Hello again! 👋
Welcome to 2024 at the Anaesthetist’s Allotment. This is the fourth post of the Year in the Anaesthetist’s Allotment. It is a fairly quiet period of the year in the garden, so this post will be on the shortish side.
Disclaimer: I’m a professional anaesthetist, not a professional gardener. I do a bit of gardening and cycling in my spare time. I have grown veggies for many years and have learnt what works for me (sometimes!). These are my ramblings! I would be honoured to be corrected / advised by those with more knowledge than me!
General:
Tomorrow is allegedly the “Metereological Spring” in the UK, but in the North of Scotland, there is no difference at all. It remains cold (minus 1), windy and wet. And when it is not wet, hard frosts are very much in evidence.
The only sign of “something better to come” is the lengthening days. It is now noticeably light at 0730 in the morning and is only getting dark at about 1800.
In the greenhouse:
I’m pleased to report that the problems with my battery-powered watering system seems to have been fixed. There have been no more leaks from the tap after my adjustment and it seems to be working well now.
The three lots of tomato seeds which I received in my Christmas Advent Calendar had sprouted before my last posting 😊. The chilli, still has not sprouted – I suspect a failure may be on the way 🙁. However, the tomatoes are now forming true leaves and this means that I can pot them on and thin them out – see photo below:
The salad lettuce seed tape which I planted at the same time has also sprouted, as have the carrot seeds this week. 😊
Both looking good.
The Shallots have all sprouted now and are looking great. They are ready to be planted out into the Veggie Garden – see below:
Planted out, the shallots look great. A protective netting is applied to protect them, not only from the weather, but, perhaps more importantly, from the birds, who will dig them up looking for worms!
My seed potatoes (Winston) have now started chitting very nicely. Little shoots are appearing. This will help them to grow away quickly when planted.
So, I have planted some of these seed potatoes into grow bags in the greenhouse. These will give us an early crop of potatoes. The others will get planted out into the garden when it’s a bit warmer.
The celery seeds I planted have now started sprouting. This is a first for me 😊. Looking forward to seeing how this goes!
Rest of the garden:
It is time for the annual Potash feed for of the fruit trees. So, that’s the apple trees, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries and rhubarb all given their feed. Eat up, now and produce!
Oh! And we have been on holiday to the Isle of Arran and saw this magnificent lad!
I’m off to the Anaesthetic World Conference in Singapore this week.
I wonder if they will have any sessions on vegetables or gardening! 🤷♂️
Hopefully, I will not get quite as tied up in work again this year and will be able to keep you updated on developments in The Anaesthetists Allotment regularly throughout the year
See you next time!
Dr Doug (Douglas) McKendrick 
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