Hello again! 👋
Welcome to the late March edition of The Anaesthetist’s Allotment.
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 fifth post of the Year in the Anaesthetist’s Allotment. It has been a month since my last posting. My how time flies when you are having fun! To be fair, I have been away at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Singapore, followed by a week’s holiday exploring Bali.
The World Congress of Anaesthesiologists is held every four years in a different part of the world. I have attended every World Congress since the one held in Montreal, Canada in 2000. As the first President of the Botswana Society of Anaesthetists (BSA), I had the great honour of representing the BSA at the following World Congress in Paris, France in 2004, when the Botswana Society was admitted as a full member of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) for the very first time.
Unfortunately this Congress I have just attended in Singapore will be my last World Congress. Because I am currently partially retired and will definitely no longer be practicing anaesthesia when the next one happens.
Back to the garden……..
The days continue to lengthen and this coming weekend, the clocks go forward, so the evenings will stay light well into the evening. However, it remains cold and we had snow yesterday, so winter is still lurking and has by no means disappeared!
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.
It managed to get my plants through the two weeks that we were away. However, the two days prior to us coming back were unseasonably hot and this roasted several of the tiny plants growing in the mini greenhouse. I have managed to resurrect them, but it was a close shave!
The three lots of tomato seeds which I received in my Christmas Advent Calendar had sprouted before my last posting 😊. They were thinned out and continue to grow well.
The chilli, still has not sprouted – I have declared it a failure and disposed of it today 🙁☠️ 🪦. I will have to buy a chilli plant at my local garden centre.
The salad lettuce seed tape and carrots which I planted at the same time are looking good. We will soon be able to start harvesting the lettuce 😊. There are also a few spring onions growing, but not as many as I would have liked.
The Onion sets (Rhumba) have arrived and have been planted in a tray in the greenhouse to get them growing before planting them outside into their final position.
A week later and they have started sprouting
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. No signs of any growth in these grow bags yet.
The poor celery seeds were one of the biggest casualties of the warm period we had just before I got back from holiday – they were the smallest and most vulnerable plants after all! I thought they were dead, but after watering them with a gentle spray, they have resurrected. Not many, I grant you, but enough for us to hopefully get some plants to maturity!
This celery is a first for me 😊. Looking forward to seeing how this goes! Thank goodness disaster has been avoided!
It is time to get started with this year’s crops. So yesterday, I sowed some seeds and put them into the mini-greenhouse with-in the main greenhouse to germinate. The seeds planted include:
Summer Cabbage: I’m trying two varieties this year: Hispi and Caraflex. I have grown both before, but this will be a direct comparison.
Kale (Nero di Toscana): My wife has adopted an unhappy expression 🤢, whenever I have suggested growing Kale before. So I was delighted when I received a packet of kale seeds in my Christmas gardening advent calendar! This variety is described as a “large stately plant with striking deeply-wrinkled, near black leaves. Can be picked from autumn onwards”.
Winter Cabbage (Tundra): I have grown this many times before and it is a firm favourite.
Beetroot (Detroit Globe): Another seed packet from my garden advent calendar. Described as: “a crimson red beetroot, a high producing crop. Can be grown in clumps of four. A sweet beetroot, it’s leaves can be harvested early and used like spinach”
Continuing with yesterday’s planting in the greenhouse:
Brussels Sprout: Traditionally I have always grown Maximus and we have always liked them. But the sprouts have been getting smaller year-on-year, so, this year I am going to try another variety called Brodie. I am not brave enough to switch completely and will trial the two varieties side by side! If I don’t have Brussels sprout for Christmas dinner, well, ……… say no more! ☠️
Brodie is described as: “The ultimate Christmas Sprout! Exceptionally mild, no bitter taste”. It is apparently harvested between September and February, so would seem to be earlier than Maximus.
Turnip (Golden Ball): Again one of my gardening advent calendar seed packets, so will give it a go! Described as: “One of the best late cropping varieties. Excellent mild, nutty and firm texture. Patience is needed with this variety as it germinates and grows much slower than other varieties” – this does not bode well for the short growing season in the far north of Scotland!
Two days ago, I started the summer planting with Leeks. I am trying 3 varieties this year as I have become increasingly disappointed with the quality of my old staple: Musselborough. So this year, I am trying:
Below Zero: I have grown this a couple of times now and get nice leeks which last well all the way through winter.
Oarsman: “A quality, early maturing vigorous and reliable variety! Long uniform crystal-white shanks with dark foliage which bulk up quickly. Stands well, shows good tolerance to rust and bolting.”
Autumn Mammoth: “early variety, is comparable to Goliath if left to mature to full size. It has a long shaft and erect leaves, with some rust resistance.”
In the Garage:
Yes, in the garage!
Last year, I ran out of space in the greenhouse, and had great success germinating my squashes etc in a mini-greenhouse with grow-lights in the garage.
Anticipating similar space and electrical deficiencies again in the greenhouse, I am trying this again this year.
Left: This is the mini-greenhouse with this year’s plantings – described in more detail below.
Cucumber (Mini Munch): a delightful finger sized cucumber which we have grown in the greenhouse for many years.
Courgette (Zucchini): A green courgette
Courgette (Goldmine): a yellow / golden variety of courgette
Pumpkin (Wicked): We have grown these for a few years and had some good crops, both in the greenhouse and the veggie garden.
Pumpkin (Jack of all Trades): We have grown these for a few years and had some good crops, both in the greenhouse and the veggie garden.
Gemsquash: A veggie well known to those of us from Southern Africa, which grows surpringly well in our cold, very northern climate. We usually get huge crops of delicious “gems”.
Butternut (Walnut) and (Hunter): I grew these two varieties last year. After struggling with my butternut crop for several years, last year saw a nice crop of butternuts from within the greenhouse. So I am going to try these two varieties again and hope for the same result!
Veggie garden:
Firstly, a harvest of last year’s Potatoes (Picasso) – still looking great, despite being in the ground all winter!
Spring Cabbage (Spring Hero) – as the days lengthen, so these are starting to bulk up. Wont be long until they start to form hearts and we will be enjoying them 😋 – a very tasty cabbage, one of my favourites!
Garlic – looking great now.
Shallot (Jermour): looking really good inside their protective tent!
A new planting, using seed tapes, of:
Lettuce (Baby Gems)
Spring Onions
Lettuce (Salad mix)
Radish (Cherry Belle)
Right: Broadbeans (Sutton) sown next to their support stakes
Left: Perpetual Spinach – sown direct into the soil using a seed tape.
Rest of the garden:
We arrived back from our trip to be greeted by a magnificent display from our spring bulbs. Beautiful Crocus’s and Daffodils
The Daffodils have emerged more and more over the last week and the contrast today were amazing.
Other spring flowers, such as the Hellibores and Snakes-head Fritillary have now started appearing as well. It is a lovely bright time of year, after the bleak drudgery of winter.
Things are starting to move forward now and I look forward to keeping you updated regularly on developments in The Anaesthetists Allotment.
See you next time!
Dr Doug (Douglas) McKendrick 