Hello again! 👋
Welcome to the this edition of The Anaesthetist’s Allotment. I hope you enjoy it.
Please feel free to follow, like or comment and I look forward to getting some of your feedback.
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:
This is the 11th post of 2024 in this year’s series of “The Anaesthetist’s Allotment”. It has only been one week since my last posting, but things are starting to move along very quickly now in “The Anaesthetists Allotment”.
The days continue to lengthen. The sun sets today at about 2139 (13 minutes later than last week!), and the evenings stay light until about 2330 dependant on the presence, absence, or thickness of the cloud cover.
At last, there has been an improvement in our weather. This last week has remained warm and mostly sunny, with no rain. Yesterday, the temperature had dropped again with a heavy haar (sea fog), but today has been a beautiful sunny day again. Better enjoy it while it lasts. Rain is predicted from tomorrow!
Ahh 🤔, but don’t be fooled dear gardeners, winter may yet return to bite us on the proverbial! Keep your eyes open!!
Enough about the weather……….
Let’s get back to the garden then……….
In the greenhouse:
I am pleased to report that that the squash plant survivors (after my attempted genocide) are now doing well. They are all a bit behind, but hey, wouldn’t you be after a near-death experience in ICU!
I have started potting up those which will remain in the greenhouse into bigger pots and have placed them into their final positions within the greenhouse.
As they are all climbing plants, I have erected wooden scaffolds for them to climb up.

The Gemsquash, Butternut and Pumpkin plants, which were potted up and placed in their final places in the greenhouse last week, have started to shoot up. They are obviously loving their nice big pots full of amazing compost.
Only one Cucumber (Mini Munch) survived. It was potted up into a grow bag last week. It does look a bit lonely in its grow-bag, but seems to be enjoying it as it has put on at least 6 inches of growth in the last week.

It also has started developing flowers with tiny cucumbers behind them. Won’t be long!


The second sowing of squashes has done extremely well. They were all moved up from the garage to the greenhouse two weeks ago and the wee plants continued to do well and have now developed their true leaves. Early this week, I potted up these plants into bigger individual containers to encourage further growth. When ready, they will then be moved to their final sites either within the greenhouse (eg the cucumbers) or into the Veggie Garden / Allotment (eg the gem squash and butternuts).
I hope you noticed all of the space that these wee plants have on the trays. This is because all of the first sowing of squashes have now been planted out into the Veggie Garden / Allotment (see later).
I had ordered a second set of Broccoli (Marathon) plants from my on-line garden centre. The aim of this was to give us a succession of broccoli instead of our usual glut. When I ordered the plants in January, they were described as “May plants”. However, looking at the receipt, I discovered that they were due for dispatch in the first week of June. This means that they would only arrive in the second week of June. This is the week that we head to the USA to collect our youngest son. He has had a wonderful year as an exchange student in Texas. By the time we get back, the wee plants would be dead.
I managed to find some nice looking plants in our local B&Q (right), so have cancelled the on-line order. It is a win-win situation, as these are more than quarter of the price of the on-line ones, and less likely to be dead when we return from the USA!!


The Leeks in the cold frame continue to grow well. I hope to be able to plant them out into the Veggie Garden / Allotment within the next week (see below).
Veggie garden:

The beautiful blossom on the apple trees is all gone. Hopefully pollination is complete and we will get our usual huge crop of both “eaters” and “cookers”. There were certainly lots of bumblebees, other bees, wasps and flies attracted to the blossom this year. 🤞
The “Fruit Cage” is also looking great.
The strawberry beds are looking good with lots of nice leafy growth. They have suddenly produced loads of white flowers over the last day or so. Hopefully, we will have our usual abundance of strawberries starting in a few weeks time.


The Redcurrants have lots of fruit forming. The fruits are now very obvious. (left)….
….as are the Gooseberries (right)
What a change a week makes!

The Cabbages were planted out into the Veggie Garden last week. They are growing nicely and clearly enjoying the manure!!!!


The Spring Cabbages (Spring Hero) were sown in autumn last year and have been in the Veggie Garden / Allotment all the way through winter. They are now growing strongly and are even beginning to form hearts. Wont be long until we are munching on these – next week, I hope.
The Chard plants have been out in the veggie garden / allotment for over a week now. Within a day of planting them out, the tender little leaves had been munched, big time! I suspected the blackbirds, pigeons or pheasant. I hastily erected a cage over them to try to keep the scoundrels at bay.
My plan with the cage has not worked, and the poor wee plants continue to be savaged. Either the clever birds are sneaking in through gaps in my cage, or it’s something else, perhaps slugs. So, out with the slug bait as a last resort. I’m getting desperate now.
The same thing is happening with my beetroot despite them having a much sturdier cage. 🤷♂️


The tomatoes, from the Advent Calendar, were planted out last week into the Veggie Garden / Allotment.
They have grown quite a lot since last week, and a couple of them have even started flowering. Good news!
Pea (Alderman)
Last week, I noticed some compost lying on the path next to the raised bed in which I had planted the pea seeds the week before. Closer inspection showed that “someone” had been digging up exactly where I had planted the peas. I suspected blackbirds, pigeons, or perhaps, at a very outside chance, a red squirrel. I quickly erected a cage over the area into which I had sown the peas. I then held my breath to see if any of the pea seeds had survived.
I was very pleased to see them sprouting a couple of days later, and they are looking really good now (right).
The area which had been the most attacked (top of the picture) is indeed a bit sparse, but there will be enough to cover the net well.


Being suspicious, I had closely inspected the other plantings in the Veggie Garden / Allotment last week and had discovered a similar attempt to munch my Runner Bean seeds. This was very sneakily done and was almost invisible – had I not been looking closely. Again, I hastily erected a protective net to keep the thief away.
Again, during the week, the runner beans have sprouted, much to my delight. Again, a few have been “had”, but this should give us a good crop. (left)
Once the plants had reached a decent size, I removed the netting to prevent the runners becoming entangled in it.
The Yellow Courgettes (Goldmine) were planted out at the beginning of this week.
A nice big hole is dug for each. It is filled liberally with fabulous garden compost / manure into which the wee plants are planted. A support stake is then added.


Four of the Pumpkins were planted out into their final places in the Veggie Garden / Allotment at the beginning of the week.
Again, a nice big hole is dug for each. It is filled liberally with fabulous garden compost / manure into which the wee plants are planted. A support cage is then firmly rooted in to the ground with stakes. These cages are great for the pumpkins to grow up and around. They can save a lot of ground space, meaning that more of the plants can be grown within a smaller area.
Three of the Gemsquash were planted out into their final places in the Veggie Garden / Allotment at the beginning of this week.
Again, a nice big hole is dug for each. It is filled liberally with fabulous garden compost / manure into which the wee plants are planted. A support cage is then firmly rooted in to the ground with stakes. These cages are great for the Gemsquash to grow up and around. They can save a lot of ground space, meaning that more of the plants can be grown within a smaller area.


The Shallots (Jermour) which were planted out in February are looking brilliant. I have now removed their protective netting.
The Onions (Rhumba) are looking great after being planted out a few weeks ago.
The minimal planting of Carrots between the rows has now sprouted. I dont think that you will be able to see them yet in the photo!


The early sowing of Broccoli (Marathon) is coming along really nicely.
Oh no 😣! Look at the weeds appearing in there. I’m going to have to attack them!
The Potatoes – Winston have sprouted and are looking great.


The Rhubarb was savaged very severely last week!
The good news is that it was used to make two of my absolute favourites: Rhubarb crumble and Rhubarb & Ginger Jam
I obviously did something right this week, as I was allowed to have some of the Rhubarb & Ginger Jam on my toast.
Oh my ☺️! I’m in heaven!

More good news! The Rhubarb is growing again. Quickly!
I might get some more crumble and jam at this rate! 😉


Hot off the press!
Today, I prepared the bed for the leeks. Weeded, hoed and then a nice thick layer of manure. (top)
I then use my special pointed stick (top) to dib a hole about 4-5 inches deep. Into each of these holes, I drop a single leek. Each hole is then filled with water to settle in the roots. It is a laborious and back breaking task, but I have had great success with it before. (Bottom)
Leeks: I am trying 3 varieties this year: Below Zero; Oarsman; and Autumn Mammoth.
Things are starting to move forward at pace now and I look forward to keeping you updated regularly on developments in The Anaesthetists Allotment.
See you next time!






































































