few extra of these cuz there is someone down at the alotment so uh is fairly new new to it and uh I should like I’d show a few extra of these things while they get the plot ready and put the POL on up on that now the thing is I I prefer doing F1 cucumbers unless if you’re doing something like you know Mark it more and stuff like that um but f1s they don’t really produce the male flowers you don’t have to worry about them going bitter or having to go out and pull male flowers off I used to do one called Telegraph improved and that uh you have to go out and keep cutting the m flowers off um cuz if you didn’t look like a nice cucumber you bite into it first bet be like oh that’s all right and then all a sudden you get this horrible bit after taste so that was a learning curve but uh we might all have to go back to doing that type of thing soon cuz presses are getting silly so uh anything that you grow that isn’t an F1 one will really start contemplating about saving your own seed cuz it’s getting ridiculously expensive a bit of water you don’t have to water it all in one go you can water it give it a you know 20 30 seconds go over it again you know if you if you put a lid onto it you know it will always sort of humidity will even out and spread especially if you got something with no holes on the bottom in the sea train it starts to mist up quite soon I’ll do for them right so I’m going to pre- so uh these two the other one’s quite dark so I think that’s already had a bit of a bit of a water in give it another quick one anyway right and we shall have a look what have we got here we’ got some uh see do I’ll pull these out of here I’ve got some I didn’t know if the sprout seeds were viable so actually uh I’ve chitted them and they started sprouting so bit of a FF got these little pinces here which makes it a little bit easier to pick a seed up yeah think R is called bro I’m after a variety really that doesn’t get as tall you there uh some of the CU obviously Brussels brouts quite a tall plant so I won mind uh find a fairly compact variety if any of you know any I can’t remember the it’s not long since I’ve done Bedford Champion I can’t remember some of I did I did grow some years ago that was fairly small but I can’t remember the name of it now this don’t know was probably about 11 12 plants in there little seeds pop that in there like that little bit compost just to fill it top so pre- this compost not through a fine C out it’s just a is8 6 or 8 mil another water on top just to settle that down let it do its thing it’s the thing you see if it bakes off dry in the sun it can make like a big crispy cake on top you know it’s it’s hard for the plants to uh SE to come through uh what else have we got here um some suede I did sell some suede but it went a bit uh bit wrong it’s um it just went horrendously laggy I’m just going to uh s some of [Music] these even though you just get like a you think there’s a little just a few little p se you probably about 30 40 sticky tape over there some labels in especially it swed and and the Sprouts certain family sort of thing that’s broy I think there enough one to be honest got DED and got manage to cover them over I mean on days like today it’s not cold in here and it’s it’s it’s light it’s overcast fine out here to be honest it’s just a view you go out for day and the Sun comes out it’ll bake it to a crisp all right quick water cuz uh moisture will come through from Below it’s just to help SLE it and get those air pockets out and then we have what that next um Little Gems um cuz I’ve got some in the ground so I start I need to start sewing the next batch cuz once me TS cane is out and starts chunking on a few they don’t last long I can never keep up with him oh there a bit bit quick way more than what I need there pull that out it’s pretty much you just cover it so you can’t see the seed I have sewn some uh Cobra beans and some root trainers but they quite old seed but they they sprouted but uh I might do some more yet I don’t know look gems so that that one done what else have I got that I can s uh I’ll not do any more Cabra beans I’ll give these a couple more days with with French beans you can use it parts are doesn’t it like depth really no either toilet roll tubes uh just push a b in there you know 3/4 in below surface this thing here is still in okay condition little split at the end one but we should manage yeah cuz I’m going to resell some beetroot cuz that first batch I did it’s it’s still in here but like absolutely multi-prong Roots they be starving so for what it is I’ll just s some [Music] more pretty straightforward she’s me here me sharping should be big enough just di a little hole in the middle not too deep cenm or so cuz beetroot seeds are might look like one seed but it’s actually a little cluster of seeds you can buy certain varieties where they’ll State it’s one seed um they’re okay to multisol because it will push each other apart so I’m just going to drop probably two or three each one of these cuz there only me that actually eats a beat rout it’s not something I need loads of I’ll grow a a little row of it Harvest it slce it up Pickle it and that I don’t know how long it lasts when it’s pickled but I’ve still got a couple of jars left from last year tastes all right looks all right dropping off a mon Flor just uh P them up give them a good water you is a beatroot seed husk is quite tough you know so they can take a bit of a water you know quite often I’ll stand these in some and then soak it from the bottom I’ll do for that to put that in a little tray somewhere so uh that’s it really so that’s all the you know the frost tender there’s some obviously few things like bolt Ary and the Sprouts they’re not bothered about Frost so much um so that’s it really so so quite a bit swn there so I probably won’t even edit this down it’ll just be as it is to show sort of like you know it doesn’t take long to to start things off and then obviously a few days be pricking things out uh but there’s nothing else to show you really at a minute um probably next video I’ll have a look around how things are going on the garden um cuz obviously it’s couple weeks now since um well it’s probably just over a week since things were planted in so things should start to come out of that so that suking sort of mode now and start to put some size on you know some of the lettuce you know was a bit it wilted a bit cuz we had the rain you know but it started to perk up and it’s it’s growing now so once it uh once it kicks into gear it’s it’s away then it’s cropping time you know finally it’s arrived so uh yeah some people’s plots are still very wet um but there’s still time it’s just one of those years this year there’s nothing you can do about it just uh just treat it like you know you’ve got till about October November you know in General exposed area um to to make the most of so just think what you can grow that you can store should it be like this again next year you know so don’t be frighten of doing plenty of things that you can put in the freezer and store um because they will get you by you know which life for me I’ve still got a lot of things left in the freezer you know um I’m not going to run out for ages um onions me onions some of them have just started to sprout a little bit in the middle but I mean I harvested them what July last year you know I’ve still got probably 20 odd onions I think left um so they won’t last long and then it kind of like the hungry Gap area but um the salads will come in Kick in then so thanks for watching take care if you like the channel then please hit the Subscribe button and notification Bell to notify when I upload anything and if you like to you know help support the channel links in the description and how to do that along with a couple of other products that I use so take care thanks for watching I’ll see you next time bye-bye